United Kingdom
October 20, 2014
Bayer CropScience is delighted to announce that it has commenced testing wheat varieties in the UK for the first time.
UK Seeds Manager, Adrian Cottey, said: “At Cereals 2014, we announced our intention to be a wheat seeds company in the UK, building on our successful entry into the oilseed rape variety market two years ago. I can confirm that we have been drilling winter wheat lines at a site in Balsham near Cambridge.”
Working with Thurlow Estate Farms, it is anticipated that over 2000 winter wheat lines will be tested in the first year, with plans to expand this significantly in 2015. In addition disease nurseries targeting Septoria and yellow rust have been planted for UK robustness and in support of Bayer’s EU breeding programme. Regional test sites have also been drilled for the near-market varieties in Suffolk, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Fife in Scotland, as well as at Bayer’s research farm, at Great Chishill near Cambridge.
Adrian explains Bayer’s objectives in this area: “For Bayer, this is a twin approach. In the short term we are looking for high performing winter wheat varieties as potential National Bayer CropScience Wheat Variety Trials Commence in the UK List candidates for trials from 2015/2016 but we also have a longer term objective of identifying future parents for our hybrid wheat breeding programme. For both objectives, I am delighted to confirm that as we start this new programme, and to give added UK focus alongside our EU breeding team, we are working with well-known breeding consultant Bill Angus.”
Topics
Species
