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RGT Planet, the world’s first global barley variety, dominates yield and demand around the planet


Australia
April 23, 2020
 


RGT Planet barley yielded above expectation for Chris & Kate Sharkey in 2019.
 

RGT Planet, the world’s first global barley variety, continues to dominate National Variety Trial results and commercial crop yields across Australia.

Released in Australia to six farmers in 2016 by Seed Force and RAGT, the variety received full malt accreditation in March 2019, taking around 25% market share in that season.

According to Seed Force technical manager, David Leah, the variety continues to perform at the highest levels.

“Developed by our breeding partner RAGT in France, RGT Planet has now been evaluated in some 45 countries around the world and we continue to see strong interest from maltsters and brewers both here and internationally,” he said.
 


Aaron & Greg McDonald with stored RGT Planet barley from their 2019 crop
 

“With increasing interest from Australian brewers and those in Asia, we expect demand to grow considerably and for it to be the first choice of Australian barley growers over the next few years.”

Aaron McDonald and his father Greg run a 4,500 hectare mixed farming operation at Toolondo in Western Victoria. The family have been farming there for more than 100 years, with Aaron managing the cropping and day-to-day activities, while Greg looks after the sheep.

In 2019, the McDonalds planted 200 hectares of RGT Planet barley, with the support of advisor Matthew Sparke of Sparke Agricultural & Associates.

Systiva seed treatment was used and epoxiconazole fungicide applications were made at GS33 and GS40.

“We sowed around 5 May at 75 kg/ha, with a GoldPhos urea blend with traces at 90 kg,” Aaron explained.
 


Matthew Sparke, agronomist, in spects RGT Planet barley grown by Aaron & Greg McDonald
 

“It was top dressed late June with 150 kg of urea and one paddock got 220 kg total in two hits, each a fortnight apart. This particular paddock ended up going around 8.5 t/ha and the rest averaged about 7.5 t/ha.”

The McDonalds are storing their RGT Planet harvest on-farm, for use with the sheep and for some to be sold into the market. They are very pleased with how it performed.

“It had excellent vigour and weed competition, and it didn’t seem to lodge like some varieties we have grown in the past, even with big amounts of grain on the plant,” Aaron continued.

“We also found head retention to be very good. We lost hardly any, when places around Horsham had massive losses last year, mainly with other varieties I think.”

Matthew Sparke agreed that the variety suited conditions for the farm.

“RGT Planet’s performance in terms of yield and competition, along with its water-logging tolerance makes it a standout in high yield wetter environments,” he said.
 


Chris Sharkey plans to grow RGT Planet barley again in 2020.
 

Chris and Kate Sharkey farm 2,000 hectares at Balliang East in Victoria as a cropping and prime lamb operation.

As part of their 2019 cropping rotation they planted around 300 hectares of RGT Planet.

“We sowed the crop in May at 75 kg/ha with 50kg/ha of DAP at sowing and 30 litres of UAN at tillering,” Chris said.

“We only received 300ml of rain for the year, which was very light on, but when it did rain it came at the right time.

“At harvest, we averaged around 5.5 t/ha across all our RGT Planet, which is well up on the 3 t/ha or so that we’d normally see for barley.

“We just missed malt accreditation. With the high yield taking me a bit by surprise, we didn’t apply enough nitrogen to the crop therefore leaving us short on grain protein.

“Having said that, we’re really happy with the result. It certainly gave us the best return.”

“Speaking with several of our neighbours during harvest, some were seeing yield averages for RGT Planet around 6.5-7 t/ha or a little higher,” he said.

“That’s pretty amazing for our region. It was interesting to see it was generally across the board, so not just one farm getting these high yields.”

Chris says he will plant it again this year.

“We’ll be sowing it again this year for sure. It seems perform really well in our conditions.

“It will be interesting to see how it goes with the good moisture we have now, and how the season then pans out.”

Read more in the RGT Planet Tech Sheet.

 



More news from: Seed Force Pty. Ltd.


Website: http://www.seedforce.com.au

Published: April 23, 2020

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