New varieties always attract strong interest at Cereals and there will be plenty in the ground this year to help even the choosiest visitors update their cropping portfolio.

Expert advice will be available at every turn to help growers make the right choice, whether they are seeking to improve yield, quality and/or disease and pest management.

Following the success of Skyfall, RAGT Seeds is showing another top quality wheat that is about to hit the market. Recommended List candidate variety RGT Illustrious has good baking consistency at a range of different protein contents, performing equally or better than the control Solstice over several years, says the company.

The variety’s yield challenges Skyfall, and it has excellent disease resistance as well as the Pch1 eyespot resistance gene.

Visitors will also be able to see Planet, added to the 2016/16 RL as the highest yielding variety on the RL with a treated yield of 109 per cent. It is approved for distilling and is being tested for malting.

Nikita from Limagrain is a conventional oilseed rape candidate variety, with a gross output of 110 per cent on the HGCA East/West Recommended List and 114 per cent in the north.

It has a light leaf spot rating of 8, short stiff stems and very good lodging resistance.

Britannia, which gained full recommendation in the 2015/16 RL, is the highest yielding Group 3 biscuit wheat. The variety is moderately stiff strawed and has an 8 for yellow rust and a 6 for Septoria tritici plus good grain quality, says Limagrain.

Winter bean Tundra, from the same stable, is potentially suitable for the premium export market. It tops the PGRO RL yield rankings at 106 per cent, 9 per cent over long-time market leader Wizard.

Reflection, the hard Group 4 winter feed wheat from Syngenta, makes its first appearance at Cereals since taking the top slot for UK-treated yield on the Recommended List. The variety combines high yield, early maturity and stiff straw, and is resistant to orange wheat blossom midge.

High-yielding Hyvido hybrid barley will also feature, including new HGCA candidates Hyvido Bazooka and Hyvido Belfry. OSR hybrid SY Harnas, an exceptionally high-yielding hybrid with strong vigour to help counter autumn pest and disease pressure is also on show.

A multitude of new crop varieties will be on show at Elsoms Seeds’ stand. They include potential Group 4 winter wheat Belgrade from Saaten Union, which combines early maturity with a high yield and strong disease resistance, and new conventional oilseed rape variety Elgar, very early maturing with good all-round disease resistance and excellent lodging resistance.

Two new hybrid rye varieties for the energy crop sector, SU Cossani and SU Performer, will be shown. In addition, hybrid wheats suited to more marginal soils or stressy crop situations include Hybery, a potential quality wheat, and Hylux, a very early-maturing variety whose extremely vigorous and robust characters suit late sowing.

New Group 4 hard feed wheat Costello can be seen on Senova’s stand. It has good grain quality and very strong agronomic characteristics, including a very high specific weight (80.5kg/hl).

Short and stiff, Costello also offers excellent disease resistance.

KWS is giving top billing to its new dynamic wheats, KWS Lili and KWS Trinity, which combine high yields with added-value market opportunities to help growers generate better returns in a bear cereals market.

At 102 per cent of controls KWS Trinity is a top yielder, but with better all-round disease scores than other Group 1 varieties and the highest Hagberg of all bread-making varieties on the current Recommended List, says the company.

Group 2 variety KWS Lili is a consistent yielder that suits a wide range of markets, including ukp export, but with a yield that’s only 2 per cent off the pace of the highest yielding feed wheat.

Three new conventional oilseed rape varieties feature on KWS’ stand. Two, Picto and Campus, sit as the best gross output conventionals on the East and West RL and the third, Barbados, is setting the pace for this year’s candidate varieties. It has a twin-8 rating for both light leaf spot and phoma resistance, the best combination currently available.

DuPont Pioneer is launching four new winter oilseed rape hybrids to add to its range of OSR varieties – a Maximus semi-dwarf hybrid, a normal structure Clearfield hybrid and two normal structure hybrids.

PX117 is a Maximus semi-dwarf hybrid that has the highest oil content of any Pioneer Maximus hybrid so far tested in the UK.

PT240CL is normal structure Clearfield hybrid with a stem canker resistance score of 7, bringing disease resistance levels to a similar level to those found in non-Clearfield types.

PT235 is the first Pioneer Protector club root-tolerant hybrid to be registered in the UK. It also has a stem canker score of 7, significantly higher than most other club root tolerant hybrids marketed in the UK.

PT244 is a new normal structure hybrid with a yield equal to PR46W21 in UK National List trials, but with a stem canker score of 6 and a light leaf score of 5.

DSV is introducing the next generation of high-output hybrid oilseed rape varieties and a portfolio of maize varieties will be launched. A new range of CAP compliant forage and cereal mixes will be on demonstration, as will mixes specifically developed for biogas production.

Growers looking to update their variety portfolio can visit the RL plots and join a guided tour of the wheat and barley plots on the AHDB Cereals and Oilseeds (HGCA) stand. More than 150 varieties of wheat, barley, oilseed rape and oats are on display, including spring crops and candidates.

NIAB TAG’s demonstration plots include 15 winter oilseed rape varieties and 30 established and new winter wheat varieties. NIAB specialists will provide expert advice for these crops as well as linseed, peas and beans.

Cereals offers two NRoSO points and two BASIS points to members for attending the show. Further points are available from participating exhibitor stands.

Further information at www.cerealsevent.co.uk