PRESS RELEASE
11th June 2015
Winter wheat Skyfall and perennial ryegrass AberGreen are
NIAB winners
NIAB has awarded its Cereals Cup to the winter wheat variety Skyfall from RAGT and its
Variety Cup to the perennial ryegrass Abergreen from IBERS and Germinal.
NIAB chief executive Dr Tina Barsby presented the awards to RAGT’s UK senior wheat breeder
Celia Bequain and IBERS’ Director Professor Mike Gooding at the 2015 Cereals Event.
“Congratulations to both RAGT and the IBERS/Germinal teams. Varieties of all types of crops are
reviewed on an annual basis by NIAB’s technical staff as candidates for the Variety and Cereals
Cups. There were a number of strong contenders this year for both, with the winning varieties
Skyfall and AberGreen showcasing the strength and diversity of UK’s premier plant breeding
programmes,” said Dr Barsby.
NIAB Cereals Cup
The Cereals Cup, last awarded in 2009, is awarded to varieties that show outstanding merit and
value in their marketplace, and can be awarded to relative newcomers to the market,
particularly if they represent a step forward for the crop. It was first awarded in 1953 to the
spring barley Proctor and past winners have included Einstein winter wheat in 2005, Pearl
winter barley in 2004 and Claire winter wheat in 2001.
NIAB cereal crop technical specialist Clare Leaman explained that Skyfall was an obvious
contender for the Cereals Cup, representing a significant step forward in winter wheat in closing
the yield gap between nabim Group 1 and feed varieties. “Skyfall is the first variety since the
spring barley Quench in 2009 that has met our strict Award criteria, with its combination of
orange wheat blossom midge, PCH1 eyespot resistance, yield and approved breadmaking
quality.”
RAGT’s Celia Bequain said “We are truly honoured to receive NIAB’s recognition of Skyfall’s
attributes and benefits to the UK industry. Skyfall is a very exciting variety which has already
raised much interest from both growers and millers. It is the first RAGT UK adapted variety to
originate from our integrated approach to crossing, selection and screening and brings much
needed genetic diversity to the UK’s bread quality sector.
“The growing interest in Skyfall and NIAB’s recognition reinforces the importance RAGT places
on Pan European wheat research and the need to select for specific adaptation to the important
UK market. The breeding of Skyfall should give confidence to the industry in the efforts we are
making to breed genetically diverse, competitive varieties that offer the grower the best returns
on investment. We are currently developing many more varieties across Europe which we hope
will have as good a success story as Skyfall.”
NIAB Variety Cup
The Variety Cup, first awarded in 1986 to the cauliflower White Rock, acknowledges varieties
that have made a major contribution to crop productivity through improved quality, disease
resistance, grower return or commercial success, and can be drawn from the entire spectrum of
horticultural, ornamental and agricultural crops. It was last awarded in 2011 to the carrot
Eskimo.
NIAB forage crop technical specialist Simon Kerr highlighted AberGreen’s significant higher yield
and quality characteristics in both simulated grazing and conservation management systems as
major contributors to the variety taking the top spot. “AberGreen was promoted this year from
provisional to full recommended after eight years of testing, and immediately fulfilled one of the
Cup’s specifications for the ‘most improved, high quality, fully recommended variety’. It shows
strong grazing performance in the summer and autumn, as well as having good ground cover
scores and Crown Rust resistance, and is a very worthy winner.”
IBERS’ Professor Gooding said “I’m delighted that AberGreen has been chosen by NIAB as a
winning variety. Our aim is to create grasses which exemplify IBERS’ aim of breeding for the
‘public good’, and are amongst the best on the Recommended List but with added benefits such
as increases in water soluble carbohydrate which deliver animal performance improvements to
agriculture in addition to environmental benefits.”
Bred at IBERS Aberystwyth University, and marketing through Germinal, AberGreen is one of the
latest-developed High Sugar Grass varieties. It is the second perennial ryegrass variety to be
recognised with the award of the NIAB Variety Cup, following the very first Aber High Sugar
Grass AberDart in 2003. With its higher water soluble carbohydrate content but without a
proportional increase in protein, AberGreen is described as close to the optimum forage
protein-to-energy balance for efficient livestock production.
ENDS
Attached image:
NIAB awarded its Cereals Cup to the winter wheat variety Skyfall from RAGT and its Variety Cup
to the perennial ryegrass Abergreen from IBERS and Germinal, at the 2015 Cereals Event. From
left to right: Chris Black, Cathy Hooper and Celia Baquin from RAGT, Professor Mike Gooding and
Professor Athole Marshall from IBERS and Germinal’s William Gilbert. (DSC03321.jpg)
For further information contact:
Clare Leaman, cereal crop technical specialist, NIAB
T:
01223 342341
E:
clare.leaman@niab.com
Simon Kerr, forage crop technical specialist, NIAB
T:
01223 342292
M:
07725 544332
E:
simon.kerr@niab.com
Issued by:
Ros Lloyd, communications manager, NIAB
T:
01223 342313
M:
07711 568164
E:
ros.lloyd@niab.com
NIAB is a major international centre for plant research, crop evaluation and agronomy – a
unique national resource, with nearly 100 years of experience and an internationally recognised
reputation for independence, innovation and integrity. With headquarters in Cambridge and
regional offices across the country, NIAB spans the crop development pipeline, with the
specialist knowledge, skills and facilities required to support the improvement of agricultural
and horticultural crop varieties, to evaluate their performance and quality, and to ensure these
advances are transferred into on-farm practice through efficient agronomy.
For more information log onto www.niab.com or follow us on Twitter @niabtag.