RGT Goldfinch – “We know it will perform on farm”

Perceived as a niche product when it was first introduced five years ago, BYDV-resistant wheat is now catching the attention of a significant number of farmers.

This has been clearly illustrated by buoyant seed sales of RGT Goldfinch, the new high quality milling wheat from RAGT.

David Leaper, Agrii’s seed technical manager, says: “We are seeing a wide range of farmers that are interested in this technology – it’s capturing the imagination. Many are obviously looking to reduce the risk of BYDV, which has increased since the neonicotinoid seed dressing ban and is now endemic.

“Others are also simplifying management, for example by placing BYDV-resistant varieties on outlying blocks of land that are difficult to monitor and fit into spraying programmes.

“A proportion of growers are embracing environmental change. Many tell us that they want to reduce their insecticide use or stop altogether, and there is the added attraction of the £45/ha SFI payment for growing insecticide-free crops, which more than covers the cost of the technology.­­­”

Agrii is looking at RGT Goldfinch’s performance across the UK as part of RAGT’s network of insecticide-untreated trials. ‘We expect to see some interesting results, particularly where BYDV is present,” says David.

“Other work by RAGT using aphids inoculated with BYDV has shown the potential of Genserus varieties to outyield conventional ones under the resulting high BYDV pressure, but farmers can be sceptical of this approach, hence this trials programme.

“But it is not all about yield. It is about the resistance to the disease, which is spread by aphid vectors and can be devastating. We have evidence of that last year in the South West where a grower decided to withhold sprays for environmental reasons. Instead the farmer and his agronomist scouted intensively for aphids, which must have been there, but they missed them and incurred significant yield losses as a result. OK, it was a high-pressure area, but it clearly demonstrates the risk.”

BYDV symptoms are often missed or wrongly diagnosed and too much faith is put in pyrethroid sprays; aphids may be resistant to these and applications are also subject to weather conditions, says David. “Growers have been caught out in the past due to a lack of suitable spray days, meaning optimum timings, or even the entire application, can be missed.”

RGT Goldfinch has several other key attributes that make it well worth considering, he adds. “Goldfinch certainly has the potential to be a very good, consistent breadmaker.

“It has good physical grain quality and, unlike most other Group 2s, it should  consistently achieve 13% protein when treated like a milling wheat.

“It also has excellent disease resistance. This is top of the agenda in quality wheats at the moment, as we are seeing breakdown to yellow and brown rust and Septoria remains a key disease in many important varieties.

“It may not have the highest yield in the absence of BYDV, but we know Goldfinch will perform on farm, and that is being recognised. It has grower pull and there is interest from a range of stakeholders. It is protecting agronomists, advisers and growers from BYDV risk, we know millers will support it too, and I think demand is only going to get better and better.

“There’s no doubt BYDV resistance in wheat is an exciting technology – I think it is the future.”