IF RGT Planet barley can impress with its yield this season, Landmark Murray Bridge senior agronomist David Millan believes it could become a popular choice with farmers.
After proving it was the best yield performer in the National Variety Trials last year across most sites, Mr Millan said farmers were keen to trial the new variety.
“It seems to be very adaptable to early and late season finishes, and because of its high yielding potential it's an early sowing opportunity as well,” he said.
Upper South East farmer Neville Kernick, Field, sowed about 12 hectares of RGT Planet barley and said it had been filling out well.
“As it got going, it stayed fairly flat like the old Galleon barley used to, fairly low to the ground, but as it started to push up it has stood up well and there’s nice big, long heads on it,” he said.
Mr Kernick crops 1500 hectares with his wife Celia, growing barley, wheat, canola, beans, chickpeas and oats for domestic hay.
He said if the RGT Planet barley yielded like the trials, he would consider sowing it again next year.
“We are fairly proactive with our fungicides and gave it all the same disease treatments that we gave out Compass,” he said.
RGT Planet barley is late maturing, allowing for optimum grain filling and has good disease resistance to mildew, rhncosporum, net blotch and brown rust.
It was introduced to Europe in 2010 and into the NVT program in 2016.
It will be evaluated for malt accreditation in Australia, but already has malt status in many European countries and is used by brewers Carlsberg and Heineken.
Mr Millan said there were Australian maltsters looking to buy RGT Planet barley.
“It seems to be very adaptable to early and late season finishes, and because of its high yielding potential it's an early sowing opportunity as well,” he said.
“From what I’ve seen it matures about two weeks later than Compass”
He said the plant's head length was similar to Gardiner barley, and that the grain appeared plump and of a good size.
“The long heads give it the visual effect,” he said.