Brought to you by Limagrain
'Latest LG wheat is strong, efficient and productive'
The winter wheat varieties that Limagrain develops at the Rosenthal breeding location are suitable for Dutch arable farming. According to breeder and location manager Johannes Schacht, the new LG Tomjol and LG Kermit combine productivity with quality: "We develop varieties that fit the farmer and the market."
Johannes Schacht, as head of Limagrain's breeding company in Rosenthal, Central Germany, is a key figure in the development of quality wheat for an area with a radius of approximately 800 kilometres around the breeding station. This also includes the Netherlands. "The added value of German wheats lies mainly in disease resistance, straw strength, nitrogen efficiency, climate resistance and baking quality," says Schacht. "They fit in seamlessly with the Dutch climate and are well resistant to the various diseases in the region. The stacking of five or six resistances against yellow rust is perhaps not 100% watertight, but it does reduce the harvest risks enormously. Because we focus on bread wheat in Germany, the wheats can also be used in mills to some extent. That is a nice extra in addition to the important role of winter wheat in the rotation and keeping the soil healthy."
Responding to changes
Because Limagrain is close to the farmer, the company wants to contribute to solving current issues in the agricultural sector in addition to its knowledge of the extensive wheat genome. "As breeders, we want to come up with solutions that are in line with farming practice and the requirements set by governments and customers," says Schacht. "Developing a new variety takes eight to twelve years. That is why we have to look to the future. What will the farmer ask of us then and what does the market want then?" In the strategy of crossing and selecting, the breeders in Rosenthal are constantly aware of the changes in the agricultural world. "In wheat breeding, it sometimes seems as if there is a standstill, but that is not true at all. We developed varieties that achieve at least the same production level with less artificial fertilizer and crop protection. So we still achieve those high yields with fewer inputs."
Result of years of breeding work
The new varieties from Limagrain have properties that make them resistant to drought, disease, storms and rain, so that they do not lodge. In addition, they are characterised by a high nitrogen efficiency. This increases the protein production and the quality of those proteins, so that they can be used as baking wheat. The new variety LG Kermit scores high in yield thanks to all these properties and has excellent baking quality. LG Tomjol even goes one step further in terms of yield. It is the most productive wheat of the moment, has good baking quality and is particularly strong against all kinds of diseases. Schacht explains that for many fungal diseases there are multiple forms of resistance in the varieties, which means that they stop the pathogen at multiple levels or at least strongly inhibit it.
In developing the two new winter wheats, the breeders used properties from distant ancestors and wild species. In this way, decades of breeding work came together in LG Tomjol and LG Kermit. "We always look far ahead in our programs. This means that we take into account further restrictions on the range of resources and decreasing possibilities for seed treatment. That is why we are working on genetic resistance to pest insects, to fungi that can be present in the seed and to viruses that can transmit insects."
Schacht explains how researchers work when developing new wheat varieties. They first create small fields with crosses, followed by larger field trials. Selections from these are tested in more places and examined in the laboratory for baking quality. This is followed by seed propagation and maintenance (to ensure purity) of the best varieties that go on the market. Limagrain extensively tests the varieties under Dutch conditions via the research location in Rilland, Zeeland. New genetic techniques with markers make the selection process easier and faster because it is not necessary to wait until the plant has fully grown. However, for calibration reasons it is always necessary to test the varieties under field conditions.
Never before has the 15 tons been so close
Thanks to the accumulation of genetic resistances against brown and yellow rust, septoria and fusarium, LG Tomjol and LG Kermit are a strategic choice for growers who strive for sustainable disease resistance and yield certainty. If there were no restrictions on external inputs, the 15 tonnes per hectare with this new generation of varieties would come very close. "Based on what the market wants, we selected the best possible properties and combined them in these promising variety genetics. In doing so, we looked at the outliers in protein yield compared to nitrogen uptake and grain yield, among other things. And that is precisely the reason why LG Tomjol and LG Kermit can combine such a high yield potential with baking quality."
