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Alchemy has a very high yield potential, both with and without fungicide, and has all of the attributes to help farmers meet the very significant challenges facing them in the coming years.

Although very high yield will continue to be the key driver in the decision making process, for most growers other factors have an increasing importance. With the development of strobilurin resistant strains of Septoria, increased emphasis must be placed on highly disease resistant varieties like Alchemy. Alchemy has the best all-round disease resistance of any variety ever produced from the Nickerson wheat breeding programme which already has an outstanding reputation for producing varieties with durable genetic resistance.

It is also highly desirable to have stiff straw to maximise yield potential. When treated with pgrs, Alchemy is rated the maximum of 9 for resistance to lodging, a very important characteristic.

Although Alchemy will be classified as a Group 4 variety, it is a soft endosperm type with the potential to meet the requirements of the UKS export category. In addition limited distilling data has shown the variety to have very high spirit yields. The physical grain characteristics of high Hagberg Falling Number and a good specific weight offer growers very high levels of security in meeting the specifications of each of its target markets.

Claire x (Consort x Woodstock)

YIELD POTENTIAL

ALCHEMY

Gladiator

Robigus

Treated
Trials

105

105

103

Untreated Trials

90

83

85

Alchemy has a very high treated yield and the second highest untreated yield on the 2007 Recommended List.

STRAW CHARACTERS

ALCHEMY

Gladiator

Robigus

Resistance to lodging with pgr

9

8

8

Height untreated (cms)

89

83

87

Ripening (+/- Claire, + later)

+1

0

+1

 

DISEASE RESISTANCE

ALCHEMY

Gladiator

Robigus

Mildew

7

6

7

Yellow Rust

9

8

3

Brown Rust

4

8

9

Septoria tritici

7

5

6

Eyespot

6

4

4

 

GRAIN QUALITY

ALCHEMY

Gladiator

Robigus

Endosperm texture

Soft

Hard

Soft

Protein content %

11.8

11.8

11.8

Hagberg Falling Number

245

267

198

Specific Weight (kg/hl)

77.3

77.2

76.4

Thousand grain weight (gms)

(48.4)

46.7

45.7

Chopin Alveograph W

(60)

93

104

Chopin Alveograph P/L

(0.3)

0.8

All data is a partial extraction from the Nickersons website and the HGCA Recommended List 2007/8, except * which is from the NIAB Handbook 2005.  The full database can be consulted at: www.hgca.com and www.nickersonuk.com