UK Pumped Over New Bean Varieties

LONDON - Jul 7/14 - SNS -- Plant breeders in the United Kingdom are excited about the potential for new spring bean varieties because they fit into efforts to comply with new European Union Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) rules and could help overcome grass weed problems, believes LS Plant Breeding Ltd (LSPB).

The company reports significant 2015 season interest in LSPB variety Vertigo, which is now on the 2014 PGRO Recommended List with a P2 provisional listing. That interest comes on the back of promising pre-harvest showings on a number of farms across the UK which were among early adopters of the variety. At 109% of controls, Vertigo is the highest-yielding spring bean on the Recommended List of Spring Beans, and a game-changing 11% above long-term benchmark Fuego.

With interest growing rapidly in spring beans because of grass weed control issues across large parts of the UK, and the impending third crop rule, Vertigo's significant yield advantage over other spring bean types means it offers the final piece of the jigsaw that many farmers have been looking for.

Based on probable 2015 seed sales, when the likely 2015 acreages of LSPB's spring bean varieties Fury, Fanfare and Vertigo are added together, they could well cover half of the national crop acreage.

"The extent of the yield advantage it offers means Vertigo can perform much more strongly in gross output terms than other spring crop alternatives," suggests LSPB's Craig Padley. "Add to this the additional spring crop benefits of a better distribution of drilling, spraying and harvest workloads, plus the residual nitrogen and soil structure benefits provided by a pulse crop, and the opportunity to use different herbicide chemistry, and the advantages of a high-yielding spring bean become clear."