Elsoms Seeds doubles sales of winter triticale seed with varieties Tribeca and Kereon

The demand for late drilled cereal’s has barely started but varieties Tribeca and Kereon are already well on track to doubling the quantity of Winter Triticale Seed sold this autumn by the Lincolnshire based plan breeder, Elsoms Seeds, according to Sales Manager Adrian Hayler. “We have experienced a lot of interest in Triticale all summer,” commented Adrian. “The real boost has come in the last two weeks with farmers making a last minute decision to sow the crop,” he added.

Elsoms are marketing two varieties, Tribeca which topped the HGCA Descriptive list for 2013/14 and new variety Kereon. “Tribeca has attracted a strong following over the last few years with growers liking its traditional triticale traits of robust disease resistance and tall straw to complement its high output” said Bob Miles, Elsoms Agricultural Director. “It has proved to be very successful used either for whole crop silage or for grain,” commented Bob. “A lot of farmers seemed to be switching to Tribeca as a result of dissatisfaction with the disease resistance of other varieties over the last two years,“ he concluded.

Introduced at Cereals this year, Elsoms new variety Kereon is attracting a lot of attention. “Our partner, Florimond Desprez, have an extensive Triticale Breeding programme in Northern France and we selected Kereon for its ability to produce a better quality grain sample and consequently improve the potential marketing options for the crop” said Adrian. “Typically, Triticale produces specific weights in the high 60’s to low 70’s, but with Kereon we are seeing results in the range 74 to 76kgs” added Adrian.

Much of the renewed interest in Triticale is for its value as an alternative to late drilled wheat and Elsoms are expecting a busy October. “Two years ago we suddenly noticed that we were getting a lot of interest from large wheat growers and agronomists who were looking at the potential role triticale could play in black grass management programmes” said Bob. “The ADAS/HGCA research published this summer has certainly got a lot of farmers thinking about sowing triticale, so we are extending our production run in the seed plant to keep up with orders,” he added.