Two new ARC-SGI oat cultivarsentering the Southern Cape market

PETRUS DELPORT AND DR ANDRÉ MALAN, ARCSMALL GRAIN INSTITUTE, AN INSTITUTE OF THE FIELD CROPS DIVISION

The ARC-Small Grain Institute (ARC-SGI) positioned itself again as a leader in the oat industry with the release of the two oat cultivars, Simonsberg and Towerberg.

These cultivars will strengthen the oat cultivar package of the ARC-SGI in the Southern Cape and will give the oat producers the opportunity to produce cultivars with better agronomical performance and genetic protection against the common diseases in this production area.

The two varieties were selected on yield performance, disease resistance and straw strength. They also have excellent hectolitre mass values of above 47 kg/hl over the tested years. Both cultivars have better disease resistance than the current commercial cultivars in the market. Simonsberg has resistance to leaf rust and moderate resistance (10MS) to stem rust. Towerberg has moderate resistance (10MS) to both leaf and stem rust.

In order to optimise the genetic potential for yield and biomass, since both cultivars are medium to long growers, the cultivars had to be planted as early as possible in the production season. Both cultivars have a high leaf to stem biomass ratio and the cultivars plant heights range from 130 cm to 135 cm.

All-Gro seed is currently busy with seed multiplications in the Western Cape. These cultivars will be commercially available in two years’ time. For any enquiries on the cultivars, please contact Petrus Delport at (021) 887- 0045 or Dr André Malan at 072 401 7536.

This research was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Winter Cereal Trust and the ARC.