22. September 2023
After several years of intensive testing, we now recommend LEXY alongside LEANDRA as another option for autumn sown Spring Barley in Germany.
Saatzucht Breun with its distributor Hauptsaaten were the pioneers in the German market to focus on the spring barley autumn sowing. We continue to pursue this strategy with new varieties. In addition to our own extensive cultivation trials on varieties, sowing time, seed rate and winter hardiness, we are also analysing the official trials, which are now available on a broader scale. Observing that each variety grown in autumn requires different management, we offer individual variety cultivation instructions, e.g., Anbauempfehlung für Lexy von Hauptsaaten pdf (in German).
LEXY is developed worldwide and fully recommended by the Berlin Program, hence the unrestricted commercialisation enables permits reliable sales. LEXY combines many good characteristics that ideally enables this variety both for autumn and spring cultivation. It has a low susceptibility to rhynchosporium and net blotch and impresses with a sustainable yield stability and top processing quality. The winter hardiness of LEXY is above average. We recommend LEXY for autumn sowing for farmers who have already collected autumn cultivation experiences.
The autumn sowing success is crucially influenced by the sowing date. Depending on the region, it should not be too early. From mid-October to mid-December, it seems to be beneficial, in order to minimize the infection risk with fungal diseases and viruses. On the other hand, a sowing date must not be chosen too late either, as plants in the vulnerable 3-leaf stage in particular have a lower winter hardiness. It is important to approach this individually for each cultivation site.
N fertilisation should be based on the local yield potential, which is approximately similar to winter barley. If N is insufficient, there is a risk of deductions due to low protein content! Spring fertilising needs to consider the higher tillering potential of spring barley sown in autumn, compared to winter barley. Any N saved here should be made up for when fertilising for heading. Especially most likely due to favourable weather conditions and sufficient water supply a very high yield is possible.
In terms of plant protection, the announcement by the German “Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety” on 10.08.2023 clarified that summer crops in autumn sowings are to be treated as winter crops under plant protection law. To spread the risk and secure the domestic supply of raw materials for malting plants and breweries, growers should choose between spring barley sown in spring, spring barley sown in autumn or winter malting barley sowing. All three systems have advantages and disadvantages that need to be assessed on a regional basis.
Herbstaussaat von Sommergerste
(page in German with all relevant information at breun.de)
Further information:
Breun Seed GmbH & Co. KG
Dr. Ernst Loop loop@breun.de
Dirk Hämke haemke@breun.de
