Intro: This is a GRDC podcast.

[00:00:06] Hilary Sims Hi there I'm Hilary Sims. Welcomed the GRDC's national variety trials (or NVT) new variety podcast series. Where we give breeding companies the microphone to share their new releases for the 2025 growing season. These new varieties have all been trialled through NVT, a program to help Australian grain growers make informed variety decisions by providing comparative information on topics like yield performance, disease resistance ratings and grain quality. This podcast focuses on canola. There are separate podcasts in this series for barley, field pea, lentil, lupin, oats, sorghum and wheat. First up is a national market development manager for Nuseed, Chris Roberts, sharing information about a new canola variety. Here's Chris.

[00:01:02] Chris Roberts Just here to talk today about Monola H524, which is a high alcaic low linolenic canola variety, so especially an HOLL variety. We're looking to convert our Manola program across to hybrids, moving away from from Ops. So we're in this process. H524 is the second hybrid line that we've released, and it's probably a more ideal fatty acid profile for the export market. We have been focussed on the domestic market. We've got varieties now that are coming forward. It'll give us an option to focus on the export market for this speciality market which is above 70 per cent oleic,  which is really good to see. H524 is a mid maturing variety, so similar to Trifecta and Trophy in our product range probably so sits in between those two. So about three days later than Trophy. Yield-wise, it's been quite competitive with Trophy, which is good to see. So that's a real benefit for us. And oil is definitely a step up over Trophy and our other hybrid TT lines. So very comparable to Bonito, which was an OP line, which had really good oil. Blackleg, we're looking at an R rating for blackleg, which is really good. So it matches up with our hybrid TT portfolio, which are basically all R for blackleg. AD grouping. So the D is probably doing a lot of heavy lifting there. It's got excellent early vigour, gets up and go, builds some nice biomass which then feeds into yields. It will be contracted under a closed loop contracting system with our crushing partners, MSM milling or GrainCorp oils. So growers will need to just double check with their local agronomist local seed store that they are able to grow or have delivery points in their local area. NVT's first year in 2022 and then last year 2023, we had sort of side by side strip trials, what we call cat trials, where it performed quite well and we had limited release this year, 2024, and for commercial release for 2025.

[00:02:54] Hilary Sims Next up is Western Australia's seed specialist for BASF, Declan Sephton, sharing two new canola varieties. Here's Declan.

[00:03:05] Declan Sephton For 2025, BASF and Vigour will be launching two varieties. Both have triple trait technology being true flex and liberty technology herbicide tolerance added with our podguard trait. First one I'd like to cover is the InVigor lR5040P. LR5040P gives you a double stack to herbicide tolerance so you can use the liberty linked technology system or the true flex herbicide tolerance or either or. It is a mid-season variety commonly known as a five series. It has a blackleg rating with the lever seed treatment of R and the Blackleg group is AB. Why choose LR5040? It has outstanding NVT results both for yield and oil. Perfect for sowing a program that also includes early mid varieties like our LR4540P to manage risk and maximise the upside on yields if the season allows. Podguard gives you that protection at harvest. Our exclusive Podguard is our exclusive shatter reduction traits which makes our podguard varieties more resilient through storms, heatwaves, wind events, more resilient to late windrowing or direct heading, giving you less loss of seed than conventional equivalents, but gives you a chance to wait for extra pot fill to boost your yields. Then going on to our second variety being released in 2025 is LR3540P giving the some herbicide tolerance in the use of the Liberty Link system or the true flex glyphosate system. The difference being is the maturity length in this variety. It is an early season variety. Being a three and a half series. Also has a Blackleg rating with the lever seed treatment of R and the blackleg group is also AB. This early maturity variety is well suited to lower rainfall areas and a good risk cover when sowing in combination with other varieties. It's the first and only maturity variety which allows you to manage risks at sowing and harvest too. At sowing it is backed by a 45 day replacement seed establishment guarantee and harvest we give you the Podguard trait which gives you that flexibility at harvest to minimise shattering whether it is windrowing or direct heading.

[00:05:41] Hilary Sims Joining me now is Genetic Seeds technical support manager, South east Alex Lucas with the details on six new canola varieties. Here's Alex.

[00:05:52] Alex Lucas So the first thing I want to cover off on is Pioneer's new naming convention that was introduced a couple of years ago. So the first letter is P for Pioneer. Pretty straightforward. The next letter is Y for the Y series. So this is from our pipeline that growers and agronomists are familiar with. The first number then represents the hybrid's maturity fit. So, for example, the number 3 is a quick hybrid to maturity. The following numbers are then consecutive, so just in the order in which the hybrid was named. Lastly, the letters on the end represent the hybrids herbicide tolerance. So now that we're familiar with the naming convention, let's jump into Pioneer's several new hybrid offerings for 2025 season. So firstly, in our roundup ready space we're offering PY428R. This joins the last of our roundup ready cohort and has genuine early to mid maturity phenology as well as mid to fast start of flowering. It also has exceptional yield performance for its maturity. This hybrid is best suited to a range of environments. However, I best see it's fit in a low to medium rainfall zone. PY428R also has excellent standability and shatter tolerance package. We're also offering another Optimum gly hybrid. PY323G joins our already existing optimum gly line up with a different maturity fit. It's an early to start flower and comes in quite quick. Its yield for maturity is exceptional. It's best suited to our low to medium rainfall zones. So WA, mallee regions, this is a great option for you guys. One of our new hybrids that we're quite excited about is our first optimum gly Clearfield hybrid PY424GC. The combination hybrid offering greater flexibility with herbicide packages to tackle high pressure products also offers an option coming out of the residual paddock from our barley, oats, wheat or lentil rotation and offers the ability to come in with a crucial or weed master application at optimum gly rates to control any escape weeds. This hybrid is an early to start of flower and a mid for maturity allowing it into a range of diverse environments. However, the best suited to a low to medium rainfall zone. In our Clearfield offering,  PY327C. This hybrid is a companion hybrid to our existing Y92CL. It's an early to start of flower and a maturity. Again, great yield for maturity best suited to a low and medium rainfall zone. So another option for Mallee, northern New South Wales type of environments. Another exciting hybrid for a 2025 season is our first straight triazine tolerant hybrid backed by our Y series Genetics. PY429T offers outstanding yield for maturity paired with great standability and shatter tolerance due to its different phonology class. It is best suited to a range of different environments, however best suited to a medium to high rainfall zone. Its unique phonology is an early to start of flower, but a mid to maturity. Pioneer recently launched its first hybrid in a speciality oil segment. PN526C is our first hybrid in the healthier, more sustainable oil market. So remembering back to our naming convention, the N in this hybrid represents nexera offering. This makes up the Omega 9 pipeline, which is the unique fatty acid profile in the omega 9's to develop healthier foods while preserving its function known qualities such as longer shelf life and cleaner fry life. So this hybrid is ideally suited to a higher rainfall environments with a mid maturity and flowering package.

[00:10:08] Hilary Sims That's a wrap from our canola breeders. And just a reminder that the national variety trials or NVT program is completely independent, funded and managed by GRDC to provide growers with reliable information to assist in variety choice. As well as individual plant breeder websites, all the information about the varieties featured in this podcast can be found at nvt.grdc.com.au. I'm Hilary Sims and you've been listening to GRDC podcast.