[00:00:06] Hilary Sims Hi there, I'm Hilary Sims. Welcome to 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 varietal decisions by providing comparative information on topics like yield performance, disease resistance ratings and grain quality. This podcast focuses on sorghum, barley and oat. There are separate podcasts in this series for canola, field pea, lentil, lupin and wheat. First up is Pioneer Seeds Summer Crop Portfolio Manager Ben Vercoe, based in Toowoomba. He's sharing the details of two new sorghum varieties. Here's Ben.

[00:01:04] Ben Vercoe So for the coming season for Pioneer Seeds, we'll be introducing two new grain sorghum hybrids, the first being 84A50, or commonly referred to as A50, and the second being 84A90, as we'll be calling A90. A50 has been a fantastic performer this year in NVT trials for the 2023 season. A50, was the highest yielding hybrid in Billa Billa, Northstar, Condamine, Dysart and Kilcummin trials, and across the season yielded an average of 110 per cent of the trial mean. A50 is best suited to dryland environments with its reliable and consistent yield, as well as having upside potential if the season permits due to its flexible tiller production. A50 is identifiable in the paddock with its medium height, long spear shaped heads and a medium flowering maturity. Excellent pollen quality and quantity leads to well set heads and large grain. At harvest, A50 is very quick to dry down with and without desiccation, and has excellent head exertion, making it easier to get grain off the paddock. In summary, A50 is an excellent addition to A series grain sorghum line-up, and can be found in NVT trials for the 2024/25 season. So the next hybrid I have to introduce is 84A90 or as we'll be calling it, A90. This hybrid is a medium long maturing hybrid and well adapted to a broad range of environments in both dryland and irrigated systems. A90 has good early vigour, which sets up a strong foundation for the large semi-open primary head as well as its tillers. It has a medium to high tillering habit, with each of the tillers maturing evenly with the primary head. Good pollen quantity and quality, together with an official midge rating of five, sets up and maintains even grain set on the primary head as well as those late tillers. A90 has a good head exertion and quick dry down. So will come in quick for harvest and paired with excellent standability, it is easy to get it off the paddock. In 2023 NVT trials, A90 was able to provide consistent performance above the trial mean, averaging 104 per cent of the trial mean across all locations. Pioneer seeds looks forward to the addition of A90 to the A-series grain sorghum line-up for the 2025/26 season. For further information on both A50 and A90, I encourage you to contact your local Pioneer Seeds representative and get out to the NVT trials to have a look at them in the field.

[00:03:35] Hilary Sims Next is to Secobra Research Barley Breeder Amanda Box sharing a new barley variety, Spinnaker. Here's Amanda.

[00:03:43] Amanda Box Spinnaker is a two-row spring type that was developed by Secobra Research, and has been tested in barley NVT since 2021. Spinnaker will be commercialised by Seednet and an EPR of $4 applies to its grain production. Spinnaker has been accepted into Grains Australia's Malt Accreditation Program and is currently undergoing stage one assessment. Micro malting data show Spinnaker has a low gibberellic acid requirement and has excellent modification, and is suited to both high and medium fermentability brewing styles. Disease ratings from the 2023 NVT showed that spot form of net blotch, net form of net blotch and scald need management. It has excellent resistance against powdery mildew and barley leaf rust, and has an intermediate resistance against barley yellow dwarf virus.

[00:04:40] Hilary Sims Intergrain's Territory Manager, Western Australia, Georgia Trainor is up next. Sharing the details of a new oat variety, Goldie. Here's Georgia.

[00:04:48] Georgia Trainor Integration is really excited to have Goldie, our first milling oat variety since we took over the oat breeding program a few years ago. So Goldie is a mid maturing milling oat. It has a really strong yield package. It out yields all of the main milling varieties that are currently grown by a good few percents, so that's very handy for growers out there. It also has quite a good hay quality package from the preliminary data that we have, and we'll have more information on that at the end of this season. As for disease package, it has quite a strong disease package however, it will require a proactive septoria management. It's nothing worse than the main varieties that are currently growing, however, similarly to all the other main milling oat varieties, it does need a proactive package for septoria. One of the main advantages of Goldie is that it has an excellent grain quality package. That means it has reduced screenings and a higher test weight compared to a lot of the other milling varieties that are out there at the moment. It also has a really good early vigour and an excellent panicle emergence, and a taller plant height, which is really handy for those growers for both a milling and a hay situation, which makes this variety a good candidate, hopefully for a dual purpose option in the future. In the NVT, it's done really well, as I said, and there's a lot of seed out there for 2025, so looking forward to seeing the results after this harvest and seeing more of Goldie around next year.

[00:06:26] Hilary Sims That's a wrap from our sorghum, barley and oat 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 a GRDC podcast.