PROMISING trial results of a new long-season variety wheat could see DS Pascal become a regular feature in cropping programs across the WA grainbelt.
Produced by Dow Seeds, DS Pascal is a spring wheat ideal for early sowing in medium to high rainfall areas.
The variety has just received APW classification in WA and was on show at the 2017 Southern Dirt Techspo in Katanning last week.
Seednet WA regional manager David Clegg said DS Pascal gave growers the option to sow wheat in April and early May to achieve greater yields.
“The scenario often is that farmers finish sowing canola and they’re ready to sow some cereals but the varieties that they’re growing aren’t necessarily suited to an early sowing and that’s generally because of frost,” Mr Clegg said.
“This is where a new variety of ours called DS Pascal comes in, its flowering time is about 10 days longer than Trojan which is probably the longest maturing variety that growers are growing at the moment and that probably then translates to about 20 days longer than Mace.
“With a variety such as Pascal it really shows that by sowing it early you’re going to increase your yield potential to get the best result.
“It will allow growers to sow into early moisture once they’ve completed canola sowing programs and it’s something that you’ll be able to sow deeper than canola.”
DS Pascal is rated as resistant to powdery mildew and performed well when affected by sprouted grain.
With a high falling number rating, Mr Clegg said DS Pascal was particularly well-suited to parts of the South Coast where rain during harvest was a common occurrence.
He said interest in the new long-season variety wheat was building following positive trial results conducted by the South East Premium Wheat Growers Association (SEPWA) last year.
“A site at Hopetoun sown on April 26 was the highest yielding variety compared to Revenue wheat, and at Neridup when sown on April 5 it was again the highest yielding wheat available,” Mr Clegg said.
“I think where people have been looking for season varieties they’ve often been sowing them in that normal mid-May sowing window?
“With a variety such as Pascal it shows that by sowing it early you’re going to increase your yield potential to get the best results.”
