MAXIMUS CL has come out on top at Ashley Jacobs' property, Stanley Hill at Corrigin.
With high yields, good retention, and the potential to deliver into a malt segregation, Maximus CL offers the full package for Mr Jacobs.
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He farms with his parents and wife in Bilbarin, north of Corrigin.
The family runs a mix-cropping and sheep enterprise with the cropping program consisting of wheat, barley and canola.
They put Maximus CL to the test in 2021 after many years of growing Scope CL and Spartacus CL.
"I spent some time researching varieties that would suit our area and chose Maximus CL for its higher yield potential, herbicide tolerance, good head retention, and the potential to deliver into the malt stack," Mr Jacobs said.
After excellent results in 2021, Maximus CL made up 100 per cent of the 2022 barley program across 730 hectares.
The growing season delivered an array of challenges for the Jacobs family, with waterlogging affecting large areas of the farm.
Stanley Hill received 330 millimetres from April 1 to October 15, well above their annual growing season average of closer to 200mm.
"The season has made fungicide applications difficult, with trafficability limited over the winter and planes booked out," Mr Jacobs said.
"Maximus CL's disease resistance has been a step up on Spartacus CL.
"In an ideal world, you'd apply fungicide at the perfect timing, but in the season we've had, we couldn't get onto the paddock or organise a plane to get over the paddock at the right time, so the improved disease resistance package of Maximus has given us peace of mind.
"We also like that Maximus CL has a slightly later maturity than Spartacus CL, allowing us to plant earlier with more confidence."
The benefit of Maximus CL's imidazoline tolerance was also an important consideration for Mr Jacobs when he decided to adopt a new barley variety.
"The imi chemistry is critical for weed control, particularly targeting barley grass and wild oat control, and we manage the residual by following our barley paddocks with a pasture fallow," he said.
Waterlogging throughout the season hindering establishment and hail damage late in the season had an impact on yield.
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"We had yield expectations around 4t to 4.5t however the wet areas reduced yield to 1t/ha, with the Maximus averaging mid to high 3t/ha across the program," Mr Jacobs said.
"Although disappointed with the season's impact on yield, we were pleased with the quality and most of the Maximus met malt specs with good protein and screenings, although we were downgraded a few times with germ end staining, likely due to the late rain."
InterGrain barley breeder David Moody said Maximus CL had been well adopted across the barley-growing regions as a high yielding malting barley with improved disease and quality over its predecessor Spartacus CL.
"The quality attributes of Maximus CL can add value across the supply chain, with growers reaping the rewards of improved yield and disease resistance, transporters enjoying high test weight and maltsters higher malt extract and diastatic power," Mr Moody said.
InterGrain offers market leading wheat, barley and oat varieties.
Its highly successful wheat and barley breeding programs and new oat breeding program are designed to target Australia's major cereal growing regions of Australia.
For more information on Maximus CL or any other InterGrain variety, call southern territory manager on 0439 093 166 or northern territory manager Rachel Asquith on 0483 311 901.
