Australia - World's first release of oat tolerant to imiadzolinone headlines new variety releases

AUSTRALIA'S grain producers will have a range of new varietal choices following releases over recent weeks.

Headlining the new varieties is a world-first oat tolerant to imiadzolinone (imi), a widely used herbicide in Australian cropping systems.

Intergrain released the imi tolerant hay oat called Kingbale at South Australia's Hart Field Days earlier in the month.

Bred by Michael Materne, well known for his work in the pulse industry, the oat cultivar, formerly known by its breeding code GIA1701, was developed by Grains Innovations Australia (GIA) and will be commercialised by Intergrain following a recent agreement with GIA.

According to Dr Materne, Kingbale offered growers a new herbicide option for their oaten hay rotations that will allow for significantly improved weed control.

 "While looking over the fence from our pulse trials, we saw weedy oat crops and quickly learnt that herbicide options were very limited," he said.

He said the crop was suited to growing where there was imi residue that would mean a non-tolerant variety was susceptible to herbicide damage.

"Kingbale's imiadazolinone tolerance supports the variety as an excellent option where there are residue concerns from imidazolinone use in previous crops," Dr Materne said.

A tall oat variety, Kingbale has good early vigour and preliminary data shows it has a similar disease profile to Wintaroo.

Intergrain chief executive Tress Walmsley said the oat variety was ideally suited to South Australia's Mid North a large export oaten hay producer.

She said Intergrain would continue to have an increased focus on oats into the future.

"Kingbale is the first of what we like to call the new oat dynasty, with other lines in the GIA pipeline also set to deliver agronomic and yield benefits that will boost Australian oat and oaten hay production and profitability for growers," Ms Walmsley said.

Meanwhile, Intergrain is also quietly excited about its new wheat, Rockstar, launched with both the Western Australian and easter markets in mind.

Rockstar is designed for the mid to late flowering maturity bracket.

Rockstar is pitched as a Magenta replacement in the west, while in the east Intergrain believes it could take hectares off Trojan in SA and Victoria.

The new variety has yielded well in trials across a range of environments and has Australian Hard classification in the southern zone, with Intergrain awaiting classification for WA and southern NSW.

Ms Walmsley said it answered growers requests to spread their variety and time of sowing risks.

Meanwhile, newcomer to the wheat seeds market, S&W are upbeat about the prospects of its winter wheat DS Bennett.

DS Bennett, designed for planting in medium rainfall zones across Victoria and southern NSW has performed well in trials in comparison to similar varieties.

Wheat breeder S&W research and development lead Nicholas Willey said the company was thrilled with the early signs.

"We are certainly seeing that our DS Bennett, as well as DS Pascal, are widely delivering excellent results for growers seeking dual-purpose wheat options in these unpredictable seasons," said Mr Willey.

He said the variety could be used as part of a frost management strategy due to its flowering window.