New RL disease rating place DSV Theodore as UK’s most Septoria resistant wheat

DSV Theodore winter wheat has confirmed its position as the UK’s cleanest wheat being the only variety to achieve a one-year septoria tritici resistance score of 9 in the newly released AHDB 2022/23 RL disease ratings.

In a year with high levels of the disease and growing concerns over the breaking of varietal resistance, Theodore also bucked the trend of falling three–year septoria resistance scores with it’s rating rising from 8.3 for 2018 – 2020 to 8.5 for 2019 - 2021.

“DSV Theodore is undeniably the variety with the best septoria resistance score in the UK,” says DSV UK wheat breeder Dr. Matt Kerton.

“In fact, the gap between its score and the next best winter wheat for resistance to the disease widened even further over the year.

“2021 saw subdued septoria levels during the spring before the disease increased rapidly in June.

“Septoria ratings declined for most varieties with the largest of these evident in varieties with ‘Cougar’ in their parentages – which thankfully Theodore does not.”

Added to the RL for the West last year, Group 4 Theodore is a high yielding hard feed winter wheat with outstanding disease resistance across the board, he points out.

“As well as the highest septoria resistance, Theodore has the top score for Yellow Rust at 9 and a strong Brown Rust score of 7. Overall, it has a robust and all-round package for disease resistance.

“Standing at 83cm, Theodore also has good resistance to lodging in both treated and untreated plots, with no lodging seen in breeders’ plots throughout its time in trialling.”

DSV is the only company breeding wheat in the west of the UK and this gives the varieties now emerging from its domestic breeding programme wide disease resistance and resilience, Matt Kerton adds.

“DSV Champion, which has done exceptionally well in this year’s harvest results, also has a one year septoria resistance score of 8 with its three year score 2019-21 sitting at 7.7 which puts it in the top three for resistance to the disease in the revised ratings.

“In the 2021/22 AHDB candidate list, the variety also has an 8 for yellow rust plus it has orange wheat blossom midge (OWBM) resistance.

“Such varieties are taking disease resistance to new levels without the usual trade-off in yield, making them ideally suited to both high production and lower input regenerative farming approaches.”