Australia’s largest plant breeding company, Australian Grain Technologies (AGT), have recently announced the release of a range of new field crop varieties in South Australia for the 2025 season.
At recent field days around the state, AGT Variety Support Manager Brad Koster proudly presented new varieties to growers. One of the varieties he is most excited about is AGT’s first Clearfield barley, Bigfoot CL.
“Bigfoot CL is closely related to the varieties that offer good early vigour such as Compass and Commodus CL, however Bigfoot CL has reduced overall height and we have observed less lodging than other ‘Compass-style’ varieties,” Brad said.
“Bigfoot CL offers very high yields, particularly in low-to-medium rainfall environments.
“Like other varieties in its family, Bigfoot CL offers a very good physical grain quality package, producing low levels of screenings, high retentions, and high test weights.
“We believe Bigfoot CL has the potential to become a very important variety for many SA growers”
Other new releases in SA include;
Shotgun wheat – Setting a new main season yield benchmark
A clear Scepter replacement, with a significant yield advantage.
The next yield jump on from. Calibre.
Mid-season maturity, similar to Scepter.
Agronomically very similar to Scepter.
AH quality classification.
Avoca wheat – A slow-maturing spring wheat with AH quality
Ideally suited to high-rainfall zones.
Slow to very-slow maturity, over a week slower than Rockstar.
AH quality classification in VIC/SA.
Very high top-end yield potential.
Relatively compact plant canopy.
Good physical grain quality characteristics.
Improved stripe rust resistance over Rockstar and LRPB Trojan.
Good powdery mildew resistance and useful level of septoria tritici blotch resistance.
Brighton wheat – higher-yielding replacement for Illabo wheat
Dual-purpose winter wheat, suitable for grazing and grain production.
A higher-yielding alternative to Illabo, EGA Wedgetail and LRPB Kittyhawk.
Quick-mid winter maturity, slightly quicker than Illabo.
Improved test weight compared with Illabo and EGA Wedgetail.
Improved yellow leaf spot resistance over Illabo and EGA Wedgetail.
More susceptible to powdery mildew than Illabo.
AH quality classification in SA.
Pegasus AX barley– A new CoAxium barley (after the release two years ago of Titan AX) but with a shorter ‘Hindmarsh’ plant type
Carries CoAXium® herbicide tolerance (Aggressor® herbicide).
A derivative of Rosalind with a similar plant type, offering a shorter plant structure and lower risk of lodging than the ‘Compass’ plant types like Titan AX.
Wide adaptation.
Quick-mid maturity, similar to Maximus CL and Rosalind.
Similar grain size as some other high yielding feed varieties including Rosalind.
Seed of new AGT varieties is now available through the AGT Affiliate network and local retailers.