Winter Wheat

The Limagrain Group has wheat-breeding programmes in the UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Spain and Israel. Varieties from these programmes are marketed internationally under the LG brand. Whilst the breeder in each country specialises in producing varieties for their own climate, the exchange of material between programmes allows varieties to be studied across a range of environments. This means LG varieties have been tested for consistency of performance under widely varying conditions long before they ever reach the farmer.

In the UK the Limagrain UK wheat-breeding programme is based at Woolpit in Suffolk. This is the largest wheat breeding programme in the UK and uses a combination of traditional plant breeding techniques and modern technologies such as Molecular Markers and Doubled Haploid production in the search for new improved varieties with good end-user grain characteristics. Farmer-friendly agronomic characteristics also feature strongly in the strategy of our wheat breeding team.

Do you have a question for our wheat breeders? The UK programme is led by Simon Berry, Ron Granger and Paul Rowe, based at Woolpit. You can submit a question for them or the other members of the breeding team by clicking on the 'Ask a Breeder' button at the top of this page.

Winter wheat varieties can vary considerably in their ability to produce tillers. This feature needs to be used when deciding on the seed rate and drilling date for a crop.  The relative tillering capacities  - expressed as low, medium or high – for the main LG varieties are set out in the table below.

This is for guidance only because tiller production (and survival) is also influenced by sowing date and site fertility.

Source: Limagrain UK