• High yielding winter feed wheat
• High yield potential under a wide sowing window – April until June (medium vernalisation requirement)
• Well suited to Canterbury and Southland including dryland sites
• Excellent disease resistance profile, especially for Septoria leaf blotch
FIRELIGHT is an exciting winter feed wheat cultivar bred by Limagrain UK and further developed by PGG Wrightson Grain (PGW Grain). It has a unique rich green leaf and ear colour, a spreading plant habit, medium height and moderate straw stiffness. FIRELIGHT produces a hard endosperm grain with acceptable grain quality characteristics for feed use.
FIRELIGHT has consistently demonstrated very high stable yields across a range of trial sites throughout Canterbury and Southland with potential to establish itself as one of the preferred feed wheat cultivars by growers. It is one of the leading cultivars under irrigation and excels in dryland Canterbury conditions.
CPT FIRELIGHT grain quality (4 year mean) |
Lower North Island |
Canterbury |
Southland |
---|---|---|---|
Kernel weight (1000 seed weight) | 45 | 49 | 49 |
Test weight (kg/hl) | 68 | 72 | 69 |
Protein content (%) (N% x 5.7) | 10.2 | 10.0 | 9.1 |
Screenings (%) | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.7 |
Month planted |
Typical heading dates for FIRELIGHT in Canterbury |
Late March | Early November |
Late May | Late November |
Late June | Early December |
FIRELIGHT is an intermediate maturing cultivar.
FIRELIGHT has good tillering capacity, and target plant populations should be in the mid–range appropriate for differing
sowing dates.
FIRELIGHT has good resistance to Septoria leaf blotch and stripe rust and intermediate resistance to leaf rust and mildew. In PGW Grain agronomy trials (2019/20-2021/22), FIRELIGHT has produced the highest untreated yields and fungicide responses of 0.5-2.8 t/ha. Please contact your local PGW Representative for site specific recommendations. In 2022/23 trials, under higher leaf rust pressure, FIRELIGHT produced a fungicide response of 2.8-7.2 t/ha. Considering this disease profile, a low to moderate fungicide programme is recommended with a focus on leaf rust and fusarium head blight control. Please contact your local PGW Representative for site specific recommendations.
Disease |
PGW disease nursery ratings
|
---|---|
Stripe rust | 9 |
Leaf rust | 8 |
Septoria leaf blotch | 7 |
Powdery mildew | 9 |
Fusarium head blight | 7 |