Growers benefit from high-yielding pea

A high-yielding green pea is delivering good marketability, downy mildew resistance and decent standing power.

Justin Barrett, of pulse traders Askew & Barrett, says he has seen some good quality samples of Bluetime from the 2021 harvest. “With colour retention greatly affected by geographical weather patterns, it has generally held its colour well.

“In a year when early samples of green peas were noticeably better than usual, the quality received soon deteriorated once the rain came. But Bluetime continued to more than hold its own with regards to size, colour retention and cooking performance.”

Maximum value

The good colour meant samples have achieved maximum contract values, says Mr Barrett. Along with the good seed size and cooking performance, many open market crops  are finding their way into export markets for human consumption, he adds.

Chris Guest, managing director of LS Plant Breeders, said it was reassuring news for pulse growers who have been wary of combining peas because of concerns about issues like standing ability and ease of harvest.

Good attributes

Varieties like Bluetime, Stroma, Blueman and Greenwich each have one or more positive agronomic characters – such as high thousand seed weight, high downy mildew resistance, high resistance to powdery mildew and good standing power.

LSPB’s yellow pea Orchestra has the highest thousand seed weight on the descriptive list with high standing power. Marrowfat pea growers can look to a substantial yield boost over older varieties with Akooma, which is the highest yielding marrowfat pea on the list, says Mr Guest.

“We have more improved varieties in prospect for spring 2023 sowing – Carrington is the highest yielding pea on the entire PGRO combining pea descriptive list with high standing ability plus good resistance to downy mildew.”