Four new pea and bean varieties added to Descriptive List

Spring bean varieties LG Viper, LG Sphinx and Allison have joined winter bean Norton on the PGRO’s 2021 Descriptive List.

LG Viper, bred by Limagrain UK, joins the list as the joint highest yielding variety alongside Stella.

In trials it returned a yield of 108% which is 2% higher than Lynx, the highest yielding five-year variety.

From the same breeder, LG Sphinx has a recorded yield of 103%.

Allison, from LS Plant Breeding, is a low vicine/convicine type yielding 102% – just 2% behind Victus, the highest yielding year five-year variety of this type.

Winter bean Norton, bred by Senova, has early maturity and a yield of 107%.

Key information relating to the four varieties are published and searchable for growers through the Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO’s) website.

Principal Technical Officer Steven Belcher said: “We are pleased to see four more varieties gain National Listing and to add them to our Descriptive List.

“The new-look list gives breeders the freedom to innovate in the knowledge that their products will be independently trialled and presented without judgement.

“The ethos is to present good quality data for growers and to let the market decide which products will prevail.

“As growers look towards planting in 2021 and beyond, there is no better time to take advantage of the PGRO’s wealth of information through its technical expertise and the Descriptive List.”