Our Cereals: Hybrid Rye
Until about 60 years ago rye had been the most important cereal in Central and Northern Europe, often referred to by our ancestors as “the grain“.
Why our hybrid rye?
Rye has been grown in Europe for generations and is know as one of the ‘resilient ancient grains’. Hybrid rye was first produced back in the 1980’s and today has a cropped area of 280k Ha across Europe. Our breeder HYBRO started to produce hybrid varieties around this time with our first variety, ‘Akkord’ registered in 1984.
In the UK, the hybrid rye crop has two main uses. In the UK and Europe it was traditionally a grain crop. This is still the case in many European countries, for example in Germany, 80% of their production is for grain. More recently Hybrid rye has been used as a feedstock for Anerobic Digestion (AD) plants for energy production. In the UK we believe this AD use is by far the greater with approximately 70% being used as whole crop in conjunction with other feedstocks for power plants. The Saaten Union variety portfolio can provide for both markets and we have particularly strong varieties for the AD sector.
Agronomically hybrid rye has many advantages over other cereal crops. It has a significantly lower Nitrogen (N) fertiliser requirement which has the benefit of reducing production costs and improving its environmental. Even with these reduced N rates hybrid rye has a comparable yield performance with wheat and is better than barley. Hybrid rye has stable yields even in difficult drought years, as our ancestors discovered, it is a ‘Resilient’ crop. It also has reduced requirement for fungicide applications when compared to other cereals. Hybrid Rye is quick growing in the spring and always ‘gets away’ in front of the weeds in a normal year. This will help with the general weed burden as the crop will suppress weed seed set, due to lack of light lower down in the canopy.
Hybrid rye uses significantly less water (25% less) to achieve the same yield as wheat or barley. This can be a huge advantage on lighter drought prone soils. A hybrid rye crop is ‘Resilient’ with regard to water use. With the onset of climate change and more challenging weather patterns a drought tolerant cereal crop that can sustain yield with reduced inputs could be of greater importance in our future rotations.
Our Varieties
Click below to view details on our varieties, and to download the Data Sheets for your records.
2024 Seminar
Saaten Union’s hybrid rye program represents a cutting-edge approach to cereal breeding, leveraging the benefits of hybridisation to enhance yield, resilience, and quality in rye varieties.
This innovative program integrates advanced breeding techniques with a deep understanding of genetics to develop hybrids that excel in diverse agricultural conditions.
The accompanying video provides a fascinating insight into Saaten Union’s hybrid rye program, showcasing the dedication and expertise behind this transformative initiative in cereal agriculture.
Viewers can gain valuable perspectives on the science and technology driving the development of superior rye varieties through this engaging video presentation.
