High yields, exceptional quality and BaYMV1 and BaYMV2 resistance.
Kitty embodies everything a winter barley grower looks for in a variety.
Having proven itself as a strong performer in all regions, Kitty is an ever-growing popular choice for growers, especially
in the North. Boasting the highest specific weight of any variety on the RL combined with very stiff straw and good
resistance to brackling, Kitty can stand up to the challenges of a difficult season.
Kitty has a moderate to fast speed of development growth habit, allowing the variety to be drilled as early as the first week in September. Supported by a solid disease package, with excellent resistance to rhynchosporium and net blotch, Kitty also has dual strain resistance to BaYMV 1 & 2.
BaYMV is a soil borne virus which infects winter barley, disseminated through contaminated soil. Chemical control is not possible, therefore it is important to grow resistant cultivars in contaminated fields. The gene rym4 is efficient and is widely deployed in European winter barley cultivars and most varieties on the RL. This gives resistance to BaYMV1.
A second strain of the virus is overcoming the rym4 resistance in France and Germany and now the UK.
Varieties like Kitty, with the rym5 gene, are resistant to this strain.
Effects of BaYMV
- Yield loss – up to 40% reported.
- Higher screenings.
- Lower specific weight.
- Lower protein content.
- Lower extract if a malting type.
Why grow KItty?
- Rym5 resistance - Protection from both BaYMV strains
1 and 2. - We have two of the only RL strain 1 and 2 resistant varieties– Valerie and now Kitty.
- Kitty offers greater protection to BaYMV, with the benefit of a superb specific weight, very high yields, good agronomics and disease resistance.
| Regional Yields | |
|---|---|
| UK T Yield (9.8 t/ha) | 103 |
| East T Yield (9.5 t/ha) | 103 |
| West T Yield (9.6 t/ha) | [101] |
| Soil Type | Light (10.2 t/ha) | Heavy (8.9 t/ha) |
|---|---|---|
| Kitty | 103 | 104 |
| KWS Tardis | 103 | 105 |
| LG Caravelle | 104 | 107 |
| Annual Yields | 2023 (10.0 t/ha) | 2024 (9.9 t/ha) | 2025 (10.0 t/ha) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitty | 105 | 102 | 102 | |
| KWS Tardis | 103 | 103 | 102 | |
| LG Caravelle | 105 | 105 | 105 |
Exceptional Grain Quality
Kitty has exceptional grain quality with a specific weight of 73.0 kg/hl, compared to KWS Tardis at 70.6. Kitty also has very low screening losses.
| Grain Quality | |
|---|---|
| Specific weight (kg/hl) | 73.0 |
| Screenings % (<2.25mm) | 1.5 |
| Screenings % (<2.5mm) | 4.2 |
| Agronomics | |
|---|---|
| Resistance to lodging -PGR | [8] |
| Resistance to lodging +PGR | 8 |
| Straw length -PGR (cm)) | 95 |
| Straw length +PGR (cm)) | 87 |
| Brackling % | 4 |
| Ripening (days +/- LG Caravelle)) | +2 |
Source:AHDB WB RL 2026/27
| Disease Resistance | |
|---|---|
| Mildew | 6 |
| Brown rust | 5 |
| Rhynchosporium | 7 |
| Net blotch | 6 |
| BaYMV1 and BaMMV | R |
| BaYMV2 | R |
MORE INFORMATION
