High yields, exceptional quality and BaYMV1 and BaYMV2 resistance.
Kitty is new to the AHDB RL 2025/26. It is a very high yielding feed barley with an unrivalled specific weight and resistance to both BaYMV1 and 2.
Kitty has a very strong performance in all regions and combines this with very stiff straw, low brackling and excellent resistance to all diseases.
Kitty is from the same stable as Valerie and also has the added advantage of resistance to both strain 1 and strain2 BaYMV, important at a time when strain 2 prevalence is increasing.
The grain quality of Kitty is spectacular, with a specific weight higher than any RL variety. It looks set to be a very popular variety for the UK.
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 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 | |
|---|---|
| East T Yield (9.4 t/ha) | 104 |
| West T Yield (9.6 t/ha) | [102] |
| North T Yield (10.4 t/ha) | [108] |
| Soil Type | Light (9.8 t/ha) | Heavy (9.0 t/ha) |
|---|---|---|
| Kitty | [106] | [104] |
| KWS Tardis | 103 | 106 |
| LG Caravelle | 104 | 106 |
| Annual Yields | 2022 (9.9 t/ha) | 2023 (10.0 t/ha) | 2024 (9.8 t/ha) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitty | 105 | 106 | 103 |
| KWS Tardis | 102 | 103 | 103 |
| LG Caravelle | 106 | 104 | 105 |
Exceptional Grain Quality
Kitty has exceptional grain quality with a specific weight of 72.7 kg/hl, compared to KWS Tardis at 70.1. Kitty also has very low screening losses.
| Grain Quality | |
|---|---|
| Specific weight (kg/hl) | 72.7 |
| Screenings % (<2.25mm) | 1.7 |
| Screenings % (<2.5mm) | 4.4 |
| Agronomics | |
|---|---|
| Resistance to lodging -PGR | [8] |
| Resistance to lodging +PGR | 8 |
| Straw length -PGR (cm)) | 94 |
| Straw length +PGR (cm)) | 86 |
| Brackling % | 3 |
| Ripening (days +/- KWS Orwell)) | +2 |
Source:AHDB WB RL 2025/26
| Disease Resistance | |
|---|---|
| Mildew | 6 |
| Brown rust | 5 |
| Rhynchosporium | 7 |
| Net blotch | 6 |
| BaYMV1 and BaMMV | R |
| BaYMV2 | R |
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