AGT-Colt

AGT-Colt is very closely related to Yitpi, and offers many of the same benefits that growers have experienced with that variety, including AH quality, a sound physical grain quality package, photoperiod-driven maturity, CCN resistance, and a taller plant type. However, AGT-Colt also offers an exceptional, market leading over-all disease resistance package, with resistance to the three rusts, adequate protection from powdery mildew and septoria tritici, and importantly for Mallee growers, good yellow leaf spot.

In recent years, the ‘Scepter’ family of wheats have dominated wheat plantings across SA and Victoria, with varieties from the ‘Yitpi’ family moving aside.

However, the Yitpi style of wheat has historically been very popular, particularly in Mallee environments, and for good reason: these varieties, which also include Frame and more recently Cutlass, offer good early vigour (important on sandy paddocks or those with high weed burdens), increased plant height (favoured in low-biomass producing environments or rocky paddocks), and photoperiod-driven maturity (which allows the plant to delay flowering until the days get longer in spring, therefore potentially mitigating frost risk).

AGT-Colt has advanced through our breeding program to answer calls from growers looking for an updated Yitpi type; something growers have not had access to since Cutlass was released ten seasons ago.

AGT-Colt performs best relative to comparators when subject to an elongated season, either through early germination (late April to early May in SA/Vic) or a longer, favourable spring, and less so in later, main season sowings. Therefore we see AGTColt as primarily a risk mitigation tool, to be used in areas concerned with high disease pressure or perhaps frost; or for those that are looking to take advantage of earlier planting opportunities into a wet soil profile.