Sultan samples offer encouraging feedback from North African buyers.

Sultan is a very exciting new winter bean variety for UK farmers, offering very early maturity and short stiff straw.

Commercial results have been encouraging from 2009 harvest with many 5t/Ha crops.

Sultan has very early maturity and short stiff straw. It also combines very high yield with a pale skin and white hilum making it a highly desirable contender for the export market.
Sultan offers simply the best agronomic package and possibly the very best gross margin opportunity from any bean variety currently in the market place.

 

 

Breeders trials data (5 years, 2005 – 2009)

MEAN YIELD	STANDING 9 = GOOD	EARLINESS 9 = EARLY	HEIGHT 9 =SHORT	TGW
SULTAN	103%	9	9	9	550
WIZARD	103%	8	8	8	675
ARTHUR	105%	7	8	7	655
CLIPPER	99%	5	6	5	650

Sultan has been in breeders trials since 2003 and agronomy scores have been consistently good throughout this time – highlighting its short very stiff straw and very early maturity. Official trials have been inconclusive this season however with many official trials being lost due to the difficult establishment conditions of last Autumn.

Commercial evaluation has shown that if Sultan is grown on lighter land then it is important to aim for a slightly higher seed rate compared to Wizard. Sultan does not tiller as readily and benefits from a denser crop canopy. It is perhaps more suited to medium to heavy land and certainly further North where the early maturity will be a good advantage. This does not preclude Sultan from being grown in any part of the UK where beans are a viable option.

The winter bean market currently has Arthur and Clipper as traditional niche feed types, Wizard as the large seeded premium export type and now Sultan will fill the niche requirement for a premium variety with short stiff straw with very early maturity.

Summary;
- Very high yield
- Very early maturity
- Very stiff straw and excellent standing ability