Hybrid Winter Rye Recommended Varieties.

Rye is a relatively new crop in Ireland, but open pollinated rye has been grown here since historical times as it was valued for its ability to yield in low fertility soil and for its straw as thatching. Hybrid rye has unique characteristics that make it a very useful cropping option on arable farms.

Since 2016, Seedtech been working with farmers, merchants and end-users with a view to establishing Hybrid Rye in the Irish market. The markets for rye are developing in Ireland but in Denmark and Germany, grain is well known to animal nutritionists as it is widely fed to pigs. Whole crop rye silage is an excellent animal feed with starch levels comparable to maize silage and it is very popular feedstock for anaerobic digestors.

Rye can tolerate take-all and BYDV allowing it to be drilled from mid-September. Secondly, rye is very winter hardy, drought resistant and can out-yield other cereals in low fertility situations. Lastly, rye appears to be relatively unaffected by wet weather diseases such as Septoria and is very harvest stable, as it is quite sprouting resistant when compared to other cereals. Overall, there are several situations where rye could be more suitable than other grains on Irish farms.