United Kingdom
November 1, 2022
It’s been a tough season for forage maize, with dry conditions affecting establishment and development of many crops across the UK and eventually bringing harvest forward by several weeks, reducing yields and quality.
Some varieties have fared better than others. Mark Davies of Gloucestershire-based Green Farm Seeds says RGT Pixxon, a new early hybrid from RAGT Seeds, has put in an above-average performance on customers’ farms, despite the difficulties.
“Seed supplies were very limited but we managed to get enough packs out on farm to give the variety a good test,” says Mark. “Unfortunately, in such a difficult season it was sometimes almost impossible to draw meaningful conclusions between any varieties, in trials and on farm.
“That said, unlike some other varieties, RGT Pixxon didn’t let us down and it did a job, sometimes a very good job, under the circumstances. Overall, it punched above its weight for the year with many of my growers saying they would grow it again.
“We look forward to evaluating it under better circumstances in 2023. It is definitely a variety to look out for.”
The variety has a reputation of exceeding its official trials results in the field, says Mark. “RGT Pixxon has exceptional all-round standing power and disease resistance, as well as very good cob presentation and retention, which makes it a great choice for favourable and less favourable areas alike,” he adds.
David Ramdhian, head of forage crops at RAGT Seeds, believes RGT Pixxon has a strong future, particularly considering previous years’ results.
“It has performed well in merchant trials and looked very good in the field, displaying excellent consistency across different sites and soils, which has become the hallmark of RAGT’s maize varieties including favourites such as Agiraxx, RGT Duxxbury and RGT Oxxgood.
“We are just starting to receive official data trials in UK and Europe and received some today from Belgium where RGT Pixxon is leading in feed quality.”
David believes RGT Pixxon’s earliness, high dry matter yields and good standing power will add to the attraction.
Across three years of breeders’ screening trials at four sites in the west and south of England, the variety produced an average dry matter yield of 19.55t/ha, around 1t/ha better than controls.
RGT Pixxon has already attracted keen interest among merchants in the western side of the country, and also in the east for both biogas and forage.
“We also have a family of new varieties coming through, which will help us further improve our offer to growers,” says David.
“There are some potentially significant developments which we will be demonstrating as these varieties move nearer to commercial uptake.”
RGT Pixxon
- Early maturing – FAO 180
- Very good cob presentation and retention
- Exceptional all-round standing power
- Exceptional disease resistance including fusarium and smut
- Early maturity with no yield or quality penalties
- Suitable for marginal later sowing or earlier harvesting
- High starch and digestibility
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