Western Australia growers keen for new milling oat

The Department of Agriculture, Western Australia has released the first provisional milling quality dwarf oat for Western Australian growers.

Department Director General Ian Longson said the new Kojonup* oat would be widely sought after by growers if it achieved milling grade or as a high quality on-farm feed variety.

Kojonup is expected to perform best in Agzones 2, 3 and 6 taking in all the major oat production areas.

“Kojonup delivers a similar overall yield to dwarf oat varieties Dalyup and Wandering*, but has significantly better milling quality.  It out-yields current tall milling oat varieties by 15-20 per cent,” Mr Longson said.

“Compared to other milling varieties tested in the quality evaluation program, Kojonup has an excellent milling performance as it is easily dehulled and has a lower groat breakage than current milling varieties including Carrolup*, Mortlock, Coomallo*, Hotham* and Pallinup*.” 

Mr Longson said based on its performance in laboratory milling tests, Kojonup was being released as a provisional milling oat variety.  Milling tests would be conducted on Kojonup in late 2005/early 2006 to determine a final classification.

Kojonup is of similar height to Dalyup with excellent straw strength and shedding resistance.  On average Kojonup flowers five days earlier than Dalyup, with similar maturity to Carrolup.

Kojonup also has a large seed size, high groat percentage, good hectolitre weight, good grain brightness and low screenings.  It is resistant to leaf rust in Western Australia.

Mr Longson said Kojonup’s high grain quality would also make it an excellent feed oat variety. 

He said the high groat percentage, high digestibility and metabolisable energy, lower Beta-Glucan and lower hull lignin made Kojonup a better feed option compared with other dwarf varieties including Dalyup and Wandering. 

Mr Longson said Kojonup was likely to be the last line bred by Robyn McLean and the Department’s oat breeding team, as new work was coordinated through the national Oat Breeding Program. He commended Dr McLean on behalf of WA growers for her leadership in this area over many years. 

* indicates varieties protected by Plant Breeder’s Rights.