LongReach Plant Breeders has released Sentinel, its first wheat variety. The release marks a major milestone for LongReach joint owners AWB and Syngenta, who are investing over $14 million in the program to develop new and improved wheat varieties for Australian farmers.

Sentinel is a triple rust-resistant ASW variety (SNSW, Vic and SA) which is well-suited to the higher rainfall production areas in northeast and southwest Victoria, the higher rainfall areas of South Australia and the southern slopes of NSW. It has also performed well in limited trials in high productivity systems in northern NSW and under irrigation in the Riverina.

Sentinel’s rust resistance is multigenetic and does not rely solely on the Yr 17 gene form of resistance. This multigene resistance is expected to enhance Sentinel’s ability to resist rust in the event of a change in rust strain. Sentinel is a good agronomic type with medium-to-longer season maturity, ideally suited to mid-May seeding. It has medium length coleoptiles and is of medium height at maturity with awned heads.

It has shown good tolerance to soil acidity which is reflected in its adaptation to the higher rainfall zones of the wheat belt. At harvest it has shown good lodging and shattering resistance and typically achieves low screenings, high testweights, good grain proteins and high falling numbers.

For further information, refer to www.awbseeds.com.au for a varietal fact sheet.