Maximus CL has been a standout in its first season at Shane and Sharon McKenna’s farm in the Jandowae area of South East Queensland.
Shane was looking for a new barley that would suit his farming system and have improved lodging tolerance, and Maximus CL proved to be a winner.
With the season throwing plenty of weather-related challenges, Shane was happy with how his Maximus CL crop grew in the wet year.
“A lot of the lower country was waterlogged as there was 129mm rain prior to plant (May and June) and 245 mm rain in crop,” Shane said.
“The Maximus stood up well and was easy to harvest. There were only a few areas where it lodged along some headlands and in the very best areas of the paddock.
“The crop ended up averaging 4.7t/ha which we were very happy with.”
Sown on the 30th of June at 45kg/ha with 43kg/ha StarterZ, Maximus CL emergence was good considering there was 35mm rain directly after planting.
The benefit of Maximus CL’s imidazoline tolerance is an important consideration for Shane when choosing a barley variety.
Shane will typically use Imazapic at the start of a long fallow to assist with summer grass weed control which will then be planted back to barley the following winter.
“The ability to spray Intervix over Maximus CL will be useful to target in-crop weeds, such as wild oats and late germinating summer grasses including feathertop Rhodes and barnyard grass,” said Shane.
“Unfortunately, this season we weren’t able to get any Intervix on in-crop as it was too wet and the plants were too advanced when it eventually dried out enough, however having the imi tolerance with Maximus will be helpful in reducing our weed burden.
“Along with good yield, the grain quality was very good with good test weights of 67-68kg/hL, low screenings and protein between 11%-12% meeting Malt 1 spec, although unfortunately there is no segregation locally for Malt.
“Overall we were happy with the performance of Maximus and will be retaining enough seed to plant 100% of our barley area to Maximus CL next season”.
InterGrain barley breeder David Moody said the Maximus CL has been well adopted across barley-growing regions as a high yielding malting barley with improved disease resistance and quality over its predecessor Spartacus CL.
“The quality attributes of Maximus CL can add value across the supply chain, with growers reaping the rewards of improved yield and disease resistance, and transporters enjoying high test weight,” Mr Moody said.
For more information on Maximus CL or any other InterGrain variety, get in contact with your local Territory Manager.
Matt Naumann, Northern NSW & QLD Territory Manager
mnaumann@intergrain.com or 0460 292 620
Shane McKenna harvesting his Maximus CL crop
