Farm Tender

Two new Milling Oat varieties to consider - Durack and Kowari

GIWA Oat Council: Durack Oat Variety Accredited as OAT2 Only 

In a February 2017 commercial milling trial by Quaker Oats on behalf of the GIWA Oat Council, the recently released, short season variety Durack met industry requirements in terms of physical milling characteristics, however it did not meet industry standard for nutritional β-glucan content. Further nutritional testing of Durack from retained seed from previous seasons, and from new season (2017/2018) crop resulted in a number of occasions when the β-glucan content of Durack was comparable to other Oat1 eligible varieties, but at other times Durack was inferior. As a result, Durack did not adequately represent the current Oat nutritional requirements of the milling oat industry and has been accredited as OAT2 only.

GIWA Oat Council: Kowari Oat Variety Accredited as OAT1

In February 2018, a commercial milling evaluation of the recently released oat variety Kowari was undertaken by Quaker Oats on behalf of the GIWA Oat Council. Kowari met all physical and nutritional specifications in its commercial milling trial, and on that basis has been accepted into OAT1 milling classification in Western Australia.

Based on Kowari’s agronomic performance in research trials it is not expected to compete with high yielding varieties Bannister or Williams. Kowari is a cross between Mitika and a WA breeder’s line.