Merlin Spring Oats

Merlin Spring Oats: Soars above the rest.

Merlin is the new outstanding addition to the spring oat market which delivers an unrivalled combination of yield, agronomic features and disease resistance. Merlin Spring Oat is suited to all regions in the UK and produces high quality oats when grown either organically or conventionally.

A Cope Seeds exclusive variety, Merlin spring oat is a high performing, high yielding for treated and untreated crops, and has very low screenings, suiting both the farmer and miller. It’s tall with excellent standing ability that offers a specific weight above the 50kg/hl milling oat requirement.

Merlin Spring Oats
  • The highest treated yield of any oat readily accepted by all UK millers
  • The highest resistance to lodging
  • The lowest screenings – a major benefit to the mills
  • Early to mature

Giving growers flexibility and millers confidence

In UK trials, Merlin was one of the earliest varieties to ripen. Merlin has the lowest screenings compared to any other varieties available. It offers the best all round package, giving growers the flexibility they need with an ever-reducing armoury of chemicals while retaining the miller’s confidence in quality.

To plant Merlin in spring 2025, please contact us or your merchant

Agrii

Contact the Agrii office on 0845 6073322 or email

Daltons

Contact David Huisch on 01733 222391 or email

GFP

Contact the GFP office on 01652 636444 or email

Harleys

Contact the Harley’s office on 01577 862586 or email

Pearce Seeds

Contact Richard Meecham on 01935 389226 or email

Robin Appel

Contact the Appel office on 01489 896388 or email

Wynnstay

Contact Nigel Britland on 01757 617000 or email

AHDB harvest 2022

Varieties compared
Treated Yield (%)
Untreated Yield (%)
Height (cm)
Crown rust (%)
Mildew (%)
Merlin
103
99
106
6.7
3.1
Isabel
100
91
109
4.1
11

Merlin out-yields the UK’s 3 leading spring oats both in treated and untreated trials.

AHDB 5-year mean

Varieties compared
Treated Yield (%)
Untreated Yield (%)
Merlin
103
98
Isabel
101
88
Canyon
101
96

Merlin offers the best lodging score of any listed variety and is the second earliest maturing variety in Scotland, and 8% higher yielding that the earliest. Merlin also scores an 8 for mildew, the top rating given to any oat.

Varieties compared
Kernel Content
Specific weight
(kg/hl)
Screenings
(over 2mm)
Lodging (%)
Ripening (+/- Isabel)
Merlin
71.7
51.1
1.7
7
-1
Isabel
73.2
53.6
2.1
8
0
Canyon
71.4
51.5
3
21
-1

Merlin’s screenings are the lowest of any listed oat which is a real bonus to the mills and specific weight is over 1% higher than Elyann. It’s this mix of low screenings, good specific weight and kernel content that is generating interest from the millers.

Spring oat sed rate
Spring oat seed rate response
“Merlin established well and had strong disease resistance... The yield was 69t from 9.3ha and the germination was sound. This was a better yield than the other spring oat variety we were growing.”
Richard Monk, Hampshire Arable Farmer
“The average yield was 11.5t/ha with the monitor reaching 14t/ha in some places,” says Mark Popplewell, who farms 2,000 hectares of arable land plus some ‘B&B pigs’, all spread over 50 miles. “We’re growing more Merlin in 2025 – the oats fit into the rotation well. We would plant more, but we have wild oats in many fields, so this limits us.”
Mark Popplewell, Lincolnshire Arable Farmer

Become a Merlin grower

Speak to the team