11 new pea and bean varieties have been added to the Processors and Growers Research Organisation (PGRO) 2026 Descriptive List for pulses. It includes seven new combining peas, two winter beans, and two spring beans.
Despite drought conditions across much of the country during the summer, new and existing material performed well, noted principal technical officer, Dr Chris Judge. A small number of trial sites failed, but the range of geographical locations used to conduct the descriptive list work produced sufficient data to analyse the material put forward by breeders.
Dr Judge said: “We use data gathered from five years of trials to compare varietal performance against a number of criteria, including yield, maturity, and disease resistance.
“The control yield for peas, spring beans and winter beans were all very similar to the previous year, despite the impact of the weather.”
Combining peas
Two yellow combining peas were added to the list. KWS Telegram, which is the newest highest-yielding yellow pea variety with a yield of 117%, and Cushla (Senova) with a yield of 109% of controls.
In the green pea category, a new variety now tops the list for yield too. KWS Arkam has very late maturity and a yield of 114%. It’s joined by other debutants Bullet (NPZ UK), and Limagrain’s Mamba. All of the new green varieties have a good downy mildew score of six.
The past few years have seen several new marrowfats come into development with yield improvements. New variety Yoshi (NPZ UK) joins Midori as the joint top-yielder in this category, achieving 99% of control. Nyx (Elsoms) also joins the list as a new marrowfat variety with a yield of 94% and a downy mildew rating of 6.
Winter beans
Two new varieties have been added. Patagonia (NPZ UK) stands alone as the earliest-maturing bean on the whole list with a rating of 8, while Hepworth (Senova) is the only variety to have a rating of 6 for bean rust.
In 2025 a lot of winter bean trials were very short in stature with lowered branching due to stressors throughout the season, including spring drought.
Spring beans
Two low-vicine, low-convicine (LVC) lines have been assessed and added to the spring bean list for 2026. This means that they can be included at higher rates in some animal feeds. Callas (Saaten Union) has a yield of 103% and has a downy mildew rating of 4, as well as being early maturing for a spring bean with a rating of 7, and it has a high protein content of 28%.
Maderas (NPZ) is another LVC line joining the list, with a good downy mildew resistance rating of 6, combined with the digestibility trait, and a yield of 98%. Many spring bean trials suffered in the dry and warm conditions in 2025.
The top yielding lines on the list are Notilus (Senova) and LG Eagle (Limagrain), with yields at 107% and 105% of controls respectively. These were new additions to the list last year and may still have limited seed availability as production is scaled up. This will also be the case for the new lines, however there are several varieties with only marginally lower yield results in trials that are more widely available. LG Viper remains the most disease resistant line with a score of 8 for downy mildew and 7 for rust.
The full Descriptive List for Pulses and Vining Peas can be found in the latest issue of The Pulse and The Vegetable Magazine here.
Combining Peas
- KWS Telegram is the newest highest yielding variety for yellow peas with 117%
- Cushla has a yield of 109% and a downy mildew rating of 7
- KWS Arkam is the highest yielding green pea and has a maturity rating of 3
- Bullet has an earlier maturity than KWS Arkham and is tied with Mikka and KWS Gotham for the third highest yield at 105%
- LG Mamba has a yield of 99% and a maturity of 6
- Yoshi joins Midori as the joint top yielding marrowfat with a yield of 99%
- Nyx has a yield of 94% and a downy mildew rating of 6
Winter Beans
- Patagonia has a yield of 98% and has the earliest maturity on the list at 8. It also has the highest winter bean downy mildew rating of 8.
- Hepworth is a later maturing variety and is the only variety to have a rating of 6 for bean rust
Spring Beans
- Callas, a LVC variety, has a yield of 103% and a downy mildew rating of 4, and is an early maturing spring bean at 7.
- Maderas is also a LVC variety and has good downy mildew resistance at 6, plus the LVC digestibility trait and a yield of 98%
