First OSR Harvest Results put yields below four-year average

Winter oilseed rape yield data from seven trials – Hereford, Kent, Norfolk, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Suffolk (x2) – have been added to AHDB’s Harvest Results pages. The average gross output value of the control varieties is 5.03t/ha, which is below the four-year average value of 5.24t/ha.

To date, the conventional varieties Aspire (111%) and Ballad (107%), and the restored hybrid varieties Temptation (107%) and Architect (107%) have performed well. These varieties have UK recommendations (for both the East/West and North regions), with Temptation and Architect having specific recommendations for resistance to Turnip Yellows Virus (TuYV). Aspire also has resistance to TuYV.

Based on the four-year average values, the highest-yielding varieties to date are Aspire (106%), Ballad (104%), DK Expansion (103%) and Crome (103%). Crome has a UK specific recommendation for resistance to clubroot. In addition to Aspire, varieties with TuYV resistance have gross outputs of 102% Temptation and 100% Architect. PT279CL, which has a UK specific recommendation for tolerance to specific imidazolinone herbicides (a Clearfield© variety), has a gross output of 95%.

Gross output values for the candidate varieties, based on the preliminary four-year averages, currently show that the conventional variety Acacia (109%) and the restored hybrid varieties Aurelia (107%), Ambassador (106%) and Artemis (106%) have performed well, reports AHDB.