Harvest Results – OSR

Winter oilseed rape yield data from three trials – South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Essex – have been added to AHDB’s Harvest Results pages.

The average gross output value of the control varieties is 4.96t/ha, which is below the four-year average value of 5.43t/ha.

Results from individual trial sites should not be used to make conclusions on variety performance. This is especially true for winter oilseed rape, as performance tends to be more variable than cereals.

The AHDB Recommended Lists, which are based on results from UK trials over several seasons, provide the best indication of variety performance.

When looking at Harvest Results, the over-trials and over-years average (based on four harvest years – 2015 to 2018) provide good information for comparison between varieties.

As further Harvest Results data are made available, the confidence associated with the average values improve. When more results are available, validation procedures will examine cross-site differences further.

2018 averages (three trials)

Yields are reported as a gross output, which is the seed yield adjusted for oil content. The values are represented as a percentage of the control varieties – Trinity, V 316 OL, Campus, Nikita and Alizze.

The 2018 gross output value of the control varieties (4.96t/ha) is below the four-year average (5.43t/ha).

To date, the restored hybrid varieties Alizze (110%), Aquila (107%), Windozz (106%) and the Turnip Yellows virus resistant variety Architect (106%) have performed well.

Harvest 2018 data for varieties with a specific recommendation for the North are currently very limited.

2015–18 (four-year) averages

Based on the four-year average values, the highest-yielding varieties to date are Windozz (104%) and Elgar (103%).

The clubroot resistant variety Mentor has a gross output of 96% and the turnip yellows virus resistant variety Architect has a gross output of 100%. The semi-dwarf variety DK Secret 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 Aspire (104%) and the restored hybrid variety DK Expansion (103%) have performed well.

Access this week’s summary table

Early yields suggest a 13.3–13.7Mt UK 2018 wheat crop

The harvest of winter wheat started in earnest during the week ending 31 July, with just over 400kha of crops harvested.

The second AHDB GB harvest progress report shows GB winter wheat harvest to be 25 per cent complete (read more here).

The largest area of wheat harvested has been in the Eastern region, where just over 200kha has been cut in the week ending 31 July. In the South East and South West, about 45 per cent of the regional area has been harvested, accounting for 90kha and 70kha, respectively.

With the GB five-year average yield for wheat at 8.2t/ha, the early yield figures for 2018 indicate that yields are between 5 to 8 per cent below the five-year average. However, the early yield estimates are based on harvested varieties in the South and East of England, and are, therefore, only an indication of where the final yields will end up, so these figures should be treated with some caution.

The current yield estimates from these two regions are between 7.6 to 7.8t/ha. Should these early yield findings be representative of the UK, then UK production in 2018 could well be 13.5Mt, over 1Mt less than 2017.