Serving the farming industry across East Anglia for over 40 years
• Good mix of yield and oil content • In-built traits include resistance • Early drilling and winter hardiness Newly recommended oilseed rape varieties... Trait-loaded genetics put rape varieties at the top

• Good mix of yield and oil content

• In-built traits include resistance

• Early drilling and winter hardiness

Newly recommended oilseed rape varieties from Limagrain once again prove the value of genetic traits, says the breeder.

Limagrain’s Field Seeds breeding programme is delivering varieties with high yields and oil content – as well as important traits such as pod shatter resistance. They include LG Adapt, with a gross output of 108%.

LG Adapt is recommended across both the east-west and northern regions. It is the latest variety to come out of the breeders seventh generation of hybrids bringing new maintainer and restorer lines into the breeding programme.

“On farm, this translates into varieties that offer a stacked portfolio of the standard TuYV and RLM7 and pod shatter resistance traits along with improved stem health attributes,” says Limagrain oilseed rape product manager Florentina Petrescu.

Stem health

“Only Limagrain hybrids offer the full trait loaded-package including high yield potential, pod shatter resistance, TuYV resistance, in combination with N Flex, Stem Health and Scleroflex.”

LG Adapt’s exceptional stem health comes from a combination of very good phoma, cylindrosporium and verticillium resistance, explains Mrs Petrescu.

“High levels of resistance to all three diseases means healthier green stems longer into the growing season, better rooting and therefore higher yields and oil content – explaining LG Adapt’s exceptional oil content (46.4%).”

Mrs Petrescu says across Limagrain’s extensive UK and European trials, LG Adapt has shown itself to be suited to the early drilling slot as it does not produce too much stem in the autumn, noting it is also a very winter hardy variety.

Performance

LG Avenger enters the Northern Recommended List with an outstanding yield of 106% and an oil content of 46%.

“The ability of LG Avenger to perform so well in the more challenging climatic conditions of the north is a reflection of the variety’s trait loaded offering of TuYV, Stem health, RLM 7, pod shatter and also Limagrain’s unique Sclerotinia tolerance, Scleroflex.

“Importantly, LG Avenger exhibits a particularly fast winter and spring growth habit which allows it to grow away from both the adult and larval damage phase of Cabbage Stem Flea Beetle, a really valuable growth characteristic and is in fact the stand out positive of the variety.

Trait-loaded variety Magelan joins the east-west list with exceptional yields at 106%, the added security of pod shatter resistance and an excellent oil content of 46.3%.

Magelan is a robust, high yielding variety with good stem health, and the best Verticillium resistance of all the newly recommended varieties. The variety possess very good winter and spring vigour, underlined by the variety’s ratings of 8 in Limagrain’s vigour scoring assessments.

Why pod shatter is increasingly important

There is no getting away from the fact that growing oilseed rape has increasingly become more of a gamble, but it is possible to reduce the risk.

Choosing to grow a variety with built in pod shatter resistance to protect OSR yields through to harvest and make the margins to keep oilseed rape profitable, says Limagrain arable development officer Kurtis Scarboro.

“Almost all of the costs of growing the crop have been spent by this stage so it makes sense to protect yield potential right through to the end of the growing season. All Limagrain hybrids contain this trait

“We constantly monitor the efficacy of our pod shatter resistance against other commercial varieties and have strong quantitve data to back it up so we can be confident in our claims that the variety really is pod shatter resistant.