OILSEED RAPE BREEDING A trio of new varieties show innovation in breeding oilseed rape is far from being at a standstill for the crop. Arable Farming finds out more from breeder DSV.
Breeding solutions to boost OSR reliability
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hile the loss of neonicotinoids rocked breeders and growers alike, confidence in oilseed rape is growing again with 2021 plantings more than likely to show definitive shoots of the crop’s recovery. This is according to Sarah Hawthorne of DSV UK, who suggests growers have gone full circle in recent years, with many realising oilseed rape is still the best break crop for UK rotations. Ms Hawthorne says: “There are definitely areas of the country where it will take a long time for confidence to return, but we’ve learned a lot in recent years and there are large areas where oilseed rape is doing really well now. “Varieties have definitely got stronger, which has helped, but there are exciting developments on the horizon which will make the crop a safer bet in the future.” Far from being daunted by the downturn in crop volume in recent
Varieties have definitely got stronger, which has helped, but there are exciting developments on the horizon SARAH HAWTHORNE
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Sarah Hawthorne says DSV Duplo has performed well in non-inversion tillage trials.
years, DSV’s breeding development has continued apace, with new varieties now available bearing many signature features that will define the company’s varieties in the future, she says. “Much of the development of oilseed rape in recent years has been around giving the crop greater resilience in the face of the reduced agronomic options available, which is really what the focus of our post-neonicotinoid PNN initiative was about. “This led to the establishment of ‘layered’ trait sets combining disease resistance with strong physical properties, all designed to make crops stronger and more viable with fewer inputs and this has acted as a springboard for a whole new generation of varieties.”
DSV Matrix CL, which has just been included in the AHDB Candidate List 2021/22, is probably the best manifestation of this. “As the first quad-layered PNN variety, it marks a huge step forward in breeding innovation, being the first variety to stack four complex traits together without compromising yield. Performance “A Clearfield winter oilseed rape variety, it allows the grower to choose powerful, post-emergence Clearfield chemistry without facing the potential drop in performance shown in the previous generations of varieties,” says Ms Hawthorne. Matrix CL is the highest yielding Clearfield variety
available to UK growers and it is one of only a few varieties selected as a candidate for the whole UK, making it suitable for growing in the North and the East/West regions, she adds. “Matrix CL’s gross output in the East/West region is more than 108% of control with an impressive 46% oil content adding to its appeal. “It’s the first UK Clearfield variety to offer turnip yellow virus [TuYV] resistance with pod shatter resistance and RLM7+ resistance to stem canker, completing its complex four layer disease and yield protection features. “With high vigour from already successful Clearfield varieties such as Plurax CL, Matrix CL has performed particularly well in X
JUNE 2021
AF OSR p22 24 Varieties TR KH MC.indd 2
06/05/2021 11:40
