Es Alienor way ahead of all the rest

Following one of the most difficult autumns for drilling and establishment of winter oilseed rape, the conventional low biomass winter oilseed rape variety Es Alienor is proving to be well ahead of the rest including many hybrids.

Michael Brearley, Farm Manager and Director of Roxholme Estates in Lincolnshire, drilled his winter oilseed rape at the end of August after wheat and is very pleased with the way that Alienor has developed to date. "The rape was drilled after a wet August into a heavy limestone soil. The straw was chopped; we then drilled using a seed box mounted on our sub-soiler and press."

"Alienor appears to show tremendous vigour and it is obviously well in advance of any other varieties on the farm. It looks very good," says Michael. (see photograph)

He also points out that, so far, it has been a very straight forward variety to manage. One key feature of Alienor that particularly appeals to Mr. Brearley, who manages a large estate of 1100 hectares, is its earliness. "Early maturing varieties such as Alienor are a great help when it comes to harvest. We are able to get the crop into the barn early, allowing us combine the later maturing oilseed rapes. This gives us more management flexibility both in the barn and on the land and allows us to get on with the rest of harvest and to drill next season’s autumn crops."

This view is shared by Duncan West of CA West, Pulham St Mary, Diss, a large arable farm in Norfolk. "Certainly looking during the autumn, Es Alienor definitely had more vigour than the other varieties being grown, especially a late drilled field that has never looked back."

"Now at the beginning of March all our rape has had their first dose of nitrogen and the Es Alienor continues to show the vigour and plant growth especially when compared to the variety Vision in the same field. I now wait to see if this earliness goes all the way through to harvest as it should."

Oilseed rape specialist Simon Kightley of NIAB has also remarked on Alienor’s vigour and earliness. He notes that when describing the NIAB demonstration plots at Cambridge in the recent NIAB email newsletter "The upshot is that most of the varieties are showing a pretty uniform level of grazing damage and varying unhealthy shades of pale green to blue to purple – desperate for their first dose of nitrogen now that the ground has dried out enough to get on with the spreader. The only exception is the conventional variety Es Alienor, a candidate that failed to make it onto the recommended list this year. Last week it was looking distinctly more leafy and green than anything else."

"Farmers are looking for varieties that have strong agronomic features that make the management of the crop more cost-effective. Es Alienor is a variety that will satisfy these requirements - and more," claims John Hardy of Grainseed.

"Alienor is very early maturing and has shown significant crop vigour in the autumn and into the spring, ahead of hybrids. Being the earliest maturing conventional variety means that it fits well into normal crop rotations and helps spread the workload at harvest across the farm, a real advantage to busy farmers with a lot of acres to harvest and to drill. It is an ideal partner variety to grow in combination with the low biomass variety Astrid. Many farmers were caught out last year with the later maturing varieties as they interfered with standard crop rotations," he says.

"Alienor is a low biomass variety with an average height of just 147 cms, close to that of Castille at 144 cms. This means that it is less likely to lodge, has less bulk to go through the combine and is quicker and easier to harvest."

Alienor has the best combined disease resistance ratings of any conventional variety, with a 7.4 for Phoma and a 6.2 for Light leaf Spot, making this variety suitable for all parts of the UK. The basis of Alienor’s resistance is multigenic and so will last,"" reports John.

John Hardy concludes that Alienor has a unique combination of yield and agronomic characteristics that make it well worth considering for planting this year anywhere in the UK for early harvesting. "Its overall package allows much easier and less costly inputs without compromising on yield plus great ease of management."

For further comment and information on the oilseed rape varieties Es Alienor or other Grainseed varieties such as Es Astrid, please contact John Hardy, Director of Grainseed Ltd on 01379 871073 or 07836 582436.