Gross Margin is the measurement of success, not Gross Output

When it comes to choosing oilseed rape varieties, growers are being urged to look further than just gross output and to consider the whole package in order to choose a variety that is likely to produce the highest gross margin. This means looking for varieties that have a package of characteristics such as high disease resistance, early maturity and low biomass.

John Hardy of Grainseed points out that it is possible to give a value to disease ratings. "Dr. Peter Gladders of ADAS has been quoted as saying that every one point in disease resistance ratings is worth at least an additional £20/ha, plus of course, the benefit of disease prevention. This means that disease prevention by varietal resistance and/or fungicide usage is key to the production of high yielding, high gross margin crops. Any perceived loss because of lower gross output is overcome by the reduction in variable costs, thereby increasing gross margins per hectare", says John.

The HGCA candidate variety Es Alienor provides high disease resistance which adds to its favourable gross margin. "Alienor has the top combined disease resistance profile of all varieties with 7.4 resistance rating for Phoma stem canker, which is also multi gene, so unlikely to break down, and 6.2 for Light Leaf Spot. Compare this to Castille with 5.8 for Phoma and 5.0 for Light Leaf Spot."

Alienor is also early maturing. "When it comes to flowering and seed maturity Alienor scores 8.1 and 6.8 respectively : this is the earliest of all varieties in the current HGCA Recommended List trials. Compare this with Castille which has a 7.9 for flowering and a 5.7 for seed maturity or Expert which has a 5.4 for flowering and a 4.1 for seed maturity."

John reports that trials in Edinburgh and by The Arable Group (TAG) in England clearly show that Alienor flowers early and matures early, allowing harvest much earlier than other mainstream varieties. "In the Edinburgh trials Alienor yielded 108% at 9% grain moisture whilst Castille was yielding 100% at 11% moisture. Such differences in dry down allow flexibility in harvest dates."

"In the TAG trials at Morley Alienor was fit to harvest on the 23rd July, whilst Castille was still at 14% grain moisture. In a wet harvest this means that Alienor can be harvested and be safely in the barn ahead of the game, allowing time for a good entry for the next crop and spreading the workload, which is what farmers want. Later maturing varieties could easily clash with the wheat harvest," says Mr Hardy.

In a season which is likely to see later drillings, Alienor provides excellent early vigour as well as earliness. Farmer William Brown of West Edington, near Morpeth in Northumberland grew Es Alienor this year. "It was a much more vigorous variety, easily withstanding the late frosts and snow we had in Northumberland," he says. He also commented that Alienor could have been swathed ten days earlier than other varieties and that it stood very well.

John Hardy questions Es Alienor yields in HGCA trials this year, because of its extreme earliness, and asks if it had lost some yield through shedding. "The harvest was later this year and Alienor was ready a week to ten days earlier. In other trials where it was harvested at its correct time, it yielded amongst the best."

"Alienor is also a low biomass variety with all the financial benefits that this brings – easy to manage and also quicker and much cheaper to harvest, a key issue when you consider the escalating costs of diesel."

"The candidate variety Es Alienor produces an early maturing, low biomass crop with the highest combined disease ratings and this means lower growing costs and higher gross margins, which is after all what growers are wanting," says John Hardy.

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.