Es Alienor – way ahead of all the rest this spring

Following one of the coldest and most prolonged winters, the conventional low biomass winter oilseed rape variety Es Alienor is proving to be well ahead of other rape varieties, including DK Cabernet and Castille, according to Countrywide Farmer agronomist Simon Trenary.

Advising farmers in Wiltshire Somerset and Oxfordshire, Simon Trenary has been growing Alienor for a couple of years and is very pleased with the way it performs, its ease of management as well as its ability to grow away so well. "I advise farmers to grow Alienor on the more tricky or the colder sites as it has an amazing ability to get up and grow away. It can more than hold its own when it comes to pigeons. As you can see, it is a very vigorous variety that is a long way ahead of other conventional rapes grown around here."

"Alienor is also very easy to manage and has good disease resistance too. It tends to have the ability to look after itself when it comes to disease. I have also been pleased with its yield, reaching 5t/ha (2 t/acre) on a regular basis," says Simon.

"Farmers want varieties with a package of strong agronomic features that make the management of the crop easier and more cost-effective. Es Alienor is a variety that will satisfy these requirements - and more," claims Neil Groom of Grainseed.

"In particular Alienor shows significant crop vigour in the autumn and the spring, well ahead of any hybrids. It is also early maturing and so fits well into any normal crop rotations, spreading the workload at harvest, a real advantage to busy farmers with a lot of acres," he says.

Alienor has excellent combined disease resistance ratings, 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 is long lasting,"" reports Neil.

Neil Groom concludes that Alienor has a unique combination of yield and agronomic characteristics that make it well worth considering for planting anywhere in the UK. "Its overall package allows much easier and less costly inputs without compromising on yield plus greater 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 Neil Groom, Technical Manager of Grainseed Ltd on 01379 871073 or 07774 720240.