Es Betty is looking good in the North

A fifty acre field of the hybrid winter oilseed rape variety, Es Betty is described as the best looking rape on the farm, by farmer John Spence of Whitchester Farms, near Newcastle, and he is looking forward to see how well it performs at harvest this year.

Farming 1300 acres of arable including 330 acres of oilseed rape, John Spence thinks that his Es Betty is looking very well. "The field followed winter barley and was ploughed, then worked down with a Simba press and then drilled with a 4 metre Vaderstad drill. It was one of the first crops drilled, on around the 20th August, and it went with no problems. The Betty germinated rapidly and established well in the early autumn. It looked very good as it went into the winter."

Mr. Spence managed the crop as per usual with an early autumn insecticide treatment, followed by Katamaran (metazachlor and quinmerac) for autumn weed control. "In the spring we treated for Light Leaf Spot and followed this up with a flowering spray to control pests and diseases. We will desiccate with Round-up in a few weeks time, prior to harvest."

One of the reasons that John grows the hybrid rape Betty is because its high vigour suits the conditions in the North. He also grows the hybrid Excalibur and the conventional variety Barrel but the Betty is looking that much better this year, he says. "With the Betty looking so good when drilled early, I would like to see how it would do when it is drilled a little later. The benefits of hybrid vigour on crop establishment should mean that it will perform just as well in a later slot."

Howard Eke of Horizon Finney Lock explains that Es Betty has been the highest yielding rape at the NIAB trials centre at Cockle Park near Morpeth, the nearest trials site to Newcastle.

"At harvest 2005, Es Betty was the highest yielding oilseed rape variety overall at this site, yielding 119% of the control. This impressive yield compared very favourably with other hybrids Excalibur which yielded 109% and Royal with 111% and with the conventional varieties Castille which yielded 108%. We are hoping that it will repeat this performance this year," he says.

Howard Eke also mentions that Betty has good straw stiffness and resistance to lodging, both with a 7 rating, and good Light Leaf Spot resistance, a 6 rating, which makes it a good all round package for Northern growers.