Reliability is the watchword for oilseed rape

With so many variables and such high volatility in farming today – the weather, the season, input costs, diesel costs, pricing and markets – farmers are looking for reliability and stability when it comes to choosing their rape varieties. They want a variety that performs on farm year after year, whatever the season brings.

Andrew Cooper of independent seed and grain merchant Walnes Seeds, who supply seed to growers throughout the East says that in East Anglia, growers want oilseed rape varieties with low biomass, stiff straw, early maturity and good consistent performance. "The variety Astrid ticks all those boxes and has done so for a number of years."

Added to the HGCA recommended List in 2005, Astrid is still one of the most popular and most widely grown winter rape varieties, as it continues to perform reliably year after year. Few of the newer rape varieties show the same consistency. It remains the firm favourite on farm.

Andrew comments that Astrid’s excellent market share in East Anglia is down to its reliable performance on farm, rather than on paper. "The real proof is that Astrid has performed every year on farm, whatever the season has brought, and farmers are keen on that innate reliability. Many of those who have grown Astrid for 4 or 5 years say that it is a good solid variety that has never let them down - it performs reliably and it is easy to manage."

Andrew comments that a short, stiff strawed, low biomass variety is real boon on farm as it allows combine capacity to be maximised. "Growers want to be able to cover the hectares efficiently with their combine and still get a good seed yield. Some rape varieties may deliver a little more seed yield, but they are much taller than Astrid. Varieties with higher biomass slow down the whole operation, increase the cost, especially with the very high price of diesel, increase wear and tear and leave a lot of plant material to deal with in the field."

He points out that many of the newer rape varieties are also much later maturing than Astrid. "This leads to clashes in oilseed rape harvest and wheat harvest. In many farmers’ view, the less time they can spend in the rape, the quicker they can get into their wheat, making the whole harvest and drilling operations more efficient and timely."

Andrew also rates the very early maturing rape variety Alienor as it spreads the harvesting window even wider. "This variety performs well and shows fantastic autumn vigour, essential for establishment in the dry parts of the country. It is one of the earliest maturing varieties available."

Managing four farms in Hertfordshire for Sentry, James Coumbe has grown Astrid for 6 years and has been impressed with its overall performance over these years.

He has noticed that Astrid establishes well in the autumn. "Establishment is the key to growing a successful rape. We have moved from a combination drill system to a Sumo Trio cultivator, followed by a Horsch drill. Future plans are to use wider row spacing, lower seed rates and to produce lower plant populations that will allow the variety to establish well and then branch out to produce a strong canopy. Astrid does this and has yielded well on our varied soils types. Although a conventional variety, it has sufficient vigour and its seed costs are less than that of many hybrids. The variety has performed well from home saved seed."

At the other end of the growing season, Astrid is an early maturing variety, which fits well in with our harvesting regime and workloads. As a low biomass variety, it leaves very little bulk at harvest and this makes it easier, quicker and less costly to harvest, says James.

James Coumbe comments that Astrid is a clean variety with good disease resistance for Phoma (with an HGCA rating of 7) as well as Light Leaf Spot (rating 5). "This gives us more flexibility in our fungicide strategy both in terms of the products used and their timing. It is also a strong stiff strawed short variety that doesn’t always need PGR’s."