Sesame notches up impressive yields

In a challenging year where we have seen a tough winter followed by an arid spring, newly-HGCA recommended winter oilseed rape Sesame has stood up to the challenge and is coming up with some impressive yields on-farm.

"As we analyse the samples from our oilseed rape seed growers, Sesame is staring to notch up some excellent yields,’ says Paul Nickerson of Ebbage Seeds, marketing agents for breeders LSPB. ’And Sesame is coming up with a similar performance in commercial crops where the pattern is good yields and repeat seed orders - often for increased acreages.

’For example, Stephen Moore, of RJ Moore near Salisbury, has a Sesame yield over 5t/ha - which compares very favourably with a yield of 4.3t/ha for the other variety grown on the farm. Stephen is delighted by the returns from his Sesame and confirms it will take the largest part of his oilseed rape acreage for next season.

’There is a similar story in East Anglia where we had one commercial grower with 10 ha of Sesame to try. The grower commented that, from the statistics of their rape crop this year, Sesame has done extremely well - yielding over 5t/ha in some fields and around 4.2t/ha in others. More to the point, their other variety grown has yielded in the region of 3.4-4 t/ha.’

’In summary, of our seed crops harvested and commercial farm crops we have seen, we are looking at a consistent picture of yields around or in excess of 5 tonnes/ha. We are confident that Sesame will confirm its position as the leading high-yielding oilseed rape variety year-on-year as results continue to mount up,’ adds Mr Nickerson.