Top oils and yield from Cubic

Andrew Wade of Agrovista reports that his farmers have been "thrilled to bits" with the high performance of the winter oilseed rape variety Cubic this year. One of the first fields to be harvested in his area during the first week of August, Cubic delivered 5.5 t/ha (2.2 t/acre) and a massive 48% oil.

Advising farmers in Staffordshire, Andrew says that this field of Cubic was always a good looking crop, "very neat and tidy and it was the first to flower, the first to desiccate and the first to harvest."

"Farmers with a large area of combinable crops on their farm need rape varieties such as Cubic that are ready to harvest early and are low biomass. That means that the workload can be spread across a wider window and you can get the crop in fast and well before many other varieties are even ready to combine."

But he points out that you don’t want to sacrifice any yield or oil by harvesting early. "Naturally early maturing varieties need to deliver and if you can get such high yields and oils, as we have done with Cubic, you can really benefit from any premiums on offer."

Andrew Wade explains that he manages his rape crops with great attention to detail throughout the year. "Most of the rape is grown on a 1 in 4 rotation and receives all the necessary inputs to maximise its potential. This starts with an effective pre-em herbicide Oryx (metazachlor + quinmerac) and the graminicide Shogun (propaquizafop) to rid the crop early on from damaging weed competition and allow it to get off to a good start. The first week of November it will get a stem canker spray plus trace elements and an insecticide. The high natural resistance rating of 7.1 for Cubic gives us that little more flexibility. In the spring Caramba (metconazole) was used to optimise the canopy and to start off the Sclerotinia programme. We then used Galileo (picoxystrobin) and Compass (iprodione + thiophanate-methyl) to complete the Sclerotinia control. The desiccant was enhanced by the addition of Companion Gold."

"The programmed use of key inputs at appropriate times together with a high performing variety such as Cubic has certainly delivered a pleasing and profitable outcome," Andrew concludes.

"Being a direct descendant from Astrid, Cubic can claim its position as the next generation low biomass rape variety. It yields well - in HGCA trials this year Cubic was the highest yielding variety at the Fulbourn, Cambridge site at 4.83 t/ha (107%). It also has an excellent oil content of 45%," says Neil Groom, Technical Director for Grainseed.

Neil Groom points out that Cubic also flowers early, allowing earlier harvest and fitting in well with most arable rotations. "Another very positive attribute is its excellent resistance to Verticillium wilt."