New OSR variety brings strong yields and disease tolerance

Impressive yields are being reported across a range of farm trials this year from new oilseed rape variety Excentric.

The hybrid, bred by Bayer, offers high yields, oil content and strong agronomic traits, the company says.

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Excentric has demonstrated standout performance under challenging conditions even with the early harvest, particularly in the west and north of England.

Results have been provided from Bayer’s national hybrid proving programme, which tests varieties on farms across different environments and management sites.

In Worcestershire, Excentric yielded an impressive 6.76t/ha, which was closely followed by 6.21t/ha in Shropshire.

The variety has also performed well in northern regions, with 5.29t/ha recorded in Staffordshire and 5.89t/ha on the Scottish Borders.

During the 2024-25 season, replicated Niab trials in Hampshire and Herefordshire recorded an average yield of 5t/ha for the variety.

This outperformed other key comparator hybrids which averaged 4.88t/ha.

This demonstrates the variety’s adaptability and robust nature across different sites and seasons, says Bayer.

Bayer trials manager Richard Williams said, “with the oilseed rape harvest a good 10 days ahead of last year, yields have been very impressive to date.

Excentric continues to deliver the strong performance growers expect from this very robust and highly flexible variety.”

Disease tolerance is another key strength.

With Adas reporting an increase in evidence of verticillium stem stripe, the variety showed good tolerance in trials from 2023 to 2025.

The hybrid variety achieved a mean verticillium index score of 37.0, significantly lower than susceptible varieties, and recorded the highest yield of 3.8t/ha on heavily affected sites.

In conclusion, Bayer says growers should consider Excentric in their following cropping if they are looking for a high-performing, disease tolerant variety that can thrive in diverse conditions.