STORMY WEATHER causing lodging earlier this summer has created renewed interest in low biomass oilseed rape varieties, according to a leading seed merchant.

“From June onwards we‘ve seen tremendous demand from people looking to lower risk, low biomass varieties for the first time since growing Apex,” said Tim Hirst, seeds director for Grainfarmers UAP.

Mr Hirst said demand for the new low biomass variety Castille has proved very strong, with principal stocks selling out by July 23.

He urged growers not to be concerned by mediocre official yield ratings in low biomass varieties.

They are invariably badly disadvantaged by shading from taller types in small plot trials, he pointed out.

“A massive 95% of mainly Canberra growers in our low biomass study reported their crops performing at least as well as taller varieties in gross output terms, with over a third rating their performance as superior,” Mr Hirst added.

Commenting on these findings, Jo Bowman, rape breeder for Nickersons acknowledged that very tall varieties can sometimes prove difficult to harvest, particularly after adverse weather.

But Mr Bowman pointed out that a “happy medium” can be just as effective.

This is where the crop leans slightly, providing some protection from rain showers, but with stems remaining stiff, so severe lodging is avoided.

In his experience, some of the shorter varieties had proved more vulnerable to pod shattering, despite the stems being able to withstand heavy rainfall.

Mr Bowman also pointed out that growers could manipulate the seed rate of taller varieties in order to produce a crop with good standing ability.