Rapeseed trials start to come in

Oilseed rape trial results are starting to come in, but most harvesting is unlikely to start until later this week or early next week.

According to Dr Andrew Smooker, who is co-ordinating all of Monsanto’s UK farm-based rapeseed trials, only the August-drilled rape has been cut so far.

“The average drilling date was 8 September, so it’s still a bit early.”

So far, strip trials of 16 varieties on a farm in Kent had yielded an average of around 4t/ha, said Dr Smooker.

And a separate trial in Shropshire had revealed the value of pod shatter resistance, after a hailstorm decimated some yields. “The yield was closely related to shatter resistance,” he added.

Timing of maturity was extremely variable, with backward headlands holding many farmers back from combining. “People are talking of cutting one field on three different dates.

“So pod shatter resistance will be a big asset this year, to keep the early parts intact while waiting for the stragglers to ripen.”

Although many crops had been ripped up and redrilled earlier in the year, the surviving crops had compensated very well, said Dr Smooker.

“It’s not going to be a bumper year, but there are some encouraging signs with late branching and good podding.

“I went to see a trial site in Scotland 10 days ago, which was 1.5m high and looked very good, despite having visited in May when there was very little there.

“It’s going to be very late – it could be late August before it’s cut, but at least there’s a crop there.”