Variation tip with OSR

21 August 1998

Variation tip with OSR

TRY to grow a range of oilseed rape varieties to spread your risks. That is the message from NIAB as the latest VarPlan trials results highlight big year to year differences in performance.

The performance of hybrids has varied considerably and their overall advantage over conventional varieties like Madrigal, Meteor, Licrown and Apex appears marginal this year. So far top performing hybrid Synergy is just 1% higher yielding than Madrigal.

But NIAB says the hybids true potential is undoubtedly higher and it would be unwise to dismiss them in a low yielding season.

Its figures show Pronto has outyielded Madrigal by 3% over the past four years.