Winter oilseed rape recommended and candidate lists

Recommended List winter oilseed rape fungicide-untreated harvest results released

One further RL winter oilseed rape fungicide treated yield trial from Fife has now reported, one trial remains to be validated. Four fungicide-untreated trials have now also reported, three further untreated trials failed and will not produce yield results. The fungicide untreated trials are from Lincolnshire, Herefordshire, Midlothian and Fife, though it should be noted that these trials do receive a flowering spray to control sclerotinia.

The new fungicide-treated Fife trial has lifted the average gross output yield value of the control varieties for 2023 to 5.46 t/ha, just above the four-year average (5.16 t/ha). The final treated trial is unlikely to change this significantly and so these results are likely to be very close the final dataset.

For the fungicide-untreated trials average gross output yield value of the control varieties for 2023 is 5.14 t/ha, just below the four-year average (5.28 t/ha), with low yields in the Lincolnshire and especially Herefordshire trials and high yields at the Fife and Midlothian sites.

Average yields

Yields are reported as a gross output, which is the seed yield adjusted for oil content. The values are represented as a percentage of the control varieties; Aspire, Aurelia, Ambassador and DK Expansion.

2023 trial yields

The highest yielding hybrid variety in the fungicide-treated trials is the newly recommended North variety LG Wagner (108%), with very good performance in the new Fife trial, however, it is not included in most of the lower yielding East/West trials. LG Auckland is the highest yielding variety with a UK recommendation (105%) followed by newly recommended UK variety Turing (104%) and newly recommended East/West variety Murray (104%). Also newly recommended UK varieties, Vegas (103%) and Attica (102%) are just behind these.

Of the conventional varieties, newly recommended Tom (103%) has performed well in 2023, with Aspire just behind (101%) and well ahead of its four-year average. Other conventional varieties are Acacia (97%) and Annika (94%), which has underperformed in 2023.  Amarone, which was recommended last year for the North is yielding 97% overall, above its four-year average.

The clubroot resistant varieties Crome (96%) is at its four-year average, while Crossfit (94%) and especially Crocodile (92%), which both have East/West recommendations, have yielded below their four-year average in 2023.

The herbicide-tolerant varieties have all yielded below their four-year averages in the fungicide treated trials in 2023, suggesting the unusual weather patterns in 2023 have not suited this variety type. Highest yielding is Matrix CL (94%), ahead of newly recommended for the North variety Beatrix (92%) and LG Constructor (85%). LG Constructor has performed very poorly at some northern trial.

In the fungicide-untreated trials East/West variety Murray is the highest yielding hybrid (108%), ahead of Vegas (107%) with North variety LG Wagner, LG Aviron and LG Adonis all on 106%. Newly recommended varieties Attica (105%) and Turing (104%) are just behind these. Newly recommended Tom is the highest yielding of the conventional varieties in these trials (103%), with Aspire on 101%, well ahead of its four-year average and Acacia on 98%. Newly recommended for the North variety Amarone is on 97%.

2020-23 averages

Four-year averages are a better indicator of overall performance. Based on the four-year average values, there is little to choose between the highest yielding varieties in the fungicide-treated trials.  The newly recommended hybrid variety Turing is on 106% with newly recommended Attica, newly recommended for the East/West variety Murray and LG Auckland all on 105%. Newly recommended UK variety Vegas and Ambassador are on 104%.

Of the conventional varieties, newly recommended variety Tom is highest yielding on 102%, with Annika and Acacia both on 98%.

Crocodile is the highest yielding clubroot resistant variety (98%) with Crossfit and Crome on 96%.

Of the herbicide-tolerant varieties, Matrix CL is the highest yielding (96%), with LG Constructor on 92%. Newly recommended for the North variety Beatrix CL is on 95%.

In the fungicide-untreated trials newly recommended for the North variety LG Wagner and newly recommended UK variety Vegas are on 106%, with LG Aviron, LG Auckland and newly recommended for the East/West Murray on 105%.

Tom is the highest yielding of the conventional varieties in the fungicide-untrearted trials (103%) with Acacia on 98% and Aspire on 96%. Newly recommended for the North variety Amarone is on 99%.

Crocodile is the highest yielding clubroot resistant variety in the fungicide untreated trials (98%) with Crome on 94% and Crossfit on 92%. While Matrix CL and Beatrix CL are highest yielding of the herbicide-tolerant varieties, both on 95%.

Candidate varieties

Data can only be reported for candidate varieties that have completed National Listing. Highest yielding on the four-year averages in the fungicide-treated trials are the hybrid varieties LG Armada and LG Academic both on 106% closely followed by the hybrid variety Dolphin, (105%) with RGT Kanzzas is on 103%. In the fungicide-untreated trials LG Armada is well ahead on 112%, with LG Academic on 107%, RGT Kanzzas on 106% and Dolphin on 104%.

The only conventional candidate this year Pi Pinnacle, is on 103% in the fungicide-treated trials and 100% in the fungicide-untreated trials.

Miraculix CL is a herbicide-tolerant candidate and is on 95%, though as with the other herbicide-tolerant varieties it has not performed particularly well in 2023. In the fungicide untreated trials it is on 93%

Verticillium stem stripe data

A need of information on varietal resistance to verticillium stem stripe was identified in the last RL review in 2018 and AHDB commissioned a joint ADAS/NIAB research project to investigate the feasibility of producing verticillium information on the RL. Protocols for trialling and disease assessment were successfully developed and have been used over the last two years to gather information on resistance of varieties in RL trials.

The data from this year’s trials (three inoculated and one naturally infected) has been released in harvest results and data from 2022 is also available here. The data from these trials will be combined with data from previous years to provide ratings for the new 2024/25 RL, which will be released at the end of November.

Further information

Access the full trial results

AHDB Recommended Lists (RL) trials test variety performance under optimum conditions. Care should be taken when making comparisons with commercial yields. Results from individual trial sites should not be used to make conclusions on variety performance. The RL publications are based on information from trials across the UK over several seasons. As more information becomes available from the current harvest, this will contribute to the over-trials averages – which comprise four years for oilseeds and five years for cereals. These averages provide better information for comparison between varieties. Performance variation is not the responsibility of AHDB. Since the focus is to test new varieties, not all RL varieties are presented. Yields for well-established varieties are published at ahdb.org.uk/rl