Winter oilseed rape recommended and candidate lists

Winter oilseed rape Recommended List trials yields near complete with fungicide-treated yields exceeding the four-year average

• Fungicide-treated control yields are at 5.74 t/ha, 0.39 t/ha above four-year average
• Fungicide-untreated control yields average 4.99 t/ha, 0.33 t/ha below the four-year average
• Nine trials lost due to pigeon grazing, cabbage stem flea beetle and clubroot

Results from all but one of the fungicide-treated Recommended List (RL) winter oilseed rape trials have been published today, covering sites from Wiltshire to Aberdeenshire. The remaining Scottish trial requires further investigation and will be published at a later date. Six further trials were lost during the year due to different factors, though with cabbage stem flea beetle being a rarity this year the main problem has been severe pigeon grazing.

The overall average yield for control varieties is now 5.74 t/ha in the fungicide-treated trials, which is 0.39 t/ha above the four-year average. The highest yield has been 7.11 t/ha in the Scottish Borders and the lowest 4.23 t/ha in a trial in Hampshire.  

Four of the seven fungicide-untreated trials have survived, with control varieties averaging 4.99 t/ha, 0.33 t/ha below the four-year average. Again, the Hampshire trial being lowest yielding at 4.17 t/ha and a trial in Fife highest at 5.69 t/ha. Three further fungicide-untreated trials were lost to CSFB or pigeons.

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 which for 2025 are Ambassador, Aurelia, Turing, LG Armada and Pi Pinnacle.

2025 trial yields

Fungicide-treated trials

With just one fungicide-treated trial to come, the current results can be considered a fair representation of performance in 2025.

The highest yielding currently recommended varieties are the newly recommended hybrid LG Adapt and the East/West hybrid Turing on 106%, just ahead of LG Academic on 105%.  These are followed by East/West hybrid Murray on 104% and hybrids LG Armada and newly recommended hybrid varieties LG Avenger for the North and Maverick for the East/West, all on 103%.

The other newly recommended hybrids have underperformed in 2025, with both Hinsta and Magelan on 100%.

Of the conventional varieties Tom is highest yielding on 96%, with Pi Pinnacle on 94% alongside newly recommended for the North Powerhouse, also on 94%. All the conventional varieties have underperformed this year, with East/West variety Annika on 91%.

Recent seasons have seen increasing problems with clubroot in RL trials, with a number being abandoned in the north of England. Looking at the clubroot resistant varieties, newly recommended Cromputer (99%) is highest yielding with newly recommended Crusoe on 97%, reversing their positions on the current RL. Crocodile sits just below at 96% in 2025, with Crome on 94%.

East/West variety Beatrix CL is the highest yielding of the herbicide-tolerant varieties on 95% with Matrix CL and North variety Miraculix CL both on 93%.

Fungicide-untreated trials

With only four fungicide-treated trials surviving caution must be exercised when looking at these yields. Having said that, three hybrid varieties sit on 108% as highest yielding, newly recommended East/West variety Maverick, newly recommended LG Adapt and LG Academic. Next are LG Armada and East/West variety Murray on 106%. Varieties with good stem canker resistance seem to have performed well this year, though there has been little disease reported in trials.

Of the conventional varieties Powerhouse is highest yielding, on 100%, followed by Tom on 98%, Annika on 94% and Pi Pinnacle on 93%, with Pi Pinnacle having the lowest canker rating, suggesting again this may be a key disease in 2025.

Crocodile is highest yielding of the clubroot resistant varieties, performing very well on 102%, with newly recommended varieties Crusoe and Cromputer both on 99%, with Crome on 96%.

Miraculix CL is the highest yielding of the herbicide tolerant varieties on 98%, with Matrix CL on 97% and Beatrix CL on 95%.

2022–25 averages

Over-year yield averages are a better indicator of overall performance, especially in oilseed rape which is inherently more variable than cereals.

Fungicide-treated trials

Based on the four-year values, the highest yielding variety is the newly recommended hybrid variety LG Adapt (106%) with newly recommended East/West hybrid variety Maverick on 104%, alongside LG Academic (104%).

LG Armada and East/West variety Turing are on 103%. Newly recommended East/West hybrid varieties Hinsta and Magelan, new Northern recommendation LG Avenger and UK variety LG Adeline are all on 102%

The conventional varieties sit relatively close together, with Pi Pinnacle and Tom on 97% with newly recommended for the North Powerhouse on 96%. Annika is the lowest yielding conventional variety still in trial on 94%.

Newly recommended Crusoe is the highest yielding clubroot-resistant variety (100%) with newly recommended Cromputer on 97%, ahead of the established varieties Crocodile on 95% and Crome on 91%.

The herbicide-tolerant varieties sit together in the variety rankings with, Beatrix CL on 93%, Miraculix CL and Matrix CL on 92%.

Fungicide-untreated trials

Though the over-year data contains more trials there are still relatively few fungicide-untreated trials. LG Armada is highest yielding, on 106%, with newly recommended hybrid Maverick on 105% alongside newly recommended hybrid LG Adapt and LG Academic. LG Adeline is on 103% with new Northern recommendation LG Avenger on 102% alongside East/West varieties Murray and Dolphin.

Newly recommended northern variety Powerhouse is joint highest yielding of the conventional varieties alongside Tom both on 98%, with Pi Pinnacle on 96%.

Crusoe is highest yielding of the clubroot resistant varieties on 99% with Cromputer and Crocodile on 98%.

The herbicide-tolerant varieties sit together in the variety rankings with, Matrix CL on 94% and Miraculix CL and Beatrix CL on 92%.

Candidate varieties

Data can only be shown for candidate varieties that have been added to the GB and NI Variety List (VL). These yields provide an indication of which varieties are likely to be recommended in the autumn, though the Crop Committee that makes the decision will also take into account disease resistance and agronomic factors.

In the fungicide-treated yields hybrid variety Domputer leads with a four-year average of 107% with a yield of  108% in fungicide-untreated trials, higher than any currently recommended variety.  Karat is on 106% in fungicide-treated trials and 103% in fungicide-untreated trials. KWS Domingos is just behind in fungicide-treated trials on 105% and 107% in the fungicide-untreated trials, with Dirigent on 104% and Cognac, Commodore and Cezanne on 103% in the fungicide-treated trials, with Cognac on 106% in the fungicide-untreated trials, ahead of Dirigent and Commodore (104%) and Cezanne (102%)

Bachus is the only conventional candidate this year, with a yield of 98% in fungicide-treated trials and 95% in fungicide-untreated trials. Clubroot resistant candidate variety Crios is on 97% in fungicide-treated trials and 98% in fungicide-untreated trials. Finally, the herbicide-tolerant candidate LG Calvin CL is on 94% in fungicide-treated trials and 97% in fungicide-untreated trials.

Further information

Access full trial results via the AHDB website: ahdb.org.uk/harvestresults

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