While few could ignore the problems many growers have experienced with growing oilseed rape since the neonicotinoid ban, there are still many good reasons to consider giving it a place in future rotations, says DSV's Sarah Hawthorne.
"Oilseed rape is a crop many producers have grown up with and understand plus there is still a huge demand for it in the UK and a well-established infrastructure built around its marketing and processing.
"With each year that goes by we're building up knowledge around the issues of establishment in difficult years and this, combined with new varieties, will only increase the crop's viability in the future.
"Don't forget it's a break crop many struggle to find an alternative for, providing growers with a real opportunity to control diseases and pests they otherwise would not be able to and also allowing them to use a different set of herbicides against weed problems."
DSV has put a lot of effort into developing varieties capable of delivering high performance in a range of growing scenarios, with its PNN (post-neonicotinoid) genetics underpinning much of its current oil seed rape portfolio, she points out.
"All our breeding is based on the process of hybridisation as this allows us to develop stronger varieties, more able to thrive in the current challenging conditions, than is possible with conventional breeding.
"In its simplest form, hybrid breeding involves the separation of male and female lines to develop pools of breeding material that are genetically very different from each other.
"The wider the difference, the greater the 'heterosis' when these genetics are combined and it is this that gives the varieties resulting from hybrid breeding more vigour and higher yield potential.
"Across mainland Europe, some 90% of the oilseed rape area is down to hybrid varieties as they can cope better with a wide range of conditions from the minus 20 degrees centigrade of a Polish winter to the droughts of a hot summer in southern France."
Faith in the future
DSV continues to put all its breeding expertise into developing the best hybrids possible and the company has built a strong reputation for varieties that establish strongly with a high level of sheer 'get up and go', she says.
“Our trials have shown DSV hybrids consistently produce 15% more root mass than conventional varieties and not only does this help anchor plants, it gives them much greater resistance to abiotic stress and leads to higher GAI and improved photosynthetic potential.
"Other potential benefits include better yields, more stable oil contents, a wider range of drilling dates and the opportunity to use reduced seed rates."
Another key advantage of hybrid breeding is that it shortens the length of time from the first cross to commercial seed being available, allowing breeders to be more responsive to changes in market requirements, Sarah Hawthorne explains.
"The approach allows important traits to be developed more quickly and these can also be 'stacked' in the same variety to give them improved performance in the field due to the wide range of genetic characteristics they contain.
"These combinations could include, for example, more robust physical properties, improved disease resistance and better harvest protection qualities, and it this technology that lies at the heart of DSV's latest multi-layer varieties."
Leading the Clearfield field
The approach is particularly evident in the latest generation of DSV Clearfield varieties, all of which are quad-layer varieties, she points out.
"Clearfield is a great example of how hybrid breeding can respond quickly to changing needs and really help deliver solutions for growers.
"The development of Clearfield oilseed rape varieties has been an important part of our breeding strategy for some years and we were the first company to produce these without the yield penalties seen previously.
“The combination of these high performance varieties with Clearfield herbicide chemistry has proved highly beneficial to oilseed rape growers in recent years, offering highly effective control of pernicious brassica weeds.
“In particular, it has allowed robust and reliable control of problem weeds such as charlock, runch and hedge mustard, but has also opened up significant management opportunities for many growers including reducing erucic acid levels at harvest."
Quad-layer Clearfield technology
Today, the first three placings in the Clearfield section of 2024/25 AHDB RL are taken by DSV quad-layer varieties which is a real indication of the company's success in this area, she points out.
"DSV Matrix CL remains the highest yielding Clearfield variety on the current RL and DSV Beatrix CL is in second place followed by our latest variety DSV Miraculix CL.
“DSV Matrix CL was DSV’s first quad-layered variety to join the RL combining Clearfield technology with turnip yellow virus (TUYV), RLM7+ phoma stem canker and pod shatter resistances.
“Recommended for the whole of the UK, the variety achieves 96% of control gross output, which is exceptional for a Clearfield variety, especially as it also delivers an oil content of 45.6%.
"DSV Beatrix CL has the same package of traits as Matrix CL and has very similar production performance too, with a gross output of 95% and an oil content at 45.8%.
"It's a variety with good winter hardiness combined with strong early and spring vigour making helping it to establish well and then pick up quickly in the spring to build high yields and high quality.”
"Finally, new DSV Miraculix is another quad-layered variety we have high hopes for with a gross output of 95% and oil content of 45.6%.
"We continue to have faith in the future of oilseed rape and are confident varieties like these, supported by our hybrid breeding expertise, will help growers get the most out of the crop for many years to come."