A series of trait-loaded oilseed rape varieties from Limagrain have been added to the AHDB Recommended List.
First is LG Adapt, offering a gross output of 108%. It joins the east/west and northern lists as the highest-yielding variety and contains pod shatter resistance.
It makes up part of the plant breeder’s seventh generation of hybrid varieties. LG Adapt boasts good stem health, with a combination of phoma, cylindrosporium and verticillium resistance.
“On farm, this translates into varieties that offer a stacked portfolio of the standard TuYV and RLM7 and pod shatter resistance traits along with improved stem health attributes,” says Florentina Petrescu, oilseed rape product manager with Limagrain Field Seeds.
“Only Limagrain hybrids offer the full trait loaded-package including high yield potential, pod shatter resistance, TuYV resistance, in combination with N Flex and/or Stem Health and Scleroflex.”
She adds that LG Adapt is suited to early drilling, with not too much stem growth throughout the autumn, making it a winter hardy variety.
Elsewhere on the list, LG Avenger was recommended for northern areas, with a 106% yield output and an oil output of 46%.
“The ability of LG Avenger to perform so well in the more challenging climatic conditions of the north is a reflection of the variety’s trait loaded offering of TuYV, Stem health, RLM 7, pod shatter and also Limagrain’s unique Sclerotinia tolerance, Scleroflex.
Why pod shatter resistance?
“There is no getting away from the fact that growing oilseed rape has increasingly become more of a gamble, however it is possible to reduce some of the risk to the crop by choosing to grow a variety with built in pod shatter resistance to protect OSR yields through to harvest and make the margins to keep oilseed rape profitable,” says arable development officer Kurtis Scarboro
“Almost all of the costs of growing the crop have been spent by this stage so it makes sense to protect yield potential right through to the end of the growing season.
“All Limagrain hybrids contain the trait and we constantly monitor the efficacy of our pod shatter resistance against other commercial varieties and have strong quantitve data to back it up so we can be confident in our claims that the variety really is pod shatter resistant,” he says.
For more information go to www.lgseeds.co.uk