Winter OSR yield results confirm new hybrid as a top performing candidate
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A new winter oilseed rape hybrid has been confirmed as a top performer in the latest yield data from the AHDB’s Recommended List trials.
PT303 Protector® Sclerotinia from Pioneer, the seed brand of CortevaTM Agriscience, returned a four-year mean gross output yield of 107% – the joint highest alongside one other variety.
The variety is living up to its promise to provide a unique package for growers, delivering market-leading yields while offering genetic tolerance to sclerotinia, a disease capable of decimating crops in wet, humid conditions.
Seeds and Inoculants Manager Andy Stainthorpe said: “I am delighted to see that PT303 has given such a high gross output yield in AHDB Recommended List trials. These results show that, in a full flowering fungicide treated programme, PT303 has given yields higher than almost all the other varieties tested. In a commercial situation, where an application of flowering fungicides can often be delayed or missed, the sclerotinia tolerance of PT303 would be an additional benefit to this yield.
“When growing PT303, growers can have confidence that its top yield potential will not be lost to the late occurrence of sclerotinia just before harvest. In Candidate List trials PT303 has already scored 7 for phoma and 6 for light-leaf spot, and it has resistance to TuYV.”
Hybrid varieties’ early vigour will be sought after by growers looking for seed suitable for later drilling in 2021 as growers continue to experience a stop-start harvest this year.
By 12 August, only an estimated 2.5% of the UK’s winter wheat area had been cut - the slowest start since 2017.
Andy said: “The late wheat harvest will put many growers under pressure to offset the late start and establish OSR crops quickly. This new yield data, combined with the known excellent early vigour of PT303, will be welcome to growers looking for a fast-establishing variety that can produce the highest possible yields.”