Murray winter oilseed rape was newly added to the AHDB Recommended List (RL) last autumn and went straight to the top of the East/West Region Only table.

“As on-farm yields start to come in from Murray growers, we are hearing reports from merchants and from growers that confirm its RL rating,” says Chris Guest, Managing Director, LS Plant Breeding Ltd (LSPB).

“Murray is one of four LSPB varieties with the RlmS gene for improved phoma resistance, a strong rating for Light Leaf spot and excellent verticillium resistance – giving a head start in the yield contest.”

Chris Piggott, Regional Seed Manager with Frontier Agriculture Ltd, points to typical results from a grower in the south east: “This Kent grower’s Murray yielded 4.7t/ha compared to a farm average of 3.5t/ha, and that was across three fields totalling 20.20ha after allowing for headlands.

“At £400/t, including bonuses, that’s £480/ha increase in gross margin, hence across his total Murray crop of 20.20ha, he has close on £10,000 extra in the bank.”

Across in the RL East/West region, near the Dorset and Wiltshire borders, another grower noted that Murray proved to be the best of his three RL varieties on the farm, confirming his view that it looked good right up to harvest.

The weights back from the merchant made Murray’s average 3.85 t/ha, compared to the other winter oilseed rape varieties grown on the farm of 3.4 t/ha and 3.25 t/ha.

He commented that choosing Murray for the largest area of his oilseed rape proved to a good decision, and while it was clear that some crop had shed in all three varieties due to the high winds and seemingly incessant rain, Murray still delivered the most.

Chris Guest adds: “the improved genetics seen in our varieties, including Murray, contribute to keeping stems healthy and achieving strong overall plant health – and we now see this showing up in the excellent on-farm yields .”