Troy Oilseed Rape sets a new benchmark
The highest yielding semi-dwarf Oilseed Rape variety ever to be assessed by the HGCA makes it on to the 2013/14 Recommended List heralding the arrival of important new breeding technology for UK growers, says Mike Mann of breeders DSV Ltd.
The variety Troy combines the yield potential of the best standard height varieties with all the management and harvest benefits of a semi-dwarf effectively re-writing the rules of Oilseed Rape production, he says.
“Troy is a genuine first and one which signals a completely new way of thinking about what hybrid varieties can deliver in the future. It’s a genuine step forward in semi-dwarf performance and consistent with our policy of developing varieties that will really perform in a variety of ‘ real world’ growing conditions.”
On the 2012/13 HGCA candidate list Troy was not only the highest yielding semi dwarf ever tested with the highest seed yield of 107% of the control, it also achieved this with an impressive oil content of 44.8%. Troy’s gross output was significantly higher than all the control varieties in the trial.
In the 2013/14 HGCA Recommended List, Troy has an unsurpassed combination of seed yield and standing power with 102.2% of control gross output and the highest combined scores for resistance to lodging, stem stiffness and shortness of stem in the top ten. It is also the highest yielding hybrid variety – regardless of size – in the HGCA’s Northern region.
“With an average height of 138cm, Troy is one of the taller semi-dwarfs which helps with its yield potential, but its genetics give it outstanding consistency when it comes to lodging resistance,” Mike Mann explains.
It’s in its element in good growing conditions and fertile soils where producers can really go for high yields but where standard varieties all too often become unmanageable, he says.
“Troy’s optimum canopy height allows better timing of agronomic inputs including late fungicides, insecticides and nitrogen to boost growth but also allows early harvesting that can take up to 50% less time than with taller varieties.
“But equally, its inherent strength and vigour will give it the edge in less than favourable situations. Troy is faster growing in the critical autumn establishment period than other semi-dwarves allowing it to outgrow diseases and as it grows, it short stems and strong root system means it is virtually lodging proof.”
Mike Mann admits DSV are a little late to the party when it comes to launching a semi-dwarf – Troy is their first – but says it was important to learn from the mistakes of others and ensure that when they did introduce one the genetics were robust and it would be capable of being class leader.
“Troy sets a new standard for field stability, ease of management and yield and is the perfect variety for UK growers. It’s the direct result of concentrating on the needs of growers, in particular focusing on the increasingly variable weather patterns we now face.
“It’s no longer a question of breeding varieties that look good on paper and can deliver superb results in a perfect year. Troy can mix it with the very best in terms of yield when the conditions are right but it has the strength and hardiness to perform in bad years, too. That’s why we think it is such a breakthrough.”
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Troy – Semi Dwarf
Ideal combination of hybrid and low biomass features in rape
Several years ago low biomass or shorter varieties of oilseed rape were introduced to the UK market and caught the imagination of growers because of their ease of management and potential lower cost of production. These varieties were open-pollinated varieties. More recently hybrid rape varieties were launched and now dominate the sector due to their overall performance and crop vigour. It is only recently that the oilseed rape types – semi-dwarf and hybrid – have been brought together in the one variety type, offering growers a desirable combination of characteristics.
Colin Button, Seed Manager for national distributor HLHutchinson, reports that nationally between 60 and 65% of seed sales are hybrids. “For Hutchinsons this is even higher at over 80% of our seed sales. This is because hybrid rape offers both high performance and excellent vigour. Hybrids show better vigour at establishment, which is a very important time in the crops’ life, but also in the spring when the crop bounces back from the winter and starts to extend. It is a benefit that farmers can see easily for themselves in the field.”
Colin has noticed on their five variety trials sites, the hybrid rape variety Troy from DSV has shown positive vigour. “This variety is in the Candidate Recommended List trials this year and it has certainly looked the part. Not only can we plant a lower seed rate (40 – 45 seeds per sq m) being a hybrid, but its early vigour has been shown to be a benefit when it comes to competing with black-grass early on in the crops life, where the crop can be sown a little thicker (50 – 55 seeds per sq m) to ensure good ground cover and a suppression of black-grass and not run the risk of lodging as with higher seed rates of other normal height hybrids.”
Troy is one of the first hybrid semi-dwarf varieties, combining one of the highest yields of any semi-dwarf plus all the benefits of a hybrid. “Troy is consistently short at around 138 cms height, which means, as with semi-dwarf types, it is easier and cheaper to manage. Troy is also almost totally resistant to lodging. It has ratings of 8 for stem stiffness and an 8 for resistance to lodging.”
“One aspect we have noticed in trials is that although the semi-dwarfs are shorter in the aerial part of the plant, they still have a very strong and robust rooting system, so the dwarfing gene applies to above ground parts, not below,” comments Colin.
At harvest Colin Button reckons you can combine Troy twice as fast as some other taller varieties. “It will present well to the combine cutting table, with less pod shatter. It also ripens more evenly as there is no compression of pods from the top part of the canopy. I have noticed too that Troy appears to dry earlier in the morning and later in the evening due to its compact canopy structure. Overall growers have very worthwhile time advantages and measurable fuel savings. I anticipate that growers will like a lower biomass variety combined with hybrid vigour and that Troy will see good success in the market as a consequence.”
Semi-dwarf hybrids still perform well compared with taller hybrids. Troy, for example yields 107% with a good oil content of 44.8%, better than most other hybrids.
Colin Button advises that a variety such as Troy should be sown early and on high fertility sites to make the most of their advantages.
Sarah Lockhart of DSV says that Troy is the first semi-dwarf from DSV. “We already have an excellent range of hybrid rapes, but Troy is our first semi-dwarf and appears to represent a jump forward in this breeding technology, outperforming all the controls and the majority of varieties in trials. Being around 16 cms shorter than the hybrid Excalibur, it has all the management pluses associated with a low biomass variety and all the performance pluses of a hybrid.”
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