The Department of Agriculture recently released its 2020 winter oilseed rape recommended list. This year sees one recommended variety (DK Extrovert) discontinued and no new additions. Last year’s three provisionally recommended varieties are now fully recommended.

There are now six varieties recommended for this year – Alizze, Anastasia, Aquila, Dariot, PX113 and SY Harnas, the details for which can be found in Table 1.

Varieties included on the recommended list have completed at least three years in DAFM trials located in Cork, Kilkenny, Kildare and Meath. Once again, Aquila has the highest yield rating, along with high oil content.

The control varieties used in both 2017 and 2018 were Anastasia, DK Extrovert and SY Harnas and Alizze, Anastasia and SY Harnas in 2019. Yield and oil content are expressed relative to the mean of the control varieties (100 = mean of control varieties). The mean yield and oil content of the control varieties were 5.0t/ha and 44.5%, respectively, when adjusted to 9% moisture content.

Alizze – hybrid: Provisionally recommended initially in 2019 and upgraded to fully recommended in 2020. This is a good-yielding variety with good, early vigour. It has very good lodging resistance and good stem stiffness. It is very early to flower and is early maturing. Has good light leaf spot and very high shedding resistance scores. Alizze was bred by RAGT2n and is handled by Goldcrop Ltd.

Anastasia – conventional: This is a good-yielding variety with good early vigour, good resistance to lodging and has good stem stiffness. It rates as moderately early to flower and has a moderate maturity rating. It has good light leaf spot and shedding resistance. It was bred by Limagrain and is handled by Seedtech Ltd.

Aquila – hybrid: This variety was also provisionally recommended initially in 2019 and fully recommended in 2020. It has the highest yield, good early vigour, good lodging resistance and good stem stiffness. It is early flowering and early maturing. It also scores well for light leaf spot and shedding resistance. It was bred by Limagrain and is handled by Seedtech Ltd.

Dariot – hybrid: Dariot was also provisionally recommended in 2019 and fully recommended in for 2020. This is a high-yielding variety with good early vigour. It is the tallest variety on the list but has good lodging resistance and stem stiffness. It is early to flower and has an early maturity rating. It has good light leaf spot and very high shedding resistance scores. It was bred by DSV and is handled by Seedtech Ltd.

PX113 – hybrid semi-dwarf: This is a moderate yielding variety but has good early vigour. It is the shortest variety on the list, with very good lodging resistance and stem stiffness. It is early flowering and has an early maturity rating. The variety has moderate light leaf spot resistance and good shedding resistance scores. It was bred by Pioneer, which handles the variety here.

SY Harnas – hybrid: This is an average yielding variety with moderate early vigour. It has only moderate lodging resistance and moderately stiff stems and therefore needs effective growth regulation. It is early to flower and has a moderate maturity rating. The variety has good light leaf spot and shedding resistance scores. This SY variety was bred by Syngenta and is handled by Goldcrop Ltd.