RGT Nizza has delivered the highest treated gross output for a Clearfield oilseed rape variety in this year’s AHDB Recommended List trials, further narrowing the yield gap between Clearfield and mainstream varieties.
Provisional results show RGT Nizza’s mean score of 101 across the seven official sites was 7 percentage points clear of the only current fully recommended Clearfield variety and just one point behind the two leading control varieties.
Tom Dummett, RAGT’s Cereal and OSR product manager, said the result confirmed the promise the variety has shown over several years of official and independent trials.
“RGT Nizza, our newest variety and first Clearfield offer up for recommendation, has consistently produced exceptional yields for this type.
“This year’s result suggests the yield penalty associated with Clearfield varieties has greatly diminished, making the Clearfield system more attractive to growers who should be using it but have been reluctant to give it a try.”
Aimed at the East/West regions, RGT Nizza has excellent autumn vigour, rated at 6.6, and even better spring vigour.
“RGT Nizza is short and stiff stemmed, scoring 8.6 for resistance to lodging. Coupled with a good fungicide programme, it will help growers plagued by charlock and other problem cruciferous weeds to continue growing very profitable crops of oilseed rape,” says Mr Dummett.
“It has the additional benefit of helping to lower erucic acid levels by reducing volunteer rape and cruciferous weed seed contamination. And growers don’t need to use pre-em on Clearfield varieties, helping to reduce up-front spend on the crop.”
Exceptional vigour and good standing power are two key reasons why RGT Nizza has delivered impressive yields for Norfolk grower Ben Hipperson.
The 50ha crop was combi-drilled at 40 seeds/sq m after a pass with a Simba DTX (tines/discs/press) on thin clay loam over chalk at Melrose Farm, Shouldham on 19 August. Within 12 days two leaves had unfolded, helped by some timely rain.
“Everyone wants OSR to get up and away quickly to counter cabbage stem flea beetle and this was certainly the case with RGT Nizza,” says Mr Hipperson, who farms in partnership with his mother and father, trading as AC Hipperson & Sons.
“The crop remained vigorous right through the autumn. We ended up with about 30 plants/sq m which went into winter looking like a crop of sugar beet.
“It soon got going again in the spring. I gave it some extra tebuconazole in the autumn to help manage the canopy and Toprex on 1 March. It began flowering on 15 April and received a Sclerotinia spray at late flower on 7 May.
“We ended up with a very consistent crop which stood well, far better than other hybrids I’ve grown.
“It yielded 4.3t/ha, which was a very pleasing result for this season – my agronomist told me if we’d got 4t we’d be doing very well, given the dry spring that caused podding problems in some crops.
“The crop combined very easily and I was really happy with the sample – it was very easy to keep clean.”