United Kingdom
July 2025
Current high prices for oilseed rape, a shortage of the UK-grown crop for crushers and the need for growers to find profitable options to cereals in the rotation are together fuelling renewed interest in Spring sown oilseed rape.
While OSR is very much seen as a winter-sown crop in the UK, that's not the case in the rest of the world with two thirds of global production being drilled in the spring, says DSV UK's Sarah Hawthorne.
With the company's latest Clearfield hybrid variety DSV Cocktail CL joining the 2025/26 AHDB Descriptive List for spring oilseed rape alongside its other varieties Lakritz, Lumen, Contra CL and Crazy CL, growers can achieve genuinely high yields, she adds.
"Development of varieties that deliver consistently high yields in the shorter growing period available, combined with greater understanding of the crop’s management are making spring OSR an increasingly attractive option for UK growers.
"You're obviously going to avoid the issue of variable establishment in challenging autumn and winter periods, and whilst yields of 4 - 5t/ha might be a stretch, 3.0t/ha should be a realistic target for many growers.
"With lower growing costs and the current high prices, that means it's a crop capable of delivering a healthy margin in most areas of the country."
While historically a niche option in the UK, there is actually a substantial knowledge base built around the crop with the latest genetics introducing not just high yield and quality potential, but also resilience, she adds.
“Sowing is a critical area and should be carried out in the best conditions possible to ensure rapid and even emergence. It is always better to wait for optimum seedbed conditions rather than sowing early.
“The optimum sowing date is from mid-March to mid-April with a firm but moist seedbed the aim. Land that is overly wet and cold should be cultivated before sowing to ensure that the topsoil can warm up and dry before being drilled.
“Spring oilseed rape plants develop less branches than winter sown varieties so this must be compensated for by a higher plant density. Ideally you should be aiming for between 60-80 seeds per m² but this will depend on soil conditions and sowing date.”
Management key
Crop nutrition is also an area where attention to detail pays off, Sarah Hawthorne says.
“Spring sown oilseed rape benefits from better nitrogen mobilisation in the soil because the highest demand is later in the season when soils are warmer and more biologically active.
“An early application of 80-100kg N/ha is advised soon after sowing and this should be followed by a further 40kg N/ha at stem elongation.
“Like winter oilseed rape, the spring-sown crop has a high demand for Sulphur and Boron. An early application of 20-30kg SO3/ha is a good idea and 300-400g B/ha are needed before flowering.
“Adequate P, K and Mg also need to be provided to maximise yields, with uptakes likely to be in the region of 50-70kg P2O5/ha, 160kg K2O/ha and 50kg MgO/ha.”
Weed and insect control are areas where particular care is needed too, she says.
“Generally, the same herbicides used for winter oilseed rape are suitable and for fields with high volunteer pressure or difficult to manage weeds, new Cocktail CL would be a good option.
“Insect pests are the most difficult to manage problem in spring oilseed rape. Cabbage flea beetles must be monitored after sowing. Their feeding damage can look similar to cabbage stem flea beetles so you need to be careful.
“When feeding exceeds more than 25% leaf area a pyrethroid insecticide is recommended.”
Pollen beetle can be an issue and growers should be on the lookout for these as soon as buds become visible, she advises.
“Pollen beetle are a bigger threat to spring sown crops than winter ones as the beetles migrate to the spring crops after the winter crops have flowered, so you must remain vigilant and take appropriate action where needed.
“PGRS are not usually required and, generally, use of inputs is lower than with winter oilseed rape crops so this helps offset the lower yields you are likely to achieve.
“Furthermore, it adds another spring crop into the rotation so spring oilseed rape can be a useful tool in blackgrass management where this is a problem."
High performance varieties
Out of 6 varieties on the new 2025 descriptive list for spring oilseed rape, five are now DSV ones with yields as high as 103% of controls and three varieties being Clearfield too, Sarah Hawthorne points out.
“We’ve been breeding spring oilseed rape since the early 1970s and have been continuously adding value to the crop.
“As well as focusing on varieties that deliver high yields and oil contents, we are working on more robust plant types that are more resilient against biotic and abiotic stress.
"DSV Contra CL, Cocktail CL and Crazy CL are all varieties tolerant to imidazolinone herbicides making them valuable tools for weed control in the rotation with all capable of delivering respectable yields and oil contents, as well. DSV Crazy also has clubroot resistance.
"DSV Lakritz, which the DL in 2021, remains the highest yielding of all the spring sown OSR varieties, closely followed by DSV Lumen.
"With the addition of DSV Cocktail to the DL for 2025, we now have a range of high gross margin options for spring oilseed rape across the full range of production scenarios."
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