United Kingdom
December 3, 2013
Just six months from the launch of its UK seeds business, Bayer has chalked up a milestone achievement; three new high-performing hybrid OSR varieties on the HGCA 2014/15 lists.
Harper is now on the HGCA winter OSR 2014/15 East/West region Recommended List (RL), Fencer is a new winter East/West RL candidate and Dodger is new to the spring Descriptive List.
Bayer’s seeds marketing manager Adrian Cottey says: “Harper and Fencer share the characteristic vigour coming from our hybrid breeding which delivers strong establishment, early spring growth and excellent standing power.”
Harper, the company’s first winter hybrid for the UK, is listed with a gross output of 103% and a stem canker resistance rating of 9, making it the highest performing phoma resistant variety. It is relatively early maturing and has above average oil content listed at 45.1%.
Although not on the North list, Mr Cottey says the company’s trials there, including a standard regional fungicide programme to protect against light leaf spot, have shown it to be equally well suited to the North – due to its hardy, vigorous nature – and describes Harper as a nationwide variety.
“Fencer is slightly later maturing than Harper, offers excellent standing power and in trials so far has shown the potential for a further 2% gross output with comparable oil bonus potential.”
Dodger leads the 2014 spring OSR Descriptive list with gross output listed 5% above previous top performers and high oil content. Mr Cottey says it has yielded consistently across three years of nationwide trials averaging 2.9 t/ha and has shown comparable standing power to the best listed varieties.
The three varieties are expected to be commercially available for the 2014/15 season, with Harper fully available, and Fencer and Dodger in small quantities. Mr Cottey encourages growers choosing them to also make use of Bayer’s nationwide agronomy support. “While bringing class-leading stem canker resistance we want to help growers integrate this with fungicide use to ease management decisions and maximise returns.”
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