IT'S ALL about earliness with new oilseed rape variety, Advance, from DLF.

Earliness enables farmers to spread workload, free up storage and cash flow, and tackle blackgrass ahead of drilling wheat. However, finding a decent early maturing variety has not been easy.

The British-bred conventional variety, Advance, matures up to seven days earlier than other varieties and is well suited to the British climate, pointed out its breeder, Mike Pickford. “Our test site is on Cotswolds brash and being 900 foot above sea level, is a very testing location to put a variety through its paces – if it can excel here it can do well anywhere in the UK.”

According to David Leaper, seed technical specialist at Agrii, the main advantages of drilling an early oilseed rape variety are providing an early entry for winter wheat, enabling farmers to control blackgrass through stale seedbeds.

“Also, when commodity prices are low, Advance's oil content is an important contributor to rapeseed returns,” said Mr Leaper. “It’s worth an extra £130-£150/ha and is genetically stable so it doesn’t fluctuate like yields might.”

In AHDB candidate trials for the 2014/2015 recommended list, Advance had a gross output 104% of the control, with an oil content of 46.1% – higher than any other variety in Recommended List trials. It scored an eight for lodging resistance and stem stiffness, and being short is easy to harvest. Earliness of flowering was an eight, with earliness of maturity at six.

“It’s a very similar maturity to Excalibur, but stiffer and with a higher gross output,” said David Ramdhian, from DLF Seeds.

“Because it is so early to ripen and the AHDB trials have to wait and harvest all the varieties at the same time, unfortunately it just missed out on full recommendation. Despite this, it has a very dedicated following among growers and agronomists, and has a lot to offer on farm,” he added.