The new conventional rape variety Mambo has out yielded all but one of the 15 rape varieties in Anglia Grain Services farm-scale trials, according to Tim Eaton of AGS.
He explains that Anglia Grain Services, the UK’s leading mobile seed processor, test varieties in half-hectare plots in a 100 acre field in order to get a better feel for performance. “This allows us to make impartial recommendations on varieties to our farmers.”
“We tested 15 oilseed rape varieties, 8 conventional and 7 hybrids in half-hectare plots last year. The variety Mambo was lovely looking and was a very clean crop throughout the year; it yielded 4.93 t/ha. This was about 12% higher and 0.5 t/ha extra yield when compared with lower yielding varieties in our trials. It out yielded all the hybrids we were testing.”
Tim’s observations on Mambo were that it has excellent vigour in the spring and that it is easy to harvest, being low biomass. “It also has a very strong agronomic package. I am convinced that we should be looking at oilseed rape varieties in the same way that we do cereal varieties. In cereals disease ratings to key diseases, such as yellow rust and brown rust, are vital when making variety choices. Disease ratings should be one of the key drivers in oilseed rape, too. I think it is really important to choose a rape variety with good Phoma stem canker and Light leaf spot resistance as you have more flexibility in terms of fungicide usage and timing.”
Neil Groom, Technical Director of Grainseed says that Mambo has an excellent resistance rating to Phoma of 7.8, a high resistance rating to Light Leaf spot of 6.4 and good resistance to Verticillium. “Mambo is one of the highest rated oilseed rape varieties for Phoma stem canker, reducing pressure on early autumn fungicide sprays. I agree with Tim’s sentiment that we need to grow varieties with high combined disease resistance, particularly as many widely grown rape varieties have very low Phoma ratings. PR46W21 and Marathon have just a 3 rating for Phoma and Troy, Incentive, Charger and Excalibur have a 4 rating for Phoma.”
“Es Mambo has the highest HGCA Agronomic Merit rating of 41.2, combining a consistent high yield and high oil content. Its excellent multi-gene disease resistance profile and its standing power increase this overall agronomic rating,” he says.
Neil mentions that Mambo produced the top yield at six of Grainseed’s UK trials locations last year, yielding 107% compared with the standards, with a high oil content of 46%. “In Lincolnshire, Mambo yielded 6.34 t/ha. In Nottinghamshire it yielded 5.69 t/ha and in Suffolk it yielded 5.74 t/ha. In Euralis development trials Mambo was the top yielding variety at 107.3%.”
Tim Eaton says Anglia Grain Services will be recommending Mambo to customers this year. “It looks to be a useful variety with top yields and strong disease resistance. It is also a conventional variety which means growers can save their own seed next year. Being the UK’s leading mobile seed processor, we can supply both certified and home saved seed. We pride ourselves on our ability to test and assess varieties independently so that we can recommend the ones we truly believe in.”
