Throughout the harvest season, we are updating our handy map with the latest data from the AHDB’s 2024 oilseed rape Recommended List harvest results.

Use the map below to find the five highest-yielding oilseed rape varieties at your nearest trials site.

See also: Harvest 2024: The 5 top-yielding winter barley varieties map

2023-24 season overview

The 2023-2024 season has been a difficult one with nine of 19 fungicide-treated trials abandoned and six out of seven fungicide-untreated trials abandoned.

Flea beetle, pigeon grazing, clubroot and flooding impacted trials and often there was a combination of different challenges that led to a trial being abandoned. Very high levels of light leaf spot were seen in some fungicide-treated Scottish trials, showing how difficult the disease can be to control in susceptible varieties, though overall phoma and light leaf spot levels were similar to 2023 across all trials.

Oilseed rape summary

Winter oilseed rape control yield results from the 10 fungicide-treated trials that survived through to harvest averaged 4.92 t/ha, which is close to the four-year average of 5.05 t/ha but more variable compared with normal. The lowest yielding trial this year is in Midlothian (control average 3.58 t/ha) and highest yielding two trials in Cambridgeshire, where the controls yielded 6.08 t/ha.

Oilseed rape varieties

The difficult conditions in 2024 have resulted in more variability in the data than normal and some varieties have performed quite differently this year to their over-year performance. As a result, the 2024 results should be treated with some caution.

The highest yielding hybrid varieties this year are newly recommended Academic alongside Turing, both on 106% in line with expectations. Just behind these are a group of varieties on 105%, Vegas, newly recommended variety Adeline, Aurelia, newly recommended variety Armada and East/West variety Auckland. Aurelia has done especially well, yielding 4% above its over-year average.

Other hybrids have performed in line with expectations, the exception being newly recommended East/West variety Dolphin (95%) which has struggled at some sites.

Pinnacle is the highest yielding of the conventional varieties this year (102%) with Tom on 98% alongside the north only variety Amarone also on 98%, well ahead of its four-year average. Annika (E/W) on 97% and Acacia (UK) on 96% are next highest yielding of the conventional varieties with Aspire on 93%.

Clubroot resistant East/West variety Crocodile and UK variety Crome have both finished on 92% well below their five-year average.  Thought their value is in clubroot infected sites.

Like the clubroot resistant varieties, the herbicide-tolerant varieties are well below their four-year averages in 2024.  Matrix CL (UK) on 90% is highest yielding with newly recommended Miraculix CL (N) on 88% and Beatrix CL (N) on 85%.  

• Updated 19 August 2024