Oilseed rape growers will be relieved to hear that the risk from the crop’s most yield-damaging disease, light leaf spot, is relatively low this season.

A regional forecast highlights that for the first time since 2012/13 no region of Britain falls into the highest-risk category for the disease.

Neal Evans, plant pathologist at CropSave, who put together the forecast, says that crops had shown a high pod incidence of the disease this year, but then dry summer weather intervened.

“Although the potential for higher disease pressure was there, relatively warm temperatures have helped to peg back risk across Britain,” he said.

See also: Delayed OSR disease threat good news for fungicide spend

For southern England, the risk from the disease is exceptionally low, with the forecast predicting even lower disease pressures than in the relatively low-risk 2013/14 season.

Historically, light leaf spot is more serious in the north of England and in Scotland, but the 2018/19 preliminary risk in these regions can be described as moderate, the forecast said.

Further information on light leaf spot, fungicide performance and resistance management