Growers moving on from HEAR oilseed rape varieties following reduced demand are encouraged to consider growing Clearfield.
According to Sarah Hawthorne of DSV, volunteers left from HEAR varieties could lead to high levels of erucic acid in following crops, limiting their marketability. However, Clearfield varieties offer the perfect opportunity for cleaning such crops up.
“Clearfield technology, based on a combination of Imazamox herbicide and OSR varieties tolerant to it, has proved highly beneficial to growers in recent years by offering effective control of pernicious brassica weeds,” she says.
“The system has provided reliable control of problem weeds such as charlock, runch and hedge mustard, but has also opened up significant management opportunities for many growers in recent years including reducing erucic acid levels at harvest.”
She suggests that with HEAR varieties arguably becoming unpopular, growing a Clearfield type could help to reduce unwanted volunteers in following seasons that otherwise would be difficult to control.
All three of the Clearfield varieties on the latest 2024/25 RL are now from DSV – each offering yields comparable with conventional options. “DSV Miraculix CL is the latest Clearfield variety to be added to the RL with a recommendation for the North region and a gross output of 94%,” adds Sarah.
“It’s a quad-layered variety that stacks four complex traits together – turnip yellows virus (TuYV) protection with RLM7 phoma and pod shatter resistance plus Clearfield.”
DSV Beatrix CL has a recommendation for the East/West region also with a gross output of 94% and a strong disease package, while the long established DSV Matrix CL is recommended for the whole of the UK with a gross output of 93% of control.
“All three varieties are very attractive options for growers moving on from HEAR varieties,” concludes Sarah.
