Oilseed Rape

Weed Control Solutions

Early removal of weeds saves yield.Weeds compete with the crop for water and nutrients both above and below the ground. This results in a reduction in plant numbers and yield potential of the oilseed rape crop.

Disease Control Solutions

Oilseed rape performance is clearly affected by a range of harmful pathogens, some well known and some less well known like Verticillium wilt. Attention to detail is important, combining cultural methods such as variety choice and rotation with modern chemistry and high quality decision support. You can find what we hope is useful information on these topics here.

Growth Management

Why is it important to manage OSR growth? Oilseed rape is a notoriously fickle crop, reacting to environmental conditions in season in sometimes quite dramatic ways. Lodging is a persistent problem in oilseed rape. Often remaining unseen until harvest, lodging can be responsible for significant revenue loss for growers, making it vitally important to make good crop management decisions, to keep the crop on track towards achieving its full yield potential. As well as rates and timing of fertilisers, the use of metconazole-based fungicides can significantly influence a crop’s development.

Lodging

Lodging in oilseed rape is a persistent problem defined as the permanent displacement of plant stems from their vertical position. Not only does lodging interfere with crop management and makes harvest more difficult and time consuming, it also interferes with light penetration and so has an adverse effect on yield.Lodging compresses the canopy, causing a reduction in overall photosynthesis, with upper pods receiving too much light at the same time the lower pods receive low levels of light. The impact of lodging in oilseed rape is often underestimated and usually unseen until harvest. Since 2012, BASF and ADAS have conducted a number of extensive research projects into lodging and its effects.