Oilseed rape growers moving on from HEAR varieties following reduced demand and a reduction in contracts available are being encouraged to consider growing Clearfield oilseed rape.

Sarah Hawthorne of DSV UK Ltd says volunteers left from HEAR varieties could lead to high levels of erucic acid in following crops limiting their marketability with Clearfield varieties offering the perfect opportunity for cleaning such crops up.

“Clearfield technology, based on a combination of Imazamox herbicide and oilseed rape varieties tolerant to it, has proved highly beneficial to oilseed rape growers in recent years offering effective control of pernicious brassica weeds,” says Sarah.

“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.

"With HEAR varieties becoming increasingly unpopular, growing a Clearfield variety could help reduce unwanted volunteers in following seasons that otherwise would be very difficult to control."

All three of the Clearfield varieties on the latest 2024/25 RL are now from DSV with all offering yields comparable to conventional options.

"DSV Miraculix CL is the latest Clearfield variety to be added to the AHDB Recommended List (RL) with a recommendation for the North region and a gross output of 94%,” she says.

"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,” Sarah adds.

The development of Clearfield oilseed rape varieties has been an important part of DSV's breeding strategy for some years with the company being the first to produce these without the yield penalties seen previously.

“The combination of these high-performance varieties with Clearfield herbicide chemistry has proved highly beneficial to oilseed rape growers in recent years, offering highly effective control of pernicious brassica weeds,” Sarah explains.

“In particular, it has allowed robust and reliable control of problem weeds such as charlock, runch and hedge mustard, but has also opened up significant management opportunities for many growers including reducing erucic acid levels at harvest."