The benefits of oilseeds in your rotation

With the most recent AHDB early bird survey estimating that the UK winter oilseed rape area has declined by 16% for harvest 2024, partially due to the challenges around establishment, it is easy to overlook the benefits that OSR can bring into an arable rotation.

Whilst of course it is important that crops are economically viable, the bigger picture in terms of what added value OSR has to growers, should not be taken for granted. So, whilst growers may begin to question the place of OSR in the rotation, it is worth considering the following benefits below:

OSR offers a great opportunity to maximise workloads on farm. In terms of the drilling, it is outside that of the main cereal drilling window and with TuYV resistance in the LG portfolio, early drilling can be achieved without having to worry about virus pressures from aphids. With respect to harvest and input timings, it is typically not aligned with cereal crops, meaning that in difficult seasons, workload on time sensitive crops such as cereal fungicide timings, are reduced.Weed control is an important factor to consider with any break crop but following 2 years of difficult grass weed control in cereals, products such as Astrokerb (propyzamide & aminopyralid) offer an opportunity to get on top of difficult to control grass weeds, such as bromes and blackgrass. Where charlock and other brassica weeds are an issue, Clearfield® tolerant varieties offer a solution.
OSR is one of the only monoculture arable crops in which ‘companion cropping’ is being carried out on a relatively wide scale. With some growers looking towards Buckwheat or berseem clovers to establish alongside OSR, under new SFI payments, this can be worth £55 a hectare.
OSR in the rotation brings a different rooting structure, with the large tap root produced helping to break ‘pans’ and improve soil structure, as well as nutrient availability when sown following wheat crops. A 2015 German study (Weiser et al., 2017) showed that wheats following OSR yielded on average 5% higher than those following a cereal, such as barley. These are costs that are often overlooked when analysing the value of OSR on farm.
Whilst OSR can be relatively input heavy, if sown before the end of the year, there has been a lot of research carried out into how best to reduce inputs in the spring; AHDB project PR447 investigated the effectiveness of managing and tailoring OSR nitrogen inputs based on the canopy size. Research forms the backbone of technologies, such as the Yara N sensors, and has proven effective in reducing spring nitrogen costs for growers whilst maximising yields.