What a short flowering period might mean for oilseed rape yields

Success

Mr Pearce also puts the crop’s success down to early drilling and a seven-year minimum rotation.

He adds: “For me, less flowers means less pods. However, rape does have a wonderful way of compensating so we might find that pods are bigger, and thousand grain weight is higher.”

Dry

Mark Nightingale, oilseed rape plant breeder and technical manager at Elsoms Seeds, says a combination of a dry spring, flea beetle larvae damage and fertiliser not being taken up by plants is likely to be the reason for shorter flowering.

“We have also just experienced one of the warmest Aprils on record,” he says. “This unusually hot, warm, sunny weather simply pushed the crop through the growth stages.”

Rain in the East fell too late for most crops, although some thin parts of fields may experience late flowering, he adds.

Yield

“However, further rain will help fill pods. Given the plasticity of winter oilseed rape, where we have had short flowering periods in the past, this has often resulted in crops with larger pods and bigger seed, especially after a dry spell when fertiliser was not washed in and utilised earlier in the growing season.

"The result here is a larger yield than expected. Let us hope this is true for this year.”