The brassicas have been developed during more than 15 years of plant breeding and can be sprayed with Dupont’s Telar herbicide to control broadleaf weeds such as wild turnip, which is often found in Southland crop paddocks.
HT bulb turnip, rape and leafy turnip were followed in 2012 by HT swede, sown for the first time on farms during that year’s challenging dry conditions.
“Not having excessive populations of weed amongst the swede crop resulted in every bit of available moisture going to where it was needed the most,” product development manager Andy Dumbleton says.
“HT kale is proving to be a technical challenge due to crossing incompatibility, but we will get there.”
Summer HT bulb turnip crops, used for summer feed for dairy herds in Southland and Otago, are yielding 18 tonnes/ha on some farms.
“We’ve produced world-leading plant breeding technology, producing a product which solves the basic problem of weed control in forage brassicas, resulting in a more consistent, higher-yielding crop.”
The system will be available for the first time this spring in the North Island.
“Farmers are not as dependent on brassicas in the North Island and the weed spectrum is slightly different which is why we have concentrated on the South Island where the problem of wild turnip and other broadleaf weeds were creating a huge headache for farmers.”
For more information on PGG Wrightson Seeds Cleancrop Brassica System visit www.pggwrightsonseeds.com.
