“It has been a stop-start season so far this year and light leaf spot has shown up as a major issue,” says Craig Padley, head of oilseed breeding for LS Plant Breeding Ltd (LSPB) (pictured, right). “Wembley has good resistance to the disease – the third best on the list - and is looking clean in both trials and in commercial crops.
“One reason for this is the variety’s early vigour and early flowering time - both of which have helped it to grow away from the disease despite the late start to the season in many parts of the country.
“Wembley is also showing the consistency in gross output we saw as it went through the RL system. On the 2016/17 AHDB Recommended List table for the East/West region, it has the best consistency of all varieties with a variation of just 1% (108-109) over its four RL trials years. This compared to a variation in gross output of 5% as the average over all RL varieties, and up to 11% (103-114) and 13% (102-115) for the least consistent varieties.
“Over the last week, we have checked sites in England and Scotland on our regular inspection visits to look at progress of our varieties in the field and Wembley is looking good as crops develop and pod set progresses,” he adds.
