King of consistency adds to its reputation

For the sixth year in a row DK Exsteel is confirming its pre-eminent consistency by performing well within the top 10 of the 40-plus varieties tested annually in Agrii’s industry leading national variety trials.

An average yield of 4.64t/ha across the three of the programme’s four replicated sites harvested to date sees the hybrid standing at 107% of the 45-variety trial mean. This is identical to the current Recommended List leader and ahead of the majority of varieties with Turnip Yellows Virus (TuYV) resistance – most notably a full 7% ahead of this season’s most popular variety (Figure).

Figure: Agrii National Variety Trials 2022/23 (3 sites – 45 varieties)

On both a two and three year mean basis, the latest data puts DK Exsteel in third place out of all the varieties trialled by Agrii across seven and 12 sites respectively, underlining its position as the most consistent variety the business has ever seen. What is more, with three of the five sites harvested, DK Exsteel is currently standing in top spot in the field-scale strip trials run by the company at sites across northern England and Scotland with an average yield of fully 5.90t/ha (110% of the eight variety mean). And this is nicely ahead of all three of the top TuYV resistant varieties included in the trials set. “As we’ve found for a good while now, there is really nothing to beat DK Exsteel for sheer consistency of performance at the highest level,” says Agrii seed technical manager, David Leaper.

“The fact that is continues to perform on a par with the very best of modern OSR genetics despite being about for much longer comes down to the all-round strength of its breeding.

“In particular, our agronomists and growers really rate the variety for its combination of rapid autumn development; fast and robust spring regrowth; high phoma and light leaf spot as well as good verticillium resistance; strong standing power; and pod shatter resistance. “DK Exsteel may not have TuYV resistance, but our evidence shows that it continues to deliver every bit as well as the best varieties with the trait and better than most.”