DK Exstar Underlines its Consistency in the Field

With results from more than half this season’s farm scale trials now in, DK Exstar is again showing its great consistency, standing out near the top of the hybrid variety league with an average yield comfortably over 4t/ha under a range of commercial regimes for the third year in a row.    The long-standing Dekalb leader’s 2024 harvest average of 4.50t/ha follows averages of 4.08t/ha in 2023 and 4.86t/ha in 2022, giving the variety a three-year average of 4.48t/ha. 

In all three seasons, DK Exstar has out-yielded the TuYV-resistant RL hybrid comparator we always include in our trials programme despite not carrying the trait,” commented Bayer trials manager, Richard Williams. “So far, it is yielding 103% of this year’s leading RL comparator and fully 6% ahead of the eight mainstream ‘00’ variety mean in our trial set, highlighting its particular strength in agronomic depth. 

“As well as being one of the only varieties ever to be rated 8 for both phoma and light leaf spot resistance, DK Exstar has a notably low susceptibility to verticillium, one of the best standing powers in the business and, of course, Dekalb pod shatter resistance. 

“Both the farm-scale and replicated trials we run as part of the National Hybrid Proving Programme show it to be fast developing as well as vigorous in the autumn, and one of the earliest varieties to grow away in the spring.  These characteristics give it the clear resilience we continue to see in its year-in, year-out performance, making it a great grower choice wherever consistency is a priority.”