AgriTrade News reports a NIAB project, funded by the AHDB (PR602), has concluded that higher than expected levels of erucic acid (EA) in oilseed rape seed originated from oilseed rape volunteers.
Erucic acid contamination has led to some growers incurring penalties on consignments, or seeing consignments rejected. The European Standing Committee on Plants, Animals Food and Feed announced in February that the legal limit for EA in rapeseed oil is to be reduced from the current 5% to 2%.
NIAB’s Simon Kightley, who led the project, said: “We have come to the conclusion that the problem is coming from OSR volunteers that have lain in soil, for a long time in some cases, not necessarily dormant but regenerating every time that OSR comes back into that field. The volunteer seed germinates, if the field is cultivated to the right depth, when the new crop is planted.
“These volunteers are virtually indistinguishable from the sown crop and will grow and set seed, which is harvested with the crop. Volunteers also cross pollinate with the farmed crop. This happens all the time in rape crops but if the volunteers are high in EA then the seed they produce will be high EA and a proportion of seed in the farm crop will become high EA which will have an immediate impact on overall EA levels.”
Mr Kightley adds that it is not just OSR volunteers causing the problem – poorly controlled Brassica weeds like charlock, which has 42% EA, are also responsible. He says Clearfield varieties and the chemistry used with them are a solution to both parts of this problem. He also advises direct drilling establishment to reduce the number of volunteers germinating, and to take care where using farm saved seed – if not properly tested, it can just multiply the contamination problem.
“Get farm saved seed tested and confirmed at 1% EA or less,” Mr Kightley concludes. “NIAB and other labs test to determine the EA level of seed. I would suggest that they need to ask for a gas chromatography (GC) test, as this is the most accurate test available.
“Growers should retain samples of the oilseed rape at each step in the growing, harvesting and marketing process, in order to be able to send a sample to be independently tested should the need arise.”
Read more here: https://agritradenews.co.uk/news/20...nd-erucic-acid-contamination-of-oilseed-rape/
Erucic acid contamination has led to some growers incurring penalties on consignments, or seeing consignments rejected. The European Standing Committee on Plants, Animals Food and Feed announced in February that the legal limit for EA in rapeseed oil is to be reduced from the current 5% to 2%.
NIAB’s Simon Kightley, who led the project, said: “We have come to the conclusion that the problem is coming from OSR volunteers that have lain in soil, for a long time in some cases, not necessarily dormant but regenerating every time that OSR comes back into that field. The volunteer seed germinates, if the field is cultivated to the right depth, when the new crop is planted.
“These volunteers are virtually indistinguishable from the sown crop and will grow and set seed, which is harvested with the crop. Volunteers also cross pollinate with the farmed crop. This happens all the time in rape crops but if the volunteers are high in EA then the seed they produce will be high EA and a proportion of seed in the farm crop will become high EA which will have an immediate impact on overall EA levels.”
Mr Kightley adds that it is not just OSR volunteers causing the problem – poorly controlled Brassica weeds like charlock, which has 42% EA, are also responsible. He says Clearfield varieties and the chemistry used with them are a solution to both parts of this problem. He also advises direct drilling establishment to reduce the number of volunteers germinating, and to take care where using farm saved seed – if not properly tested, it can just multiply the contamination problem.
“Get farm saved seed tested and confirmed at 1% EA or less,” Mr Kightley concludes. “NIAB and other labs test to determine the EA level of seed. I would suggest that they need to ask for a gas chromatography (GC) test, as this is the most accurate test available.
“Growers should retain samples of the oilseed rape at each step in the growing, harvesting and marketing process, in order to be able to send a sample to be independently tested should the need arise.”
Read more here: https://agritradenews.co.uk/news/20...nd-erucic-acid-contamination-of-oilseed-rape/