Establishment is so important when growing oilseed, getting the crop up and away to combat pest pressure is vital at the early growth stages, but don’t let the momentum end there.

Once oilseed is at the 4-6 leaf stage it is time to apply some key micronutrients to ensure growth isn’t hindered at all before winter. Oilseed can put a lot of biomass on over a short space of time if conditions are right, which means there is potential for the crop to deplete micronutrient levels in the soil.

A simple way to apply all of oilseed’s key micronutrients required in the autumn, is to use a multi-nutrient, crop-specific product such as YaraVita Brassitrel Pro. This product contains Mg, Mn, Ca, B and Mo – vital micronutrients for this crop, particularly if we want to aid autumn biomass.

Yara conducts independently run trials each year and has 6 years of data, showing an average yield response of 0.3t/ha from an application of Brassitrel Pro, both in the autumn and followed up in the spring. Therefore, it is well worth the applications as the return on investment far outweighs the cost of the product.

An added benefit from making sure the crop has all the nutrients it requires in the autumn is that a healthier plant is better able to cope with disease pressure and some of these nutrients have been shown to decrease the incidence of disease significantly. It’s the same principle in animals and humans, a healthy animal isn’t as susceptible to illnesses compared to one that doesn’t have a sufficient diet, it is similar for plants.

To learn more about nutrient deficiencies or any of our products please visit yara.co.uk/agronomy-advice/