The LLS-Erased project offers a well-timed opportunity to focus on improving the control of light leaf spot, and the field-based guidance available.
“Farmer collaboration and knowledge is essential to build effective disease management tools and IPM testing protocols that are practical and cost-effective,” says Faye Ritchie (right), technical director at ADAS.
Farmers will play a central role in LLS-ERASED through on-farm trials across England, feeding results directly into a grower-led knowledge-exchange network. The approach is designed not only to bring the first precision-bred oilseed rape varieties to commercial farms, but also to establish a pipeline for future traits. This will include resistance to other diseases and pests such as cabbage stem flea beetle, which is widely reported as a major limiting factor for UK oilseed rape growers.
“By combining precision breeding with integrated disease management and farmer-led testing, the project positions the UK at the forefront of efforts to rebuild oilseed rape production in a more resilient, sustainable way,” says BOFIN’s Tom Allen-Stevens, “What’s more, building on similar precision-breeding grower-led platforms, it establishes the UK as a world leader in the technology and an on-farm testbed for future traits. This has potential benefits for farm profitability, pesticide reduction and food security, not just for the UK, but across Europe, as the EU moves towards greater acceptance of new genomic techniques.”