Tanami replacement already turning heads

Canola Breeders' replacement for its highly successful variety Tanami was turning a few heads at the Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days.

Called CBSturtTT, the variety is an early maturing, triazine-tolerant, open-pollinated variety and is adapted to low and medium rainfall zones.

Canola Breeders senior field officer Milton Sanders said Sturt had been in the National Variety Trials for the past five years and had proven to be higher yielding than Tanami.

He said it was also an ideal alternative to Cobbler and Stingray.

"We would predict it's probably going to be another 500kg over and above what Tanami used to yield and probably Telfer as well," Mr Sanders said.

"It would have been at 20 to 30 locations across the State and was trialled in low to medium rainfall.

"Its blackleg rating is higher than Tanami ever was and its oil content is higher."

Mr Sanders said growers were able to see Sturt in various grower group trials across the State.

"It's probably a bit early at this point to see how it's going to perform but this season is giving it a very good chance of performing well," he said.

"It's currently being bulked up in WA and SA and it is available for sowing in 2013."

Also on show was the world's first open-pollinated genetically modified canola - CBStatusRR.

The Roundup Ready canola is a robust variety also suited to low rainfall areas.

"There is a hectare growing in WA at the moment to grow seed for us to go commercial next year," Mr Sanders said.

"It's performed like a hybrid basically from the start of the season - it's very exciting."

CBHentyHT - the Jardee replacement - was also at the field days and Mr Sanders said Canola Breeders expected big things from the new variety.

"Jardee was the first triazine-tolerant hybrid to be produced in the world and it's been a very good variety for us," he said.

"But Henty has been promoted basically because it was the highest-yielding triazine-tolerant hybrid in National Variety Trials in 2011.

"It's slightly earlier than Jardee, but the big thing about Henty is it's got a higher blackleg rating than Jardee ever had. It's probably going to be our number one hybrid for the next 12 months to two years but we've also got a number of lines coming up behind these."