RGT Kanzzas tops the trials tables

With its rapid growth habit and Light Leaf Spot (LLS) resistance making it firm favourite for Recommended List approval.

“It’s the first year we’ve tested it and we’ve been delighted with its performance,” says David Leaper, seed technical specialist at Agrii. “We took it on the basis of its growth habit – with the worries of cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB) we want something that’s got some get-up-and-go.”

And it hasn’t disappointed: “It’s very vigorous growth and really good LLS resistance have put it towards the top of our trials results.”

Agrii runs trials for 45 different hybrid and conventional varieties across the country, and its North Lincolnshire site, Revesby, suffered from dreadful CSFB larvae attack in late April / early May. As well as visual assessments, the team cut open stems to look at the number of plants affected. “Kanzzas was the least affected variety,” says David.

Stem weevil larvae were also problematic this year, and Kanzzas again proved to be robust against attack. “We also attribute that to its early spring regrowth.”

In a fully replicated trial, RGT Kanzzas showed 40% visual larval damage (for both CSFB and stem weevil), the lowest of any variety tested. And that showed through in the harvest results, with the variety topping the untreated yield rankings, virtually matching its treated yield result of 4.18t/ha (116% of the control).

Across the Lincolnshire and North Yorkshire sites, RGT Kanzzas was in the top three for spring biomass, scoring more than 8.0 on a scale of one to nine, with nine being the best vigour. And at Revesby it scored top for LLS resistance.

“The combination of lower larval damage and good disease control – especially late-season LLS – put it at the top of the varieties, and in our overall results it sits well up there on yield,” notes David. “It’s way ahead of the many approved varieties and we see it as a core variety going forward, particularly where people have concerns about CSFB, which is most of East Anglia.”

RGT Kanzzas

• Top RL candidate (gross output 106% of control and 44.7% oil content)
• Strong autumn and spring growth habit
• Relatively tall but stiff and relatively early
• The best light leaf spot rating on the Recommended List
• Least affect by larvae in Agrii trials
• Excellent agronomic package with good resistance to verticillium wilt and pod shatter
• Phoma score of six