Oilseeds

Quick agronomy facts:

	Oilseed Rape
Seed Rate kg/Ha	3 – 6
Nitrogen (N) kg/Ha	up to 210
Phosphate (P) kg/Ha	50
Potash (K) kg/Ha	40
Av . Yield t/Ha	3.7

Other Key Points

Typical Protein & Oil Contents

Oilseed Rape – harvested Protein Oil	38% 45%
Oilseed Meal = (after crushed for oil) Oil Protein	6-36% 28 – 45%

Storage

Recommended Moisture Content for long term storage

8% m.c. at 100C

Typical Weeds, Pests, Diseases

Weeds	thistles, cleavers, mayweed, and poppies
Pests	Slugs, Aphids, Pollen Beetle, Flea Beetle, Pigeons
Diseases:	Light leaf spot, Sclerotinia, Phoma, Alternaria. Club root

About Oilseeds

Oilseeds are grown for their seeds which are harvested then crushed to get vegetable oil from seed. These vegetable oils are considered essential to modern healthy eating around the world. A by product after extracting oil used as animal feed – often referred to as cake.

Oilseeds grown in the UK

The main Oilseeds grown in the UK are:

• Oilseed Rape (or Canola in N America)
• Linseed
• Borage – less so
• Evening Primrose – even less so…

UK climate ideal for OSR – usually oil crops prefer hotter and dryer climates

World Oilseeds

A range of crops are grown to produce vegetable oils –

• Soya,
• Maize,
• Palm,
• Sunflower,
• Oil Seed Rape
• + other minor crops Sesame, Castor

World consumption of Oilseeds is in excess of 100mt

UK Oilseeds