There’s more to hybrid canola varieties than just high yields – although of course NVT performance is probably at the top of everyone’s checklist as they select their seed.
When growers review their options for 2024, new InVigor® LR 4540P has a blend of advantageous characteristics that probably ticks more boxes than any hybrid before it.
Over the last few years, BASF’s InVigor breeding program has led the way in introducing innovative traits while increasing yield potential. InVigor LR 4540P will give growers their first opportunity to sow a ‘triple trait’ TruFlex® variety. As it happens, they could select it for its outstanding yield potential alone, but that
unique combination of three traits – not to mention conveniently short plant height – gives them more flexibility in responding to emerging threats as well.
InVigor LR 4540P joins InVigor LT 4530P as the only varieties bred with three different trait technologies. Both varieties have the LibertyLink® and PodGuard® traits, which are exclusive to InVigor hybrids. InVigor LT 4530P is also a TT variety while new InVigor LR 4540P is TruFlex. The ‘45’ component in both their names indicates that they have early-mid season (4.5) flowering maturity.
BASF Canola Breeder David Pike confirms that InVigor LR 4540P has all bases covered for growers wanting very high yield potential and some extra layers of yield protection.
“Last year’s NVT results put InVigor LR 4540P right up at the top of TruFlex varieties,” he says. “Results vary from site to site, of course, but overall it probably emerged as the strongest performer in the medium yield range that most growers can expect: between one and two tonnes a hectare. That confirms what we saw in the two previous years of internal trials across a range of conditions.”
BASF already has a great track record of releasing high-yielding TruFlex varieties. InVigor R 4022P, now discontinued, had an excellent fit in WA’s northern Agzones. David says InVigor LR 4540P will be an ideal replacement in those areas, offering increased yield potential as well as the extra herbicide tolerance to deliver outstanding results.
InVigor LR 4540P also includes the unique PodGuard trait, which David confirms provides a much higher level of shatter-tolerance than traditional breeding programs can achieve: “There’s a pretty clear gap between PodGuard lines and the vast majority of other varieties.”
The superior PodGuard protection allows growers to delay harvesting until the crop is fully mature and handle harvest timing pressure more easily. It also reduces yield loss during the harvesting process itself. InVigor LR 4540P’s short stature compared to other TruFlex varieties adds to that excellent harvestability profile.
The final advantage InVigor LR 4540P offers is the option of applying Liberty® herbicide in-crop as well as glyphosate. “There’s no need to use Liberty on InVigor LR 4540P if growers are happy with the standard TruFlex spray program,” David says. “But it gives them a valuable option to introduce a new mode of action, plus potentially improve control of particular weeds and help slow the spread of
glyphosate resistance.”
