Earnslaw
Swede
• Early maturing main swede crop
• Soft bulb swede like Major Plus
• Disease tolerance to dry-rot and Alternaria
• Improved leaf and bulb yield over Major Plus
• Yellow-fleshed, light, purple-skinned bulb
• Pelleted seed available
Earnslaw is a traditional, yellow-fleshed swede superseding the current softest swede in the market, Major Plus. Earnslaw retains the same renown characteristics of Major Plus including early maturity and a soft bulb but has the additional benefit of improved dry-rot and Alternaria tolerance resulting in higher yields and better winter keeping abilities. The combination of soft bulb and greater disease tolerance makes Earnslaw swede an ideal swede option for all stock classes including younger growing animals.
Flesh colour: Yellow
Number of grazings: 1
Sowing rate
Conventional sowing or direct drilling 0.8-1.5 kg/ha
Pelleted 90,000 seeds/ha
Dry matter yield
Earnslaw has undergone extensive testing including measuring crop performance at a number of sites and across years. Relative to Major Plus, Earnslaw has improved dry matter yield of 12% and this is seen for both leaf and bulb yield. For farmers wanting an early maturing swede, Earnslaw is an ideal replacement option to Major Plus. For those wanting a later maturing, higher yielding type Clutha Gold or Cleancrop™ Hawkestone is an alternative.
Bulb softness
A key attribute that has been retained in Earnslaw is bulb softness. To measure this bulb softness, an Instron probe is used and the relative difference in bulb softness is noted by the depth the probe penetrates the bulb. Earnslaw registers a similar bulb softness to Major Plus, which is known as the softest bulb swede on the New Zealand market, verifying it as an early maturing swede. In contrast, Clutha Gold and Cleancrop™ Hawkestone are slightly harder bulbs but with later maturing types, they have higher yield potential
Disease resistance
Earnslaw across sites has shown superior disease tolerance to Alternaria, Powdery mildew and Dry Rot compared to Major Plus, so in addition to improved yield users of Earnslaw can expect healthier crops.
