Up against an “inconsistency of grower experiences” with the seeds’ yields in 2019, Bayer Canada is yanking two of its DeKalb TruFlex canola hybrids from the market.

DeKalb’s DKTF 92 SC and DKTF 94 CR will not be available for 2020, Bayer said. Canola growers who have already booked those seeds for this spring are now asked to talk to their local sales reps or retailers about suitable replacements.

“Last season proved to be a challenging environment for Canadian growers across the board,” Bayer said in a release Wednesday. “Some expressed concerns about the performance of these two hybrids in particular, while others saw these hybrids perform as expected.

“Ultimately this inconsistent performance did not meet Bayer’s expectations.”

The company said it ran side-by-side trials with other DeKalb TruFlex canolas and confirmed “the inconsistent yield results were limited to these two hybrids,” while “all other TruFlex canola, straight cut and clubroot hybrids performed to expectation.”

Separately on Twitter, the company said it would recommend DKTF 96 or 75-65 RR to replace DKTF 92 SC, while a TruFlex canola clubroot hybrid is “an alternative” for DKTF 94 CR.

DKTF 92 SC was announced in 2018 for use in the 2019 growing season, and was billed as having “improved pod strength for straight cutting” plus “very good combining ease and multigenic, R-rated blackleg resistance.”

DKTF 94 CR was also first made available to growers for the 2019 season and was billed as having resistance to five clubroot pathotypes (3, 2, 5, 6 and 8) plus an R rating for blackleg.

DeKalb promoted both TruFlex varieties as offering growers “a wider (herbicide) application window, with up to as many as 14 more days, without sacrificing yield potential.”

The two varieties’ herbicide tolerance packages were also marketed as allowing growers to control 51 weed species, “24 more than the Genuity Roundup Ready canola system.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network