Camelina Agronomy and Cultivar Evaluation Research
Project Investigator: William Schillinger, WSU
January, 2008 Progress Report
What Is known:
Camelina is an ancient oilseed crop from Eastern Europe. Limited research from Montana in the past few years indicates that camelina is drought tolerant, does not require much nitrogen fertilizer, and does well on shallow or otherwise marginal soils. Several people feel that, if camelina has a fit in the Pacific Northwest, it will likely be in the low-precipitation region where winter wheat – summer fallow is the dominant crop rotation.
My first experience growing camelina was in 2007 with the varieties “Calena” and “Salena” on summer-fallowed ground at the WSU Dryland Research Station at Lind. Crop-year (Sept. 1 to Aug. 31) precipitation in 2007 was only 9.02 inches. I have grown numerous alternative crops for many years at Lind and surrounding area. Few of the alternative crops have shown much potential for this dry region. I was pleasantly surprised with camelina. On June 1, we had 990F air temperature and the camelina plants (as expected) aborted their flowers. Two days later we received 0.51 inches of rain and the daytime high air temperature was only 650F. With the rain and cool temperature, camelina started flowering again. The Calena produced 1400 lbs/a and the Salena 1250 lbs/a grain yield in 2007.
Stephen Guy from the University of Idaho has two years of experience growing camelina near Moscow (25 inch annual precipitation zone). His studies, to date, show that camelina has greater and more stable grain yield compared to both spring canola and yellow mustard.
What is not known:
- Camelina variety x planting date interactions,
- Seed bed establishment requirements for camelina
- N and S fertilizer requirements for camelina
Study 1: Planting date
Location: Lind (as well as Pendleton, Moscow, Corvallis). Two planting methods: direct drilling and broadcast + packing. Six planting dates: (1) As soon as rains start in the fall (generally around mid October or later), (2) November dormant (Thanksgiving week), (3) Winter dormant (Jan. 15 – Feb. 1), (4) Early (mid February), (5) Mid (March 1), and (6) Late (March 15).
Four replications of each planting date and planting method. Plant Calena variety at 4 lbs/acre with nitrogen @ 25 lbs/acre. Stand counts using quadrant method. Use Assure II to control downy brome. Grain yield with plot combine. Take samples from each treatment for oil content.
Study 2: Cultivar evaluation
Location: Lind (as well as Pendleton, Moscow, Corvallis, and possibly Dusty or Ralston). Will evaluate 15 – 20 cultivars and numbered lines at each location. Four replications. March 1 planting date. Nitrogen @ 25 lbs/acre. Grain yield with plot combine.
Study 3: Fertilizer rates
Location: Lind (as well as Pendleton, Moscow, Corvallis, and Davenport). Nitrogen rates are: 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 lbs/acre. Sulfur will be applied to rates 2 and 4 (i.e., 10-0-0-8 and 30-0-0-8). Will use Calena variety @ 4 lbs/acre. March 1 seeding date. Four replications.
Note: The three camelina studies (above) will be conducted for a duration of three years. There will be differences in the timing of planting dates (Study 1) and in fertilizer rates (Study 3) across locations, but otherwise everything will be the same at all locations mentioned.
Study 4: Cropping systems
Location: Lind. New 6-year study was started in fall 2007 with a WW-C-SF rotation compared to WW-SF. RCB design with four replications. All phases of all treatments will appear each year. Total of 20 plots. Individual plot size is 30 x 250 ft. This study is unique to Lind.
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