Canola and Camelina Variety Trials and Agronomic Research
Project Investigator: Scot Hulbert, WSU
January, 2008 Progress Report
What is known:
The winter growing season in this low to intermediate rainfall region is a unique environment for Brassica oilseed production and one that canola breeding programs around the world have not focused on. Winter canola performs well after summer fallow plantings if good stands can be established, but successful stand establishment has been sporadic for growers and researchers.
What is not known:
We don’t know the best canola cultivars for this region, or whether some varieties do best at early or later planting dates.
Experimental design and preliminary observations:
We planted replicated trials of at least 64 winter canola varieties at Ralston and Reardan. The varieties included all the cultivars entered in the National Winter Canola Variety Trial. The Ralston site was cultivated in a summer fallow fashion and the Reardan site was a chem-fallow field. A third site, at Othello, was planted and irrigated. This is not the target environment for the dryland production region, but it guaranteed a good stand and will also provide information on what varieties are adapted to the region in general.
A good stand was achieved at Othello in a September 10 planting, but not at August 15 planting at Ralston. Our first planting at Reardan on August 17 resulted in an uneven stand. We replanted on September 17, and got a good stand. Stand counts were made in single rows of each of the plots at both Othello and Reardan. This will enable us to quantify winter survival for each cultivar in the trial. We saw variation for emergence at both Othello and Reardan. Cultivars also varied for fall seedling vigor and growth at Othello, and to a lesser extent at Reardan.
One thing we learned from these plantings is that none of the varieties will emerge through much more than an inch of soil. Even though the seed size varies considerably among the varieties, none emerged well in the first planting at Reardan or the Ralston site. In both cases the seeds were probably placed deeper than optimal.
Soil pathogens did not appear to play a large role in stand establishment in these fall plantings. Heat stress probably played a role in the poor emergence of the stand at Ralston.
A replicated camelina trial with 30 varieties and experimental lines was planted in Ralston in the Spring of 2006. They were planted directly into spring wheat stubble, without a fallow period. Two planting methods were used: 1) using a direct seed drill, and 2) broadcasting after fertilization with a direct seed drill. The broadcast plots had the best stands and yields were roughly 1400 lbs/acre with most varieties when planted this way.
Links to other related resources:
National Winter Canola Variety Trials in other parts of the country:
http://www.oznet.k-state.edu/library/crpsl2/samplers/srp954.asp
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