Strategies for High Yielding Winter Canola in the Northern Rocky Mountain Region

1
Strategies for High Yielding Winter Canola in the
Northern Rocky Mountain Region
Perry Miller1 and Duane Johnson2
1Dept. Land Resources and Environmental
Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT
2Dept. Research Centers, Montana State
University, Kalispell, MT

• European Yield Potential
• An unexpected result of the 2005 cultivar
  evaluation trials in Montana was that the
  European checks posted greater yields than the
  K-State genetic lines (Fig. 5). Excellent winter
  survival occurred at both locations.

• Rationale
• A successful bio-oil industry will depend on
  feedstock oil crops with a low cost per unit of
  production.
• Winter canola has high yield potential due to
  synchrony of plant growth with the environment of
  the northern Rockies.
• Preliminary research has shown that soil water in
  early September is a key constraint to winter
  canola survival.
• The advent of RR winter canola removes a major
  source of agronomic risk related to weed
  management.
• Objective
• To test the relative importance of 1) fall
  irrigation, 2) fall seeding date, 3) plant
  density, and 4) cultivar, for winter canola
  survival, seed yield, and oil production.
• Methods
• Bozeman (southwest MT) and Kalispell (northwest
  MT) represent mild winter climates in the Rocky
  Mountain Front region of Montana. 1971-2000
  average annual precipitation was 421 and 516 mm,
  respectively. Bozeman has a deep silt loam soil
  and Kalispell has a deep sandy loam soil.
• Preliminary research has been underway since 2000
  at Bozeman and 2002 at Kalispell. It has included
  cultivar evaluation and agronomic factors such as
  fall irrigation and seed density.
• The current 2007 sites were established in Sep
  2006 under line-source sprinkler irrigation
  gradients at both locations. Agronomic factors in
  the experimental design are
• Seeding date (early vs late September)
• Cultivar (European RR vs winter hardy non-RR KS
  line)
• Seeding rate (25, 50, 100, 200, and 400 seeds
  m-2)
• We will collect data on emergence rates, plant
  development rates, crop yield, and oil yield.

Winterhardiness Genetics for the Northern
Rockies In 2003, Charlie Rife from KSU sent a
collection of Russian winter canola lines that he
hoped was the Holy Grail for winterhardiness to
test in Montana against his most winterhardy
K-State genetics. This rainfed trial was sown
directly into standing wheat stubble using
low-disturbance disk openers. Fall rain arrived
late so seedlings were only at the 1 to 2-lf
stage at dormancy. Overwinter survival was very
low (Fig. 2). Bad News The Russian germplasm
collection was not the Holy Grail. Good News
Winterhardiness of K-State genetics was likely
the best in the world. Importance
of Fall Irrigation In the 2004 trial it was
obvious that we were going to lose yet another
rainfed trial due to insufficient fall rain. We
decided to rescue the trial with a single
application of sprinkler irrigation in mid-Sep
2003 (75 mm 3 inch). The K-State genotypes
showed superior winterhardiness compared with the
European checks (data not shown) and the yield of
the 7 highest entries averaged gt 2500 kg ha-1 (50
bu/ac) (Fig.3). In 2005 we
tested the importance of fall irrigation at
Bozeman. Significant rain (1.4 inch) fell in
September leading to timely emergence and fall
growth, and thus, only minor differences among
water regimes (Fig 4.).
Figure 5. Winter canola seed yields at Bozeman
(top) and Kalispell (bottom), MT. The two highest
yielding entries were European in both trials.
Figure 6. Total seedling biomass and plant weight
had inverse relationships with plant density
(plants m-2), measured 46 das at Bozeman, MT, Oct
27, 2004. All differences significant _at_ P lt 0.01.
Figure 4. Seed yields in the Fall Irrigation x
Rate of Seeding trial, at Bozeman, MT, 2005. The
genetic line KS9835-6-5A-MT was used for this
trial.
We gratefully acknowledge support from the
Montana Ag Experiment Station, the Pacific
Northwest Canola Research Program, and the MSU
Bio-Based Institute. Collaboration with Charlie
Rife at Kansas State Univ. was invaluable.
Technical expertise was ably provided by Jeff
Holmes, Louise Strang, and Bernard Schaff.