Comparative growth of spring-planted canola, brown mustard and camelina

Abstract

With increased emphasis for diesel substitution, production of brown mustard (Brassica juncea), canola (Brassica napus) and camelina (Camelina sativa) used as biodiesels may increase in the High Plains. Since these are new crops to this region, understanding their growth is critical for their acceptance. The objective was to elucidate the growth pattern of these crops when spring-planted in western Nebraska. Field trials were conducted in 2005, 2006 and 2007 with early May planting. Plots were seeded 2 cm deep at 200 plants m −2. Four plants were destructively sampled at about 28, 40, 53, 61, and 82 days after planting (DAP). Canopy growth was field measured. Canopy heights peaked by 61 DAP at 95, 85 and 70 cm for brown mustard, canola and camelina, respectively. Stem length increased to 82 DAP at the rates of 1.24, 1.22 and 0.85 cm/d for brown mustard, canola and camelina, respectively. Root weight accumulated linearly from 28 to 61 DAP. The Brassica grew roots faster and achieved higher weights than camelina. From 28 to 40 DAP, vine fresh weight accumulated rapidly for these crops, leveled and then gradually declined as leaves desiccated. Vine dry weight increased to 61 DAP and then plateaued. The maximum vine dry weights, reached at 61 DAP, were 4.3, 4.5 and 3.0 g/plant for brown mustard, canola and camelina, respectively. By 61 DAP, pods were present and accumulated dry matter while leaves senesced. Pod fresh weight reached its peak at 61 DAP while its dry weight increased linearly to 82 DAP at rates of 0.36, 0.24 and 0.096 g/d for brown mustard, canola and camelina, respectively. Harvest in 2006 showed no significant (p < 0.05) difference between crops with a mean yield of about 1500 kg ha −1. Fatty acid composition was dramatically different between the crops as previously reported. The growth patterns of these crops indicated that all three would be suitable for production in the northern High Plains.

Camelina Seed Yield and Fatty Acids as Influenced by Genotype and Environment

“…Most of the production and research on camelina in the United States has been conducted in the northern Great Plains (Robinson, 1987;Putnam et al, 1993;Budin et al, 1995;Gesch and Cermak, 2011;McVay and Khan, 2011;Chen et al, 2015;Sintim et al, 2016). However, recent studies showed camelina could be grown successfully in the central Great Plains region of western Nebraska (Pavlista et al, 2012;Pavlista et al, 2016) and western Kansas (Aiken et al, 2015) with seed yields (900-1000 kg ha -1 ) comparable to that reported under dryland in the northern Great Plains. A maximum yield of 2500 kg ha -1 was achieved under irrigation in western Nebraska (Pavlista et al, 2016).…”

“…Seed produced from camelina in the Great Plains contains on average from 30 to 40% oil content (Pavlista et al, 2012;Jiang et al, 2014;Sintim et al, 2016) but values as high as 48% have been reported elsewhere (Vollmann et al, 2007). Th e oil contains approximately 60% PUFAs, mainly linoleic acid (18:2n-6; about 15%) and a-linolenic acid (18:3n-6; about 35-45%), 30% MUFAs, and 6 to 10% SFAs (Zubr and Matthaus, 2002;McVay and Lamb, 2008;Kirkhus et al, 2013;Jiang et al, 2014).…”

Growth of spring canola (Brassica napus) under deficit irrigation in Western Nebraska

“…Comparing MI to RF irrigation levels (Tables 1 and 3), 17.8 cm of irrigation was needed to achieve the tallest height. Previous studies of canola in western Nebraska under low water availability (<20 cm) reported a maximum canopy height of 90 cm reached after 9 WAP (Pavlista et al, 2012). Saseendran et al (2010) a maximum plant height of 80 cm attained between 10 WAP under simulated average rain conditions for northeast Colorado.…”

“…To follow plant growth, canopy height and weight, stem nodes and length, were measured every 2-3 weeks starting at 4 WAP (Table 1) following the procedure of Pavlista et al (2012). Canopy height and width were measured with a meter-stick three times in the center rows of each plot at each reading and averaged.…”

“…Recent studies on planting date, seeding amount and planting method for the northern Great Plains were reported (Aiken et al, 2015;Angadi et al, 2003;Chen et al, 2005;Pavlista et al, 2011a). Studies on canola under deficit irrigation are limited in the U.S.A. Pavlista et al (2012) compared growth patterns of canola (Brassica napus) to brown mustard (Brassica juncea) and camelina (Camelina sativa) under low irrigation. However, the objective of this study was to identify the effects of various levels of irrigation on growth, yield and oil content of canola grown at two location over two years in western Nebraska.…”