Effect of nitrogen, seeding date and cultivar on oat quality and yield in the eastern Canadian prairies

Abstract

. 2004. Effect of nitrogen, seeding date and cultivar on oat quality and yield in the eastern Canadian prairies. Can. J. Plant Sci. 84: 1025-1036. The proportion of oat (Avena sativa L.) being used for race horses and human consumption has increased over the past 15 yr. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of N, seeding date and cultivar on grain yield components, grain yield and grain quality of oat under a directseeding system. Four N rates, three seeding dates and two cultivars were tested at Indian Head, Melfort, and Canora, SK, and Brandon, MB. Yield was more responsive to increasing N rates from 15 and 80 kg ha -1 when oat was seeded in early May versus early June. Panicles plant -1 was the yield component that accounted for most of the yield increase achieved from increasing rates of N, while kernel weight was the yield component that decreased as the rate of N increased. Physical seed quality decreased (plump seed decreased and thin seed increased) with delayed seeding and greater N fertilizer rates. Nitrogen fertilizer and seeding date had a much larger effect on the quality of CDC Pacer than AC Assiniboia. Combining early seeding, appropriate N fertility and well-adapted cultivars should increase the likelihood of optimizing oat yield and quality necessary for high-value markets. Depuis quinze ans, la quantité d'avoine (Avena sativa L.) employée pour nourrir les chevaux de course et pour la consommation humaine ne cesse d'augmenter. L'étude devait évaluer les effets de l'azote (N), de la date des semis et du cultivar sur les composantes du rendement grainier, le rendement grainier proprement dit et la qualité du grain de l'avoine ensemencée directement. Pour cela, les auteurs ont testé quatre taux d'application, trois dates de semis et deux cultivars à Indian Head, Melfort et Canora, en Saskatchewan, ainsi qu'à Brandon, au Manitoba. Le rendement réagit mieux à l'augmentation du taux d'application (de 15 à 80 kg de N par hectare) quand l'avoine est semée au début de mai plutôt qu'au début de juin. Le nombre de panicules par plant est la composante qui explique la majeure partie de la hausse de rendement dérivant de la plus grande quantité d'engrais utilisée; le poids de l'amande, en revanche, diminue avec la hausse du taux d'application. La qualité physique des semences diminue (réduction du nombre de grains ventrus et hausse du nombre de grains minces) quand on retarde la date des semis et accroît les applications d'engrais. L'engrais azoté et la date des semis influent plus sur la qualité de CDC Pacer que sur celle d'AC Assiniboia. En combinant de la bonne façon des semis précoces, le volume d'engrais et des cultivars bien acclimatés, on devrait se rapprocher du rendement optimal pour l'avoine et de la qualité souhaitée pour accéder aux marchés les plus lucratifs.

Yield and quality of oat in response to varying rates of swine slurry

“…Increasing rates of slurry-N did not have negative effects on test weight and kernel weight (Table 6) as was observed with increasing rates of inorganic fertilizer (May et al 2004a;Mohr et al 2007). Trials conducted by Brinkman and Rho (1984) demonstrated that oat grain yield superiority among cultivars in response to N was due to an increase in spikelets per panicle and weight per kernel across rates of N, rather than just the number of panicles per square metre.…”

“…Soil analysis services and the ''Nova Meter'' are available to cereal producers and commercial custom applicators to provide guidance in achieving targets for slurry application. Previous knowledge indicates that excess fertilizer N often results in yield reductions of oat (May et al 2004a;Mohr et al 2007). Agronomy trials have shown that swine slurry can be used as the sole source of fertilizer for cereal crop production if slurry is applied at the optimum rate and time using appropriate equipment (Petersen 1996;Mooleki et al 2002).…”

“…Generally, increasing rates of swine slurry increased yields of soybean and barley; however, for both crops, Abbreviations: CP, crude protein; DM, biomass dry matter; FGS, Feekes growth stage; SL, swine manure slurry; TAN, total ammonical nitrogen; TKW, 1000-kernel weight low nutrient use efficiency of slurry N did not justify the use of rates of slurry higher than the recommended fertilizer-N rate. Various studies have examined the effect of fertilizer nitrogen rate and cultivar on oat yield response (Brinkman and Rho 1984;de Rocquigny et al 2004;May et al 2004a;Mohr et al 2007). Results by Brinkman and Rho (1984) affirmed that three oat cultivars responded differently for yield and plant parameters contributing to yield when grown under a range of fertility conditions.…”

“…Research by de Rocquigny et al (2004) found that incremental increases in N rate beyond the nil rate did not have a significant effect on yield, but significantly affected components contributing to yield of a short and tall oat. Increasing N rate has been shown to increase panicle density but significantly decrease kernel weight (de Rocquigny et al 2004;May et al 2004a;Mohr et al 2007) and percentage of plump seed (May et al 2004a;Mohr et al 2007). Mohr et al (2007) determined that low to moderate rates of N significantly increased yield with a total N supply of 100 kg N ha…”

“…Expression of desirable traits may vary among cultivars in response to nitrogen rates (May et al 2004a). May et al (2004a) found that when seeding date or N rate was changed the yield and quality of AC Assiniboia was more stable than that of the cultivar CDC Pacer.…”