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

Abstract

a b s t r a c tDrought is a periodic occurrence in the High Plains of the U.S.A.; thereby low-water using crops are desired. Canola, a biofuel and food oil, has been studied in the region under rain-fed conditions for several years. The study's objective was to measure plant growth, seed yield, and oil characteristic of canola at four levels of applied water in western Nebraska. The cultivar Hyola 357 Magnum was exposed to rain-fed only (RF), and irrigated with 10 (LI), 20 (MI), and 30 (HI) cm water. Adding irrigation increased plant growth, i.e., canopy height, stem length, and canopy weight. Highest canopy height (>100 cm for MI and HI) was reached by 10 weeks after planting (WAP) with a total of 23 cm of applied water or 13 cm of irrigation. By 8 WAP, canopy fresh weight was increased by 37 to 58% by MI and HI irrigations. Pod fresh and dry weights at harvest (13 WAP) were increased >50% and >20%, respectively, by all irrigations. Seed yield were increased by each incremental increase in irrigation from 1220 kg/ha for RF to 2905 for HI, a 2.4-fold increase. Seed oil content was increased by MI and HI irrigations (4-8%). The fatty acid profile was not substantially altered by irrigation. There was a slight decrease of palmitic acid and increase in linolenic acid with HI. Canola showed that >20 cm of applied water is needed for good vine and pod growth but >40 cm was needed to achieve the highest yield. Canola could be grown successfully in western Nebraska, supplying oil for fuel and cooking.

Major Management Factors Determining Spring and Winter Canola Yield in North America

“…Water requirement declines sharply after seed set to harvest (Hergert et al, 2016). From a study in Nebraska, Pavlista et al (2016) concluded that >200 mm of water is required for adequate vegetative growth, and that >400 mm of water is necessary for high yield (3 Mg ha −1 ).…”

“…Canola yield (Mg ha −1 ) and water use (mm of water) during the crop growing season. Data for the figure were collected from Nielson (1997), Johnston et al (2002), Hergert et al, (2016), Pavlista et al (2016), and unpublished winter canola irrigation trial data in Finney, Kansas (Kisekka, Ciampitti et al, unpublished data, 2017). Slope of the regression line represents the water use efficiency (Mg ha −1 mm −1 ).…”

Irrigation response and water productivity of deficit to fully irrigated spring camelina

“…The concept of deficit irrigation has been known for many years (English, 1990) and has been researched as a production strategy on many conventional crops in Nebraska (Garrity et al, 1982;Hergert et al, 1993;Klocke, et al, Payero, et al, 2006;1989;Schneekloth et al, 1991) and more recently on canola (Hergert et al, 2016;Pavlista et al, 2016b), but not camelina. The goal of deficit irrigation is to manage irrigation timing so the resulting water stress has less of a negative impact on grain yield.…”

Effects of different sowing dates and row spacing on physiological quality of canola seed

“…The water deficit, especially in the flowering period can affect grain development (Avila et al, 2004;Gunasekera et al, 2006;Tesfamariam et al, 2010) preventing early maturing hybrids to express its maximum physiological potential. According to Pavlista et al (2016), water availability needs to be constant, without interruption and throughout the crop cycle, to achieve high yield and obtain high physiological quality seeds. Mean values for the second crop season is verified in Table 8.…”