Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T23:38:13.107Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The contribution of seed survival to yield in new Australian cultivars of oil-seed rape (Brassica napus)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

N. J. Mendham
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Science, University of Tasmania, G.P.O. Box 252C, Hobart, Tasmania, 7001, Australia
J. Russell
Affiliation:
Tasmanian Department of Agriculture, Mt Pleasant Laboratories, P.O. Box 46, Launceston South, Tasmania, 7250, Australia
G. C. Buzza
Affiliation:
Victorian Department of Agriculture, State Research Farm, Werribee, Victoria, 3030, Australia

Summary

A series of experiments in Tasmania examined the growth, development, yield and components of yield of new Australian oil-seed rape cultivars from Victoria and Western Australia. The highest yields obtained were around 5·5 t seed/ha, from an autumn sowing with supplementary irrigation. Spring sowings with irrigation or autumn sowings without produced up to 4 t/ha. The Victorian lines with Japanese parentage clearly outyielded the Western Australian cultivars or Midas, a widely grown Canadian cultivar. When autumn sown, the Victorian lines grew more rapidly at low temperature, which under conditions of later stress contributed to a high yield relative to the other cultivars. However, the most consistent feature from both autumn and spring sowing was high rates of seed survival, up to near the potential number of around 30 per pod, giving very large numbers of seeds per m2. While individual seeds in the Victorian lines, particularly Marnoo, were smaller than in Midas, oil content remained high except under extreme stress in the later stages of seed development.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Buzza, G. C. (1978). Rapeseed breeding, Victorian Department of Agriculture. First Research Workshop, Australian Rapeseed Agronomists and Breeders. Miscellaneous Publication 78/1, Agronomy Department, University of Western Australia.Google Scholar
Buzza, G. C. (1979). Rapeseed. In Australian Field Crops, Vol. 2: - Tropical cereals, oilseeds, grain legumes and other crops (ed. Lovett, J. V. and Lazenby, A.), Ch. 8. Sydney: Angus and Robertson.Google Scholar
Gallagher, J. N., Biscoe, P. V. & Scott, R. K. (1975). Barley and its environment. V. Stability of grain weight. Journal of Applied Ecology 12, 319336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matheson, E. M. (1970). Vegetable oil seed crops in Australia. Rapeseed, Ch. 5. Sydney: Holt, Rinehard and Winston.Google Scholar
Mendham, N. J., Shipway, P. A. & Scott, R. K. (1981 a). The effects of delayed sowing and weather on growth, development and yield of winter oil-seed rape (Brassica napus). Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 96, 389–416.Google Scholar
Mendham, N. J., Shipway, P. A. & Scott, R. K. (1981 b). The effects of seed size, autumn nitrogen and plant population density on the response to delayed sowing in winter oil-seed rape (Brassica napus). Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 96, 417428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Powell, F. A. (1969). Estimation of Evapotranspiralion. Working Paper 40/14, Bureau of Meteorology. Department of the Interior, Commonwealth of Australia, Melbourne.Google Scholar
Roy, N. N. (1978). Genetics and Breeding, Western Australian Department of Agriculture. First Research Workshop, Australian Rapeseed Agronomists and Breeders. Miscellaneous Publication 78/1, Agronomy Department, University of Western Australia.Google Scholar
Roy, N. N. (1982). Can rapeseed make a comeback? Journal of Agriculture, Western Australia 23, 5152.Google Scholar
Salisbury, P. A. (1982). New rapeseed cultivar recommended for registration from Victoria. Australian Plant Breeding and Genetics Newsletter, No. 32, Melbourne: CSIRO.Google Scholar
Scott, R. K., Ogunremi, E. A., Ivins, J. D. & Mendham, N. J. (1973). The effect of fertilizers and harvest date on growth and yield of oilseed rape sown in autumn and spring. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 81, 287293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shipway, P. A. (1981). Factors controlling yield of oil-seed rape (Brassica napus L.). Ph.D. thesis, University of Nottingham.Google Scholar
Thurling, N. & Vijendra Das, L. D. (1979). Genetic control of the pre-anthesis development of spring rape (Brassica napus L.). II. Identification of indi- vidual genes controlling development pattern. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 30, 261271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thurling, N. & Yen, C. I. (1982). Genotypic variation in pod length in spring rape (Brassica napus) and its influence on seed yield. Australian Plant Breeding and Genetics Newsletter No. 32. Melbourne: CSIRO.Google Scholar
Wightman, B. & Buzza, G. C. (1981). Marnoo, a new rapeseed variety. Agnote 1671/81, Victorian Department of Agriculture, Melbourne.Google Scholar