Agronomy Field Trial Results

Canola – Seed Rate Trial and Singulation vs. Volumetric Metering

Bourgault Agronomy Trial Results – 3 Year Summary

Goal – To compare three different seeding rates of canola, both singulated and volumetrically metered, on yield, plant stand, post-harvest stock count, and unproductive plant count.

Trial Details

• Years: 2020, 2021, 2022
• Location: St. Brieux, SK
• Seeding Date: May 19-27
• Soil Type: Dark Grey Chernozem with clay loam texture
  • Average 4.9% Organic Matter and pH 7.5
• Residual Nutrients (lb/acre): Average 30N 15P 200K 50S
• Variety: Invigor L345 and L356 with an average TSW of 5.5g
• Seeding Rates: 5.2 lb/acre (10 seeds/ft2 ), 2.6 lb/acre (5 seeds/ft2 ), 1.3 lb/acre (2.5 seeds/ft2 )
• Fertility while seeding: 140-50-10-0 with Sulfur applied the year previous

Treatments

• Drill configuration
  1. ParaLink eXtreme™ (PLX™), ¾” tip on 10” spacing; Mid Row Bander® Fertilizer Applicators  Equipped
     - Equipped with Air Planter
• Fertilizer configuration
  1. 15P in Seed Row (SR); 35P+10K along with Nitrogen in a mid row band (MRB)

Notes

• 2020 received 9” of rain, 2021 received 4” of rain, and 2022 received 10” of rain
• The same opener, drill, tank and fertilizer placement was used for all treatments;
  • The PLX™ opener was used for both volumetric and singulation, with the singulation treatments utilizing the Air Planter™ singulation meters;
• Samples were taken from each 400’ by 30’ strip to be analyzed for moisture and dockage;
• Yield was determined via a weigh wagon and normalized at 10% moisture and 0% dockage;
• Plant stands were taken in two different areas of each treatment and averaged;
• Stock counts were taken after harvest;
• Unproductive plants were also counted after harvest, classified as having a stock less than 1/8” diameter, which would have only produced a few pods. However, they would have been included in the emergence counts, as well as the stock counts.

Stats

• Stats were completed in individual years, but when combining three years of data together, we simply compare and report how many of those years there was a significant difference.

Results

• Little difference in any aspect between singulation and volumetric metering at any seed rate.
• Yield was very similar across all seed rates, with a slight decrease at the lowest seed rate.
• Plant stand, stock stand, and unproductive plants increased as seed rate increased.
• Low seeding rates typically resulted in a delay in swathing of 6 days over that of the highest seed rate, with the mid seed rate somewhere in the middle.

Discussion

There are two main questions when considering canola singulation: 1) Can we singulate canola; 2) If we can singulate canola, does it provide value? To answer question 1, we found that we could singulate canola at the lowest rate, but the other two rates it was hard to distinguish between singulation and volumetric metering. Singulation accuracy at the meter is excellent, but singulation at the final resting point of the seed is difficult. For question two, singulated canola did not show any advantage in any aspect over that of volumetric metering. Low seeding rates provided yields similar to high seeding rate, but lower plant stands always lengthened the time to maturity. Lower plant stands produced higher yields in dry years, but higher plant stands produced better in wet years. This is most likely due to lower plant stands having larger plants, which have a larger root system which can access deeper moisture. Overall, there was no benefit to singulate canola by either yield or plant stand increase, therefore singulating canola did not provide any value in terms of increased production or decreased inputs.

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