Canola quality issues and future
R&D focus
Don McCaffery
Technical Specialist
NSW DPI Orange
Presentation title – Presenter name(s) – Division – Date
Canola oil quality challenges
 Seasonal variability
– Spring moisture stress and/or heat during podfill
• Yield, oil %
– Weather damage
• 2010 – wet harvest – low test weights
• 2013 – frost
Ave. state oil% 2009-2013
Grower objectives
 Weed control
 Yield
 Rotation & system fit
– root & crown disease control
– maturity for operational & harvest efficiency
 Oil content - only quality parameter paid for
– no payment for protein
– oil inverse relationship with protein
Australian Quality 20 Year Trend
Yield vs oil in profitability
 @ 2.0 t/ha @ 42% oil @ $500 t/ha = $1,000/ha
gross
 Increase yield by 5% (no extra oil) = $1,050/ha
 Increase oil by say 3% (no extra yield) = $1,023/ha
 5% yield is a lot easier to achieve than 3% oil
 Highest oil lines currently are RR
– Standard and high oleic specialty types
National Variety Trial 2013 Example
Beckom
Type
Yield (t/ha) Oil%
Conventional
2.33
42.0
Clearfield
2.23
42.7
Triazine (TT)
1.94
41.4
Roundup Ready
2.26
41.7
T
5
5
11
14
Grenfell
Yield (t/ha) Oil%
2.71
42.4
2.76
43.0
2.71
42.4
2.77
42.9
Cootamundra
T Yield (t/ha) Oil% T
5
8
2.39
45.1 8
16
2.27
44.8 13
13
2.62
44.9 11
Nitrogen effects on yield and oil
 Single most important nutrient in canola productivity
Yield (t/ha @ 8%)
ab
b
1.2
1.0
48
a
a
b
c
bc
c
46
44
d
d
42
0.8
40
0.6
38
36
0.4
34
0.2
32
0.0
30
0
40
80
Applied N (kg N/ha)
160
240
Oil (%)
1.4
Specialty – high oleic/low linolenic
 Market driven
 3 crushers, 2 seed companies
– MONOLA and Victory lines
 Demand ?..... Growing
– Currently 5-6%
 Quality (fatty acid content) apparently stable
across environments
 2013 tests on NVT line
– Oleic acid content
• Bellata 66.5%; Condo 67.3%; Lockhart 66.9%
Recent and future research
 Targeting yield, not specifically targeting oil content
or quality parameters
 Agronomy/VSAP projects
– Quality data collected on a range of agronomic
experimental treatments
– Variety-hybrid, sowing time, plant population,
crop nutrition (mostly N), row spacing
 National Variety Trial data since 2005
New canola physiology-agronomy project
2015-2019
 Across 3 states – NSW, Vic and SA (similar in WA)
 Physiology/modelling and tactical agronomy trials
– 5-6 sites in NSW + phenology
– Assessing early sowing to maximise yield and oil
 Harvest management (northern NSW only)
– Pattern of yield and oil formation
– Plant population, hybrid vs OP, windrow vs direct
head
Questions