Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116“If you do everything right, you can gain five to six per cent yield by not having harvest losses.” —Murray Hartman 13 Advancing Seed in Alberta | fall.2016 Product/Campaign Name: Web Publication: Alberta Seed Guide Date Produced: October 2016 Size: 7.125” x 3.25 SEC_WEB16 Genes on-line. Genes on-line. For genes that fit your farm® , visit secan.com secan.com Genes that fit your farm® is a registered trademark of SeCan. SEC_WEB16_ABSG_SEC_WEB16_ABSG.qxd 2016-10-18 3:53 PM Page 1 Disease control is another important factor that can affect yields. “When you do get good years, like this year, where we had a lot of rainfall from late May on, it’s good for setting yield potential, but it’s also good for disease,” notes Hartman. “If you’re getting those conditions favouring high yields, it’s going to favour disease, so you really have to make sure your disease control is going to keep up with that.” Effective disease control includes a combination of good rotation, selecting a resistant variety and the use of fungicides for diseases like sclerotinia and blackleg. “For sclerotinia, this year we had continuing wet rain,” says Hartman. “One applica- tion was probably a very wise choice over a lot of the area, but in some cases where there was a lot of pressure two applications were probably needed.” While choosing a good variety can help protect against yield loss due to disease, there’s another factor growers may want to consider when choosing a variety: pod-shatter resistance. “Most of the time I just concentrate on making sure that the yield is there, but there is that aspect of certain newer varieties with pod-shatter resistance and better architecture, you know, not extremely lodged, more suitable for straight cutting,” notes Hart- man. “If you do everything right, you can gain five to six per cent yield by not having harvest losses.” According to Hartman, rotation plays a “funny” role in yield. Many growers who average high yields are encouraged to grow canola more frequently in shorter rotations. “The obstacle that comes up is that when you start shortening your rotation, you start achieving lower yields. If you’re growing canola every second year versus every third or fourth year, it’s a five to 10 per cent yield loss.” Hartman says this trend is all too common in the three Prairie Provinces. The most common canola rotation he sees is one and two, canola and wheat. “If you really want to achieve the highest yield, that’s going to be the longer rotation,” he says. The biggest problem with tight rotations is disease control, notes Dan Orchard, agronomy specialist with the Canola Council of Canada. “Growers who are achieving super high yields tend to have a pretty good crop rotation, although that’s not always the case,” he says. “In general, the ones who aren’t having a problem in central Alberta with clubroot are the ones who are on an extended rotation.” This also holds true for blackleg. “It’s not a problem in a four- year rotation,” says Orchard. Seeding rate can also impact yield. Over the years, Hartman has analyzed plant densities to see what density is needed to reach 90 per cent yield and it’s about three plants per square foot. “But that’s kind of the bottom end of where you should be targeting,” he notes. Ultimately, though, it is possible to push yields without using too much seed. “There are things you can do to kind of baby that seed to get higher emergence without spending more on seed,” Hartman explains, mentioning really good moisture, fertilizer and slowing down during planting for better precision. This winter Hartman expects there will be a lot of discussion on just what the plant density target recommendation should be. Expect further discussion at this year’s Canola Discovery Forum in Winnipeg in October, as well as at FarmTech in Edmonton at the end of January. Melanie Epp