Project Title: Assessment for potential for Canola in the northern region

Project Supervisor: Dr Bruce Imrie

Funding Body: GRDC

Admin Contact: Marshall Mackay

• It is proposed that this project operate in conjunction with the pulse improvement and evaluation projects, with the project leader working in collaboration with field researchers in the target areas and with APSRU. Annual meeting of participants to evaluate previous activities and to plan future activities to meet project milestones. Two meetings per year between modellers.
• This research is proposed as an extension of current activities to the extent that it:

a. Draws materials from the National Improvement Program and effectively extends the geographic coverage of that program.

b. Extends the range of crops for which there are simulation models under the APSIM framework.

c. Increases knowledge of physiologic and genetic attributes of the crop related to adaptation.

d. Provides another crop option for consideration in northern farming systems.

• This project would be a collaborative effort by agronomists, breeder, and modellers and involving CSIRO, QDPI, and NSWA to achieve a detailed and up to date assessment of the potential for expansion of Canola production in the northern region. It would also collaborate closely with the National Brassica Improvement Program.
• The potential outputs from this project would be varieties developed in the National Improvement Program and as such would be subject to commercialisation arrangements of that program; knowledge of germplasm attributes that would feed into future breeding activities; a crop simulation model for use in various ways that assist improvement of production and variety development as is being done most effectively with sorghum. Immediate information on variety adaptartion and performance could be introduced to growers through traditional extension activities and through the northern (and possibly also central Queensland) farming systems project.

Canola is a temperate crop with adaptation, in general terms, to the same areas as wheat. It is the fastest expanding crop in Australia, with the area sown increasing from 73,000 ha in 1990-91 to 370,000 ha (600,000 t) in 1996-97 and an estimated 625,000 ha in 1997-98. Exports are similarly increasing rapidly.

Growers in the northern region require a suite of crop varieties that can be sown whenever favourable climatic conditions occur. Canola is potentially a useful addition to that suite of crops as it is generally sown and harvested earlier than wheat. Negligible areas are sown to Canola at present due to poor adaptation of older varieties and a lack of information on recently released varieties, particularly the earlier maturing varieties developed for drier areas of southern Australia. There is similarly a lack of information on Indian Mustard (B. juncea) which has adaptation to drier and hotter areas than Canola and for which there is now available germplasm with Canola quality (double low) oil.

An agronomic evaluation of canola for Queensland was conducted for GRDC by Garside and Meinke in 1993. They concluded that there was some potential for Canola in southern Queensland and northern NSW but that varieties available at that time were unsuitable. There was also a lack of useful data to develop a growth simulation model that would greatly assist the assessment of the adaptation and potential role of Canola in northern farming systems.

About ten new cultivars have been released in southern Australia since the last assessment of the potential of Canola in the northern region. Similarly, germplasm development in Indian Mustard has been substantial. There have also been major advances in the development of crop simulation models to assist in evaluating crops in farming systems. There are both materials and methods now available to better assess the potential of Canola in the northern region and to conduct a genetic assessment of Canola germplasm for traits contributing to adaptation to the region.

This proposal contributes to GRDC objectives of encouraging the wider spread of oilseeds and providing varieties for major production regions.

To satisfy the aims of the project, the following studies are proposed:

• Evaluation of current varieties and advanced breeding lines of B. napus and B. juncea from the National Brassica Improvement Project (DAV337 and related components) and hybrids from commercial sources through multiple sowings (April to June) at selected sites in north-west NSW and south-east Queensland in years 1 and 2. Trials to be grown using best agronomic practices to achieve maximum productivity. Information collected at each site to include both climatic and plant growth and development data that could be used in model development as well as in direct evaluation. Trials collaborative with NSWA, QDPI and APSRU. In year 3, selected varieties showing potential would be grown on farm for grower evaluation in a farming systems context in association with CSC41 (Sustainable Farming Systems for the North Eastern Grain Belt). (Imrie, Carberry and collaborators).
• Collaborate with Dr J. Angus, CSIRO Plant Industry, in development of a crop growth simulation model for Canola. Emphasis in this project on developing the model as a component of APSIM, and estimation of parameters using northern data. Input data for the model from trials indicated above and from trial data from southern Australia. Preliminary model based on southern Australian and Year 1 data validated and modified on Year 2 data and additional information from controlled environment studies. Model to be applied to assessment of Canola potential throughout the Northern Region. (Meinke and Carberry).
• Evaluation of germplasm in controlled environments and field for traits such as tolerance of high temperature, and for genes controlling phenology, that contribute to adaptation in the northern region in order to select lines that could be used in future breeding for improved adaptation. (Imrie).
• Impact: This is difficult to assess at this time when the objective of the project is to provide data on which an impact assessment could be reliably based. If an adapted variety was identified, it could pave the way for growth of 200,000 ha of Canola, about 10% of the area currenly sown to wheat in the region.
• Scale: The research will be applicable to the cropping area in the northern region exceeding two million hectares.
• Adoption: If an adapted variety was identified, one would anticipate adoption commencing by the end of the project (year 2001-2) and increasing to a maximum, given current market forces, after five to eight years.
• Other Benefits: The germplasm trait research would provide additional inputs into the ongoing improvement program. Similarly, the development of a crop simulation model would strengthen the capacity of the APSIM model and increase its utility in other regions.