Recent Advances and Future Direction of Canola Breeding in the Pacific Northwest.

Very few crops have shown commercial adaptability to the dry land regions of the US Pacific Northwest.  Small grain cereals account for more than 80% of the acreage annually.  This has prompted many of the region’s growers to investigate alternative crops to avoid the disease buildup and other problems associated with monoculture cereal production.  Expansion of conservation farming technologies in the region has required non-cereal rotation crops such as canola, which has shown good rotational benefits.  The Canola Breeding group at the University of Idaho began developing improved winter canola and rapeseed cultivars over 30 years ago.  In 1992, the breeding team expanded their research and cultivar development objectives to include breeding spring canola.  In the last 3 years the acreage of canola in the region has increased, more than double since 2011.  Cultivars released by this project have commanded a high proportion of the winter canola acreage in the Pacific Northwest.  The overall objective of the research group is to develop superior spring and winter canola cultivars that are highly adapted to a wide range of dryland and irrigated regions of the Pacific Northwest and other US regions.  Development of these crops has offered greater rotational flexibility and, has helped to reduce crop inputs, improve profitability and sustainability.  This presentation outlines the breeding procedures used in cultivar development.  Additional research covered are investigating breeding methodologies and selection efficiency and developing specialty oil cultivars with unique fatty acid profiles.