Winter Canola Breeding in the Southern Great Plains.

A unique opportunity exists to increase winter canola acres in the southern Great Plains through crop rotation because monoculture wheat production is widespread. The goal of the winter canola breeding and management program is to advance winter canola as a viable oilseed crop for producers in the region. The primary objective is to breed and evaluate cultivars with appropriate traits and adaptability. The program relies heavily upon world germplasm sources to increase the genetic diversity of the cultivars grown. Traits of interest include improved winter survival, sulfonylurea herbicide carryover tolerance to allow planting after wheat, yield potential, oil quality, glyphosate resistance, forage quality, and disease and pest tolerance. In addition, coordination of the National Winter Canola Variety Trial (NWCVT) is a significant activity of the program. Through 20 years of breeding, planted hectares in the southern Great Plains have grown from a few hundred to over 160,000.