Assessing Agronomic and Nutrient Managements On Yield and Quality of Canola in Eastern Canada.

In 2010-2011 growing seasons, a field study was carried out to determine the effects of seed rate, planting date, N, S and B application on phenological, morphological, physiological, yield and yield attributes, and quality of spring canola in eastern Canada.  Our results showed that early planting displayed lower stand establishment than normal and late planting under medium to high seed rate. Both low and medium seed rate showed higher light saturated net photosynthetic rate (A_sat) than high seed rate. Late planting exhibited higher A_sat than early and normal planting. While early planting increased seed oil concentration, neither seeding date nor seed rate significantly affected grain yield/ha at harvest. Seed yield responded linearly to N fertilizer rates (P < 0.05), but seed oil concentration appeared to decline with increasing N fertilizer rates. Effects of S and B appeared to be environments-dependent. The trade-off between yield and quality (oil concentration) of spring canola highlights the importance of fine-tuning agronomic practices in eastern Canada.