Brassica Carinata: An Emerging 'drop in' Biofuel Crop in North Florida.

Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata A. Braun) is a non-food oilseed crop with potential to meet Florida’s demand for renewable energy.  In Florida, it can be cultivated on up to 500,000 acres of winter fallowed row crop and pasture lands yielding 40 to 100 million gallons of fuel generating $110 to $375 million annually. As a winter cover crop, carinata will reduce nutrient leaching, soil erosion, weed infestation, nematode and soil disease severity in crop rotation systems. Carinata is productive on marginal lands, drought and heat tolerant with low rates of seed shattering and is amenable to existing production infrastructure. High in erucic acid (C22:1), the oil can be fractionated into gasoline, jet fuel and diesel with superior fuel properties and the pressed meal is comparable to other oilseed crops in nutritive value for livestock. Widespread adoption of carinata requires an understanding of best agronomic practices to ensure maximum productivity, oil quality and profitability. The objective of this study was to quantify the effects of planting date and N application rates on carinata grain yield. Field experiments were conducted at NFREC, Quincy, Florida during the 2013/2014 growing season. We tested two varieties, three planting dates (October, November, and December) and four N rates (0, 40, 80 and 120 kg N ha^-1). Higher grain yields (3800 kg ha^-1) were produced from the November planting date. Grain yield decreased linearly with N rate from 5300 to 4700 kg ha^-1.  Secondary branching, seed number per plant and frost injury increased with N rate while the plant density decreased. Preliminary data from these studies suggest that carinata planted in November and fertilized based on soil tests and yield goals can maximize grain production.