Should Seeding Rate Change Under Different Land Preparation Methods of Brassica Carinata?.

Brassica carinata is a non-food oilseed crop used for the production of jet fuel in the US and abroad. Its production in the Southeastern US is relatively new and basic agronomic cultural practices for successful establishment are required. Since land preparation may affect the optimal seeding rate for this small-seeded crop, an experiment was conducted to evaluate carinata growth and yield performance under different tillage and seeding rate scenarios. A randomized complete block strip-plot design with four replications was implemented in Shorter, AL and Jay, FL during the 2017-18 growing season. Tillage (main plots, n=3) treatments were conventional tillage (chisel disc, field cultivate), ripper-roller (no-till drilled, then ripped and rolled), and no-till drill. Seeding rates were 1, 5, 9, and 13 lbs seed per acre. Preliminary results indicated that stalk diameter decreased with increasing seeding rate. Total biomass tended to be higher at lower seeding rates. Yield was optimized at 5 lbs/ac regardless of land preparation method.