Canola sowing time to maximise yield in Western Australia

Authors

Imma Farre, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western AustraliaFollow
Jackie Bucat, DPIRDFollow
Martin Harries, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, WAFollow
Bob French, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western AustraliaFollow
Mark Seymour, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western AustraliaFollow

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

9-2018

Conference Title

AusCanola 2018 - 20th Australian Research Assembly on Brassicas

Place of Publication

Perth

Keywords

APSIM, crop modelling, optimum sowing window, simulation

Disciplines

Agronomy and Crop Sciences

Abstract

In the last decade there has been a trend towards earlier sowing of canola by Western Australian farmers. Sowing canola in mid-April has become standard practice in most of the WA cropping zone. This simulation study was designed to determine the optimum sowing window to maximise canola yield for different locations, soil types and canola cultivars in Western Australia. The optimum sowing windows for 24 locations, 3 soil types and 3 canola cultivars were obtained from a computer simulation analysis using the APSIM-Canola model. As a rule of thumb, in low and medium rainfall locations, the optimum sowing period for a medium maturity cultivar is April; and in the high rainfall locations the optimum sowing window spans from early April to mid or late May, depending on location.

Recommended Citation

Farre, I, Bucat, J, Harries, M, French, B, and Seymour, M. (2018), Canola sowing time to maximise yield in Western Australia, AusCanola 2018 - 20th Australian Research Assembly on Brassicas, Perth, pp.66-70.
https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/conf_papers/42