Winter Canola: A Potential Crop for Oilseed and Biodiesel Production In North Alabama.

Like winter wheat, canola has potential to be a profitable oilseed crop in north Alabama. Therefore, a research project to develop suitable varieties, production and pest management practices on this crop was started in 2005.  To date, more than 150 germplasm lines of rapeseed and other Brassica species have been acquired and screened to develop cold tolerant and early maturing canola cultivars.  Currently, thirty advanced lines are being tested in preliminary yield trials. Some of these lines are early maturing and some are resistant to blackleg and stem-rot diseases. Agronomic and production research results showed that as a double crop, canola, planted after soybean and corn, significantly produced higher yield than after cotton and grain sorghum. Canola produced significantly higher yield with application at 30 kg sulfur ha^-1 in combination with 180 kg-N ha^-1 than nitrogen alone.  Fusilade, applied as post emergence at 5.0 L ha^-1 in mid-March with one inter-culture in mid-April, gave the highest weed control and seed yield.  Canola planted alone and in different ratios with wheat as forage crop showed its potential as a winter forage crop; an intercrop of wheat and canola at 1:1 ratio produced the highest yield and quality of forage.  Pest studies showed cabbage seedpod weevil (CSPW) as the most destructive pest on canola in the area. CSPW infestation was highest at 50% flowering stage. The efficacy of bifenthrin to control CSPW was determined. Currently, canola is being adapted by local farmers as a viable winter crop in their rotations in North Alabama.