Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:The primary audience for the project was canola producers throughout Oklahoma and the southern Great Plains. However, due to the context of the problems addressed, much of the information collected would be of great interest to individuals working with canola producers, including extension educators, industry personnel, crop consultants, and government employees. Furthermore, due to work with native and non-native pollinators, members of the general public, biologist, and governing bodies would have an interest in the results. An emphasis during the project period was to ensure to educate those working with canola producers, highlights by several train-the-trainer meetings, with over 20 CCA CEUs and several ODAFF CEUs being provided throughout the project. This is vital to the continued success of the canola crop within the regions as they can effectively disseminate the information to a larger number of stakeholders. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The PIs and PD participated in several events in which various stakeholders were educated in canola production. Throughout this project, a total of 20 CCA CEUs were provided as well as several other ODAFF CEUs. These trainings included several canola focused events, such as the canola management workshop, field tours, and herbicide symptomology clinic, as well as others that were given in more broad training events, such as the annual winter crops school. This project has also continued to train graduate students with four graduate students receiving their programs in canola management. Furthermore, this has allowed various undergraduate students to conduct research associated with canola production, several of which have had the opportunity to present their research at various meetings throughout the program period. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This project has focused on a multi-faceted extension program. The projects have continued to focus on newer and innovative dissemination techniques, such as blogs, websites, YouTube videos, and social media. However, PIs have continued to use traditional extension techniques, including field tours, popular press, farm radio and extension programming. While this is the final report for the associated project, many of these findings provide the building blocks that will continue to be pursued in future projects and programs. As many of the findings from projects associated with this programming are helping to guide recommendations, the value of this project will continue far beyond the granting period. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Interest in winter canola production in the southern Great Plains remains consistent. However, inconsistent pricing, unfavorable weather conditions, and continued production challenges continue to result in under-achieving crops. While little can be done on the market price and environmental conditions present, continued improvement of management practices will help decrease the risk associated with winter canola production. Individual project analysis is aimed to improve the management and dissemination of the material. 1) Improve crop management practices in the southern Great Plains to optimize production, decrease production risk, and improve net returns. One of the most important decisions canola producers make continues to be cultivar selection. Overall, the environmental conditions the canola crop experienced played a major role in the performance of the material. Where conditions were considered adequate or above-average, hybrids out-performed conventional OP cultivars. This displays that growers can take advantage of the "hybrid vigor" associated with these cultivars. Furthermore, it was found that hybrids out-performed OP cultivars when grown in conventionally tilled systems but the opposite was found in no-till systems. It has been noted that systems with higher residue negatively influence hybrid performance. This project showed that poor environmental conditions combined with high amounts of crop residue did negatively impact hybrid performance. Previous work has documented that residue from certain wheat residues could negatively impact early-season canola growth. Previously reported findings noted that damage was greatest when sub-optimal conditions existed prior to the first major freeze event. Greenhouse evaluations found that when canola was grown following a potentially allelopathic wheat variety (WB Grainfield or OK Bullet) there was a significantly lower number and length of secondary and tertiary roots compared to those following a non-allelopathic variety (Smith's Gold or Gallagher). This decreased root growth could be the reason why, along with sub-optimal environmental conditions, decreased winter survival was noted with the field canola trials. Fertility trials evaluated both N and S applications to winter canola production. For N trials, trials evaluated N timing. High N applications early in the season result in significant declines in winter survival. Applying the N in a three-way split application (20%/40%/40%), split between pre-plant, following a first major freeze, and at spring green-up, significantly increased yields compared applying all N up-front or at two applications. The three-way application also resulted in significantly increased growth following spring green-up. This application method could be ensuring that N was not limiting following winter dormancy prior to spring applications but also limiting excessive growth during the fall. When evaluating S application, no clear positive trends were found with the addition of S. However, a sampling of soils in Oklahoma has previously found that most contained enough S to produce up to 70-bushel canola within a production season. This would suggest that S will rarely be a limiting factor in canola production. 2) Improve integrated pest management systems to optimize net returns and conserve native pollinators and honey bee habitats. One of the largest impacts of this section of the project is to maintain awareness of winter canola pests and optimum management. Evaluation of the use of specific or broad-spectrum products for canola insect control found no significant differences in pyrethroids compared to Prevathon® (Chlorantraniliprole). This opposes previous findings; however, pressure from Diamondback larva was notably low compared to previous evaluations years. Herbicide management programs compared glyphosate-tolerant canola with traditional weed management systems. The use of glyphosate controlled over 90% of the weeds present in the non-treated control. While traditional systems were easily able to control grasses, this system was not able to control broadleaf weeds present. This shows that glyphosate systems are still the most effective systems for canola producers; however, with an increasing number of glyphosate-tolerant weed biotypes, the further investigation of alternate weed control programs will be required.

Publications

• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Stamm, J., J. Lofton, B. Bushong, and H. Sanders. 2018. Great Plains Canola Handbook. Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment State and Cooperative Extension Service. MF2734.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Jones, C., and E. Bonjour. 2018. Preparing grain bins and flat storages prior to harvest or incoming product storages. Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Royer, T., and K. Giles. 2018. Managing insect and pests in canola. Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service. CR-7667.

Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the project has been and will continue to be traditional producers focused on canola production, including minority and women producers, in the southern Great Plains. The focus of the research programming has been to enhance productivity and improve the sustainability of canola production systems in the southern Great Plains. This would lend education to established canola producers within this region as a means to improve the production system. However, focus has been placed at attempting to provide educational programming to new producers within the region. A further focus this programming period on train-the-trainer programs. This has included educating regional extension educators as well as certified crop advisors. This is vital to continued success of canola within the region as they can effectively disseminate the information to a larger number of stakeholders. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Several training events were offered during the funding period. The PD and PIs coordinated or participated in two primary training events, including 1)Herbicide symptomology clinic and 2)Canola management workshop. During these events, the focus was on the herbicide management and selecting the right herbicides for weed management in canola (Symptolomgy clinic) and optimum production practices for optimizing canola production within a budget (Canola workshop). During both of these events, CCA and herbicide application CEUs were provided. This project has also provided training opportunities for 2 Master level and 2 Ph.D. level graduate students and 5 undergraduate students. Most of these students had not been previously exposed to canola production; therefore, not only did this project aid in their development into a profession but also helped expose them to canola production. This will not only improve these students but also the canola industry in the southern Great Plains when these students continue on into their careers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Canola research information and educational materials were disseminated to clientele through the Oklahoma State University Canola Webpage (canola.okstate.edu), extension programming, Oklahoma farm radio and Oklahoma State University SunUp programming, social media, and popular press. Furthermore, information is currently being gathered and filmed to include canola production and management videos that will be available on the Oklahoma State University Plant and Soil Science YouTube page. This videos will document critical production and management practices that could be critical and timing for production. Not only will these videos be available for growers within the current funding and production year but also be utilized in future years for rapid information dissemination. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Prior to the next reporting period, as it will be the final reporting, progress will be made to complete the components of the project that are currently ongoing. This includes components of herbicide sensitivity, blackleg management, pollinator management, residue management, PGR testing, and post-harvest storage. Once these components have been completed, paired with those components that have already been completed, extension and outreach programming will continue to disseminate these results to stakeholders throughout the region as well as throughout the US.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Winter canola production has continued to gain interest in the southern Great Plains. Much of this interest has been due to the rotation benefits of canola, improved yields, lower disease incidence, fewer pest, and better control of challenging weeds when grown in rotation with winter wheat or other crops. These rotational benefits will continue to increase the interest of the crop within the region; however, developing management practices and strategies to overcome environmental conditions and incomplete knowledge will be vital for the crop to grow in acreage. Individual analysis in this project is aimed to overcome these limitations. 1) Improve crop management practices in the southern Great Plains to optimize production, decrease production risk, and improve net returns. One of the most imports crop management practices is cultivar selection. Commercially available winter canola include a combination of open pollinated and hybrids as well as conventional and glyphosate-tolerant cultivars. Generally, hybrid cultivars performed better than open-pollinated cultivars when adequate moisture was present prior to winter. However, when stressful conditions were present prior to winter, hybrids did not provide adequate yields. When evaluating similar cultivars, winter canola yields in Oklahoma were higher than those found in Texas. In southern Texas, due to lower vernalization conditions, winter canola consistency is not high enough to allow for it to be considered a viable crop. Therefore, spring canola trials have been established in recent years to evaluate spring canola cultivars in southern Texas. These cultivars have historically yielded 10-25% lower than winter canola cultivars. These results were not found this season. Due to high precipitation in the spring paired with prolonged cooler conditions in the spring, spring canola cultivars yielded over 50% higher than winter canola cultivars, with higher differences being noted in the more southern region. Previous work has noted the potential of nine commonly grown winter wheat cultivars to inhibit early-season growth and winter survival of the successive winter canola crop, which in turn would negatively impact yields. The residue from these nine cultivars was found to still have a significant negative relationship on stand establishment and winter survival of canola. Due to dry conditions prior to the first major freeze event, stand loss associated with these nine wheat varieties were higher than previous years. Yield losses from those varieties considered highly allelopathic (OK Bullet) resulted in nearly 100% stand losses, while slightly allelopathic varieties (WB Grainfield) resulted in nearly 70% stand losses. These are high than those found in previous years of 70% and 40%, respectively. The use of plant growth regulators and planting dates were evaluated at Medford and Perkins, Oklahoma. This project documented the ability two products to help manage canola growth when planted outside of the traditional planting window. Gibberellic acid applied alone, whether seed-applied or foliar applied at 4 to 6 leaf stage, or in combination with cytokinin (Ascend®) resulted in significant increases in plant height (5.2 and 6.7 cm) and canopy coverage (31% and 44% increase) compared to the non-applied check. This did result in a numerical but non-significant increase in canola yield. The rotational benefits of canola on summer crops were evaluated with a double-crop corn, soybean, grain sorghum, and sesame production system. No significant yield differences were found for corn and sorghum when grown behind canola or wheat. Soybean yields behind canola were found to be significantly lower (17%) than behind wheat production. Conversely, significantly higher yields for sesame were found following canola compared to wheat. The benefits for sesame behind canola, compared to wheat, were primarily due to increased stand establishment and early season growth. Limited information can be available for post-harvest storage projects until after the harvest of the previous crop; therefore, data will be available on the final report. 2) Improve integrated pest management systems to optimize net returns and conservation native pollinators and honey bee habitats. The Oklahoma canola insect management calendar scouting plan proved successful at identifying periods when pests were to be an issue. However, mostly untreatable levels of pests were found during the previous year, due to low numbers and timely applications; therefore, no Pest e-Alerts were published. To evaluate pollinator health, commercial hives were successfully placed in both canola and wheat fields as well as native pastures. Transient hives were found to be positively impacted by the placement in canola fields compared to wheat fields and had a slight advantage over those in native pastures. These mobile hives were considered to be in average to poor conditions upon arrival and left canola fields in above average conditions, with decreased number and incidence of parasites and mites. When evaluating native bee populations in canola fields, seed count and seed weights were significantly increased when pollinators were present compared to natural environmental pollination. The use of pyrethroids significantly increased yields compared to solely treating with more focused insecticides. A decrease in pollinator activity was found within fields shortly following the application of broad-spectrum insecticides. Evaluations indicated that this was not due to mortality but due to avoidance. Field susceptibility of winter canola cultivars continued. Popular glyphosate-tolerant open-pollinated cultivars were found to have the highest degree incidence and severity of blackleg compared to conventional open pollinated and hybrids. Unlike previous years, both incidence and severity of blackleg significantly negatively impacted canola yields, (r=-0.32 and r=-0.23 for incidence and severity, respectively). However, it should be noted that other disease and environmental factors, such as aster yellows (r=-0.37), winter kill (r=-0.34), and winter decline syndrome (r=-0.26) had greater or similar impacts as blackleg. As weed management aspects of this were evaluating long-term rotation restrictions of chemicals for canola, these aspects are still ongoing.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Landoll, E.K., J. Lofton, K. Leonard, V. Bodnar, and A. Zander. 2017. Impact of soil pH and Al on winter canola cultivars in the southern Great Plains. International ASA-CSSS-SSSA Annual meetings, Tampa, FL.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Kezar, S., J. Lofton, E.K. Landoll, K. Leonard, and V. Bodnar. 2017. Manading potential allelopathic effects of winter wheat residue in no-till winter canola production. International ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual meetings, Tampa, FL.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Cevallos, F., M. Stamm, and J.P. Damicone. 2017. Indentification of major-gene resistance to Leptosphaeria maculans in winter canola cultivars and breeding lines. Phytopathology. 107:S5:68.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Damicone, J.P., T.J. Pierson, J. Lofton, C. Harris, and M.J. Stamm. 2018. Reaction of National Winter Canola Variety Trial to black leg and aster yellows, 2017. Plant Disease Management Reports 12:FC08.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Abit, J. J. Lofton, and D.B. Arnall. 2017. Winter canola response to in-furrow starter fertilizer applications as affected by soil pH and soil test phoshorus. International ASA-CSSA-SSSA Annual meeting, Tampa, FL.