Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The project "Fueling Winter Canola Cultivar Availability to Meet New Demand for Oil" will deliver superior winter canola cultivars to growers in the Great Plains and other states. These cultivars are urgently needed to meet growing U.S. demand for canola oil. This new demand is a result of the EPA's 2023 approval of the canola oil pathways for use in renewable diesel, jet fuel, naphtha, liquified petroleum gas, and heating oil. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects domestic production capacity for renewable diesel to more than double by 2025, from 2.6 billion gallons per year to 5.9 billion gallons per year.Clean Fuels Alliance America estimates that canola oil imports from Canada for renewable diesel production will equal 5.8 billion pounds per year, or roughly 700 million gallons. Therefore, a significant opportunity exists to produce additional domestic canola oil feedstocks for renewable diesel production over the next several years. In the early 2000s, winter canola acres rapidly increased in the Great Plains because of improved cultivars, observed rotational benefits to wheat, growing regional crush capacity, and increased research and extension activities by public and private entities. Despite recent setbacks in the region, a new end marketing opportunity is taking shape. A former canola and sunflower facility was purchased and is being recommissioned to crush canola and soybean near Goodland, KS. The plant will begin processing grain in fall of 2024, with a capacity of 11 million bushels per year. To meet capacity, the plant could crush 500,000 acres of canola sourced throughout the region. Therefore, winter canola acres and production must increase to satisfy current and future Great Plains and U.S. canola seed, oil, and meal demand. The Great Plains offers opportunities for acreage growth as winter canola has been vitally important to improving small grain cropping system sustainability and profitability. Hence, this proposal addresses the growing need for new winter canola cultivars to fulfill increasing demand. This will be accomplished by 1) testing, advancing, releasing, and licensing new conventional and Roundup Ready open-pollinated cultivars in collaboration with interested parties, 2) generating additional data through increased testing to support cultivar release, 3) testing new female, male-sterile hybrid parent lines for general adaptability and increased efficiency and performance, and 4) delivering cultivar and hybrid performance results, characteristics, and benefits to stakeholders and clientele.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this project is to deliver publicly available, agronomically sound, and high performing winter canola cultivars to producers in the Great Plains and other states. Greater yields, herbicide resistance, and agronomic superiority are needed to meet the growing domestic demand for canola seed, oil, and meal to support food, feed, and fuel end uses. The rationale for this project is to generate new data through additional testing to quickly identify adapted cultivars for introduction into the winter canola market. New data over a greater number of locations will accelerate our ability to identify cultivars meriting release. Increasing the location number gives us the opportunity to encounter additional genotype by environment interactions, observe a wider look at the effect of environment on key traits, and identify cultivars that may be more stable across environmental conditions. The introduction of new, winter canola cultivars will 1) provide renewable biofuel feedstocks, 2) enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base of agriculture, 3) sustain the economic viability of farms, and 4) enhance the quality of life of farmers and society as a whole. The long-term enhancements and benefits include improved cropping systems diversity of wheat-based agriculture, persistent grower confidence in canola as an alternative crop, superior yield consistency of canola cultivars, and increased canola production to meet U.S. domestic demand for canola seed, oil, and meal. Novel products for the winter canola market will be developed by this project. A step change in cultivar and hybrid performance, as well as an available, regional market will be the catalysts that reignite a stagnant canola industry in the Great Plains. This project could help bridge the gap between an open-pollinated cultivar driven market and the conversion to a new era of hybrids. The following objectives align directly with the program area of focus and will guide the project in achieving the expected results and outcomes.Test, advance, release, and license new conventional and Roundup Ready® open-pollinated cultivars in collaboration with interested parties across the Great Plains and other states. Safeguard new technologies through Plant Variety Protection and licensing. Deposit germplasm within the National Plaint Germplasm System for future preservation and utilization.Support broader testing within the National Winter Canola Variety Trial. Provide expertise and financial support to current and new collaborators to enable high performance testing. Additional locations will provide data to support future cultivar release.Test new female, male-sterile hybrid parent lines in line x tester combinations for broad adaptability to the Great Plains. Calculate general combining ability and heterosis for important traits to determine which parental lines produce the best hybrid combinations and propose specific parent lines for increase and release.Directly deliver cultivar and hybrid performance results and characteristics, and promote the benefits of experimental and newly released cultivars to stakeholders and clientele. Methods of delivery may include, but are not limited to, field days, production meetings both in person and virtually, extension publications, agronomy updates, radio and television interviews, and social media. Cultivar manuscripts will be published in the Journal of Plant Registrations.
Project Methods
Objective 1Conduct advanced cultivar testing that is above normal levels to expedite identification and release of cultivars. Data to be gathered include fall stand, fall vigor, winter survival, 50% bloom date, maturity date, lodging, shattering, plot weight, moisture, test weight, grain yield, oil content, and protein content. Opportunistic notes such as freeze damage; heat damage; disease infestation including ratings for blackleg, white mold, and alternaria black spot; and insect damage will be taken.These trials will be carried out in 2024/25, 2025/26, and 2026/27.Three Great Plains Canola Variety Trials (GPCVT) will be grown in Kansas and New Mexico. Three Roundup Ready Variety Trials (RRVT) will be grown in Kansas and Oklahoma.The GPCVT and RRVT entries will consist of 34 experimental cultivars, two check cultivars, and three to four replications arranged in a randomized complete block design (RCBD).All RRVT will be treated with 16 to 22 fluid ounces of Roundup POWERMAX® herbicide in the fall or spring between the 2- and 6-leaf growth stages or before bolting. Percent stand loss will be taken 14 days post application.Data will be analyzed using SAS or other statistical software. Individual locations will be analyzed separately and may be pooled to evaluate genotype by environment interactions. Appropriate protocols and statistical methods will be followed.To confirm canola-quality oil and meal on cultivars nearing release, individual plant selections of KSR4767 will be analyzed for glucosinolates of the defatted meal. Canola-quality selections will be bulked together to produce breeder class seed. This seed will be used to grow a Foundation seed increase in 2024/25.A seed increase of KSR4839S will take place in the 2024 greenhouse cycle. Samples meeting quality standards will be bulked and planted as a breeder seed increase in 2024/25 and Foundation seed increase in 2025/26.A seed increase of KSR4854S will take place in the 2024 greenhouse cycle. Seed will be grown in 0.13 m2 flats that have been treated with chlorsulfuron + metsulfuron at a rate of 0.5 g active ingredient ha-1, providing a final screening of SU herbicide carryover tolerant plants. Tolerant plants will be grown to maturity. Samples meeting quality standards will be bulked and planted as a breeder seed increase in 2024/25 and Foundation seed increase in 2025/26. KSR4767 will be proposed for release, and KSR4839S and KSR4854S will be proposed for increase in 2024 or 2025. New data could identify additional cultivars for potential increase, including a high oil conventional cultivar, KS4737. We anticipate cultivar release proposals will be brought before the Plant Genetic Materials Release Committee (PGMRC) in summers 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027.Kansas State University Innovation Partners (KSUIP) is the owner of all disclosed intellectual property (IP) and collects royalties on licensed materials. Plant Variety Protection (PVP) and licensing are used to protect all developed IP.KSUIP disclosure and commercialization processes follow the Research Terms and Conditions for NIFA-funded projects. All IP inventions funded through federal grants are disclosed on iEdison.Feasibility and Pitfalls for Objective 1 - Completing this objective is highly feasible because of the canola breeding program's history of testing, releasing, and licensing cultivars is a testament to the ability to deliver new cultivars to growers. Potential pitfalls include unfavorable weather at testing sites and unexpected results to the quality analyses.Objective 2The National Winter Canola Variety Trial (NWCVT) provides yield and morphological data for commercial and experimental cultivars developed by public and private entities. Results enable new cultivar deployment in areas where they can be profitably marketed.Broader testing in the NWCVT will be implemented through contracts and financial support.Sites in the Great Plains, Mid-South, Northern Plains, and Southeast will be targeted.All NWCVT experiments will be an RCBD with 3 or 4 replications. Data will be analyzed by site using the SAS Proc GLIMMIX procedure and means will be separated using the LSMeans lines option.Data may be pooled by region and analyzed across locations using common checks.Feasibility and Pitfalls for Objective 2 - The feasibility for completing this objective is high as end market opportunities are driving the need for new performance data. Potential pitfalls include an inability to identify potential collaborators and poor weather throughout the growing season.Objective 3Test new hybrid parent lines in line x tester combinations. These field studies will be carried out in 2024/25, 2025/26, and 2026/27.20 hybrids will be tested in yield trials in Kansas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.Trials will consist of the 20 hybrids, two checks, and three replications arranged in an RCBD. High Check Heterosis (%) = [(Hybrid - High Check)/High Check] x 100 will be used to gauge performance.Heterosis for winter survival and vigor traits will be calculated as High Parent Heterosis (%) = [(Hybrid - High Parent)/High Parent] x 100 to identify female parents with the greatest winter survival.Parents showing the highest potential will be increased to produce breeder seed of A/B-line pairs.The goal will be to bring three A/B-line pairs up for release by the PGMRC in summer 2025.All released A/B-line pairs will be disclosed to KSUIP.Combining ability and heterosis analyses will be carried out near Manhattan, KS in 2025-2026 and 2026-2027.This study will consist of the 9 new A-line (BC4s) x two R-line testers (18 hybrids), the corresponding B-lines (male fertile maintainers of the A-lines), the R-line tester, and two commercial hybrid checks (30 total entries). Experimental design will be an RCBD with three replications.Heterosis for yield, winter survival, and oil content will be calculated as: High Parent Heterosis (%) = [(Hybrid - High Parent)/High Parent] x 100 and High Check Heterosis (%) = [(Hybrid - High Check)/High Check] x 100.General combining ability (GCA) of the female inbred lines will be measured by taking the mean of the A-line x R-line tester combinations minus the mean of all hybrids in the test.The A-lines possessing the greatest GCA will be tested for a second year in hybrid combinations. Simultaneously, hybrid seed will be produced for broader testing across more sites in subsequent years.Feasibility and Pitfalls for Objective 3 - Interest in using KSU germplasm in hybrid combinations by commercial seed companies is growing, so hybrid testing data will be of needed to make informed selections of sterile female parent lines. Potential pitfalls include poor hybrid performance, low heterosis, and less than desirable GCA values.Objective 4Directly deliver results, characteristics, and promote the benefits of released cultivars to stakeholders.Rapid information dissemination through social media, radio interviews, and popular press will reach the broadest spectrum of stakeholders.Utilize the K-State Department of Agronomy eUpdates and reports of progress to disseminate trial results.Professional society meetings are excellent ways to inform the scientific community on the advancements in winter canola across the USA.Participate in project director workshops hosted by NIFA.Outreach activities will be evaluated through feedback provided by attendees.Feasibility and Pitfalls for Objective 4 - Experienced personnel are in place thus the feasibility is high. The demand for data shared will be a positive indicator that the project is successful. Potential pitfalls include farmer apathy toward canola, thus participation at these activities may be less than desired.