The Effect of Potassium and Sulfur on the Yield Variability of Canaryseed
Evaluate K and S additions on the yield and quality of Canary Seed production at five locations in Saskatchewan, Canada.
IPNI-2000-CAN-SK27
21 May 2001
2000
Two problems occurred during the 1999 season. At Melfort hail damaged the plots in early August reducing yield and the reliability of the data obtain. At Weyburn, bird damage and drought at the end of the season reduced yields. In 2000, the Septoria leaf Mottle experiments were lost at Indian Head due to flooding and excessive wild oat pressure at Weyburn.
The yield of canaryseed did not readily respond to a change in the seeding rate. Slight increases in yield occurred at Melfort and Weyburn in 1999 and 2000 as the seeding rate was increased. The other five times this experiment was conducted, seeding rate had no effect on yield. These plots were all relatively weed free. It appears that varying the seeding rate will not greatly improve the yield stability of canaryseed, since the variation in yield between the sites was much larger than the response to increasing the seeding rate. There is likely some benefits to be obtained with higher seeding rates under weedy conditions. At the present time the data suggests that a seeding rate of 30 lbs an acre is appropriate.
Canaryseed yield responded to the addition of nitrogen fertilizer at 5 out of 9 times over the three years. At Stewart Valley, the canaryseed yield responded to higher nitrogen rates in 1999 and 2000. In 1999 at Indian Head, there was a statistically significant response, however, the response does not appear to be biologically significant or relevant to farmers growing canaryseed. The yield response at Indian Head and Weyburn in 2000 was very small even though it was statistically significant. Varying the amount of applied nitrogen does not help us much in understanding the yield variability in canaryseed.
The effect of potassium and sulphur on canaryseed yields were mixed in 2000. Yield increased as potassium was increased at two locations, Indian Head and Stewart Valley, while at Saskatoon the 15 kg ha-1 rate lowered yield and the 30 kg ha-1 rate increased yield. Weyburn followed the trend observed at Saskatoon when sulphur wasn’t added but potassium had no effect when sulphur was added. At Melfort, yield did not respond to potassium. The addition of sulfur decreased yield at Indian Head and increased yield at Stewart Valley. These results are too preliminary to draw strong conclusions except that potassium appears to have an effect on the yield of canaryseed
Delayed seeding of canaryseed had a large effect on yield. At Swift Current and Melfort in 1999 the first seeding date had the highest yield. At Swift Current large yield reductions occurred after the early May seeding date. At Melfort the yield decline as seeding was delayed may have been intensified by hail which occurred in early August. In addition the last seeding date had trouble ripening because of the cool growing season and frost occurred while it was in the seed filling stage of development. At Indian Head in 1998 and 1999 and Saskatoon in 1999, the response was slightly different. The mid May seeding date was the best in both years and surprisingly in 1999 the early June seeding date out yielded the early May seeding date at both locations. In 2000 the first seeding date had the highest yield at Indian Head and Melfort. Yield declined at these two locations as seeding was delayed. However, there was no yield response to seeding date at the other two locations Saskatoon and Swift Current. Seeding date can have a large effect on yield but not every year. At this point in the project, the data suggests that a mid May seeding date may on average provide the best yield. A fall seeded treatment with coated seed was added to the seeding date test at Indian Head for 2000. Unfortunately, spring emergence was low. I feel that this was due to technical problems that ended up placing the seed too deep. Fall planting is being tried again in 2001.
Septoria leaf mottle had a large effect on yield. Controlling Septoria leaf mottle with Tilt reduced the severity of the septoria at all three sites in 1999 but not at Stewart Valley in 2000. Seed yield increased at 4 out of 6 site years. At Indian Head in 1998 controlling the heavy infestation of Septoria Leaf Mottle with Tilt resulted in a 29% increase and controlling a moderate infestation at Indian Head in 1999 resulted in a 22% increase in yield. Even at Melfort in 1999 where yields were reduced by hail the application of Tilt resulted in a yield increase and in 2000 the yield increase was 40%. Only at Stewart Valley where the infestation of Septoria was light was there no response to the application of Tilt in 1999 and 2000. I believe that Septoria leaf mottle may be a part of the answer to the yield variability experienced by farmers growing canaryseed.