Uniform, vigorous crop establishment is one of the keys to achieving high yielding canola crops. This chapter describes crop establishment factors such as pedigreed seed, seeding date, rate and depth of seeding, and row spacing.
The previous chapter emphasized the critical requirement for an ideal seedbed for canola. Altering practices such as seeding date have relatively little effect on input costs but can have a large impact on yields and, therefore, the profit from the crop. Successful stand establishment results from rapid, uniform seedling emergence, which depends partly on high quality, genetically pure seed. In Canada, the genetic purity of canola seed is controlled by the pedigree system, whereas the physical and biological quality of seed is maintained through standards in the Canada Seeds Act.
The genetic characteristics of a seed influence its response to environmental conditions. Plant breeders develop varieties with the desired genetic traits for optimum yield in certain environments and to meet quality specifications demanded by the marketplace. The small amount of seed for each new variety produced by plant breeders must be multiplied rapidly with a minimum of genetic change or contamination before release to commercial canola growers. In Canada, this is achieved with a pedigreed seed production system.