Straight Cut Canola Variety Trial
Canola Council of Canada, Haplotec
To evaluate performance of straight cut canola seed varieties currently available to farmers on
the Prairies.
2019 results available at www.canolaperformancetrials.ca or Seed Manitoba 2020 Variety Selection and Growers Source Guide pp 47-48.
Straight combining canola can save producers time, fuel costs and wear of equipment but this practice is rare on the Canadian Prairies owing to the risks of substantial yield losses due to shattering. Generally, shattering losses from straight cutting canola outweigh yield benefits compared to swathing or windrowing (Watson et al., 2007). In addition to high yielding canola varieties, producers are also interested in shatter resistance, which results in reduced yield losses if straight combining is used. Previous studies have shown that direct combining of older canola varieties resulted in highly variable seed losses of up to 25% especially when strong winds occurred prior to seed ripening and harvest (Price et al., 1996; Gan et al., 2008; Irvine and Lafond, 2010). However, continuous breeding of shatter resistant varieties is underway and they need to be tested under Prairie conditions to enable farmers to select the ones that are appropriate for their needs.