Canola is prone to shattering and scientists now understand why.
To avoid losses from shattering, most producers swath the crop rather than letting it stand to seed maturity and then straight cutting it.
Even with swathing, pods will drop two to five bushels per acre under average conditions.
If harvest is delayed, the crop will do what it has evolved to do and spread its seed, which could result in yield losses of as much as 70 percent.
Researchers at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England, have discovered in canola’s much-researched cousin, arabidopsis, what causes the pods to open.
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Lars Ostergaard said his team found that an absence of the hormone auxin in a layer of cells in the pod’s construction is necessary for the pods to open. A pair of stripes of auxin-free tissue form in the pod and these split the pod open, releasing the seed.
Auxin is known for its role in plant growth including shade avoidance, root development and seed production.
Hormones are known to accumulate in specific areas of plant tissue to accomplish a variety of goals related to growth and signals for maturity.
Ostergaard said this is the first time that natural hormone removal has been found to control the fate of cells and growth of a single element of plant production.
Researchers have used genetic modification to cause the pods in arabidopsis to remain sealed. The research plants are able to produce auxin in those areas of the pod where it was absent, preventing the stripes from forming and the pods from cracking open.
The next step is refining the plant’s auxin production in seed pods so they can still be mechanically harvested once the technology is transferred to other brassica crops, such as canola. The result could be a plant breeding technology that could save Canadian farmers at least $20 million annually in seed loss.
With additional savings in swathing and immature seed avoidance, the savings could be greater.
