Relative yield and profit of Australian hybrid compared with open-pollinated canola is largely determined by growing-season rainfall
Heping Zhang A F , Jens D. Berger A , Mark Seymour B , Rohan Brill C , Chris Herrmann A , Richard Quinlan D and Garren Knell EA CSIRO Agriculture, Private Bag 5, PO Wembley, WA 6913, Australia.
B Department of Agriculture and Food, Esperance, WA 6450, Australia.
C NSW Department of Primary Industries, Pine Gully Road, Wagga Wagga, NSW 2650, Australia.
D Planfarm, Geraldton, WA 6530, Australia.
E ConsultAg, PO Box 398, Narrogin, WA 6312, Australia.
F Corresponding author. Email: heping.zhang@csiro.au
Crop and Pasture Science 67(4) 323-331 https://doi.org/10.1071/CP15248
Submitted: 23 July 2015 Accepted: 17 December 2015 Published: 21 April 2016
Abstract
Australian canola growers have new technology options including hybrid and herbicide technologies, which have offered yield and profitability advantages in other canola-growing regions of the world. This study compared the yield and gross margins of hybrid and open-pollinated (OP) canola from different herbicide tolerance groups: triazine-tolerant, Roundup Ready, Clearfield and conventional across a wide range of environments in south-western Australia, and in the National Variety Trial network in southern Australia to investigate the relative advantages of these technologies. There were significant differences in yield responsiveness between hybrid and OP canola, the magnitude of which was determined by the growing-season rainfall/available water to the crop. Hybrid out-yielded OP canola in favourable environments where rainfall was high and the growing season was long. However, in areas of low rainfall where yield potential was low, hybrids showed little yield advantage over OP. In contrast, there were no differences in yield response between the four herbicide tolerance groups across the rainfall zones. The economic analysis showed that the break-even yield for hybrids versus OP canola was 1.25 t/ha for triazine-tolerant canola, 0.7 t/ha for Roundup Ready canola, and 1.7 t/ha for hybrid Clearfield canola. The gross margin analysis suggested that hybrid triazine-tolerant, Clearfield and Roundup Ready canola was more profitable than the OP system in the medium (growing-season rainfall of 265–330 mm) and high (330 mm) rainfall environments, but not profitable in the lower (<265 mm) rainfall area because the cost associated with hybrid seed outweighed the small yield benefit. The sensitivity analysis indicated that ± 10% changes in canola price and seed cost shifted the break-even yield by ± 0.1 t/ha. Our study makes a case for Australian canola breeders to maintain OP canola varieties, rather than shifting their focus entirely to hybrids, to underpin continued productivity and profitability in lower rainfall areas.
Additional keyword: gross margin.
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