SEED YIELD AND QUALITY OF VARIETIES AND HYBRIDS OF CANOLA IN NORTHERN TAMAULIPAS, MÉXICO

Abstract

Increasing imports of canola oil importation by the Mexican national industry has promoted interest to explore the potential of Brassica napus L. and B. rapa L. as alternate crops in México. The purpose of the study was to characterize the response of new canola genotypes on the semiarid region of northern Tamaulipas, México, under “restricted irrigation” (one irrigation) conditions in the Autum  Winter 2001-2002 growing season, in Río Bravo, Tamaulipas. Fourteen varieties and four hybrids were evaluated (including Hyola 401 as control), planted on November 29 at a seed density of 1.3 kg ha^-1. At harvest, 10 plant characteristics and seed yield were measured. Twelve genotypes of high grain yield were used to determine oil percent, fatty acids and protein content in the seed. The highest significant (P ≤ 0.01) yield was observed in Hyola (401, 308 and 330) hybrids and on the ICM 204, variety with an average yield of 1613 kg ha^-1. The average seed oil content was 37.4 % and the greatest fatty acids content was from oleic acid with 69.5 %; the protein content was 23.8 %. The regression analysis showed that the yield components more related with yield were the number of pods per plant, length pod and weight seed per pod, with 83.5 % of total variance (R² =0.79). No new canola genotype was better than Hyola 401 hybrid.