Growing Camelina and Safflower in the Pacific Northwest

Brenton Sharratt The researcher’s wind tunnel “in action” during a test on a camelina plot. The tunnel can generate wind speeds of up to 40 mph. John Morse with the USDA-ARS in Pullman, WA is in the background measuring surface roughness.

In the study, camelina and safflower were grown in three-year rotations with winter wheat and summer fallow. The study shows that using this rotation may require that no tillage should be done to the soil during the fallow year.

Oilseed crops produce relatively little residue—organic material such as roots that hold the soil together. Even light tillage can disintegrate the soil.

A cooperative study by the USDA-ARS and Washington State University researched the effects of growing oilseed crops—camelina and safflower—on blowing dust emissions. The Columbia Plateau of the Inland Pacific Northwest experiences significant windblown dust from excessively-tilled agricultural lands.

Brenton Sharratt and William Schillinger found that adding camelina or safflower crops into a rotation with winter wheat and summer fallow increased the amount of dust at the end of tillage-based fallow or when wheat is planted. “Farmers will need to protect the soil from wind erosion during the fallow phase after harvest of oilseed crops,” says Sharratt.

The Pacific Northwest is a low-precipitation region. The typical crop rotation there is winter wheat-summer fallow. Thus, one crop is usually grown every other year.

The fallow period allows the soil to store moisture from rains and snows over the winter. This stored moisture is critical for seed germination and emergence of winter wheat.

The researchers measured dust particles, or wind erosion, using a portable wind tunnel. This tunnel was 24 ft long, 4 ft tall and 3 ft wide. A fan was used to generate conditions like those naturally occurring in the fields.

Their findings show that adding camelina or safflower into the crop rotation increased the chances of wind erosion late in the fallow cycle.

Thus, their caution to farmers is to use techniques to preserve the soil. “Even the undercutter method is too much tillage for fallow after oilseeds in the dry region,” say the researchers. “No-till fallow, or planting another crop without a fallow year, is the answer for controlling blowing dust.”

###

To see the full story, visit https://www.agronomy.org/story/2014/may/fri/growing-camelina-and-safflower-in-the-pacific-northwest. Access the full article at https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/abstracts/0/0/agronj13.0384

Media Contact

Susan Fisk newswise

All latest news from the category: Agricultural and Forestry Science

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors