Abstract
In the Upper Midwest, corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) dominate the landscape, but only for six to seven months of the year. Thus, opportunities exist to establish crops that can utilize the remainder of the growing season and contribute to overall farm profitability. One species of interest is pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.), but a lack of established agronomic best management practices is a barrier to successful crop production. The objectives of this study were to identify a range of cumulative growing degree days (CGDD) corresponding to pennycress physiological maturity, determine the optimal harvest window that maximizes pennycress seed yield and oil content, and characterize changes in pennycress seed attributes over seed maturation. This study was conducted over the 2016–2017 and 2017–2018 growing seasons with ‘MN106’ pennycress at two locations in Minnesota, USA. Seed dry weight stabilized within the window of maximum seed yield, but oil content did not maximize until after this period. However, there was minimal loss of oil content when pennycress was harvested within the seed yield maximization window. Based on these parameters, as well as seed moisture, it was estimated that pennycress reached physiological maturity between 2230 and 2250 °C d CGDD, or about a week prior to harvest maturity in terms of crop phenology. Delaying harvest to harvest maturity resulted in a 26% loss in harvestable seed due to seed shatter compared with the average maximum seed yield of 928 kg ha−1. Ensuring maximum pennycress seed yield and oil content at harvest is imperative to successful production and contribution to farm economic viability.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 114355 |
Journal | Industrial Crops and Products |
Volume | 176 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors would like to thank Alex Hard, Kevin Betts, Jim Eklund, Chuck Hennen and Scott Larson for their expert field assistance. Funding for this research was supported by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture Crop Research Program , USA [grant number 441602 ], the Walton Family Foundation , USA, and the University of Minnesota Forever Green Initiative , MN, USA.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
Keywords
- Growing degree days
- Harvest maturity
- Oil content
- Physiological maturity
- Seed moisture
- Seed yield
- Winter oilseed