07/25/05 Developing herbicide resistant oilseeds

Farm and Ranch July 25, 2005 The oilseed breeding program at the University of Idaho is developing varieties that are resistant to imidazolinone herbicides such as Pursuit and Beyond. U of I plant breeder Jack Brown says the reason isn't so producers can spray their oilseed crops with the herbicides, but to provide growers with more rotational flexibility. For example, right now pulse crop growers use Pursuit pre-emergence. Brown: "And the herbicide is long lived in the soil. So if you apply the herbicide for a legume crop you cannot grow canola and mustard for at least five years. By developing these canola and rapeseed crops that are resistant to this herbicide will allow farmers to include a broadleaf like a legume and a broadleaf crop like a canola in the same rotation with small grain cereals, hence increasing the rotational opportunities which is very favorable for reducing some of the costs of producing the crop." Field trials have been conducted on a spring canola and a spring rapeseed with up to three times the rate of Pursuit and Beyond and there was no visible damage or yield loss due to the herbicide. Brown: "One is going to be a spring canola called Clearwater. And the other one is a spring industrial rapeseed where the oil will be used not for edible but for industrial uses like surfactants, lubricants and making biodiesel. That cultivar is going to called Gem, after Idaho the Gem state." Brown emphasizes the herbicide resistance comes from traditional plant breeding methods. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.