238 journal homepage: www.fia.usv.ro/fiajournal Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Romania Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 238 - 243 TH E OPT IM UM DE NS IT Y FOR WI NT ER RAPE UND ER SUCE AV A PLA TE AU C ON DI T ION S *Ioan – Cătălin ENEA1, Ioan GONTARIU 2 1Agricultural Research and Development Station of Suceava, B-dul 1 Decembrie 1918 no.15, Suceava, 1Faculty ofFood Engineering, 13 Universitatii St., 720229, Suceava, Romania, catalin_i75@yahoo.com, ioang@fia.usv.ro * Correspondingauthor Received June15th, accepted September 25th2014 Abstract:Important autumn oilseed rape has been bred considerably in the last period as a result of the fact that it provides raw materials for the manufacture of oil, which is an alternative to unconventional fossil sources of energy, as well as for themaking ofsome oils of superior quality used in human nutrition and not only. The experimental results from Suceavaarea during the period 2011-2012 regardingtwo winter rape genotypes bred at different densities are presented. The results show that at lower densities, the collum development is better and an increased resistance to wintering of the rape plant is noticed. At lower densities, higher plants, with a great number of branches per plant and a greater number of seeds and capsule per plant havebeen obtained. The largest grain production was achieved in both genotypes at the density of 50 plants/ m2. Keywords:rape genotypes, grain production, annual precipitation, plants’densities 1. Introduction Three field trials and one greenhouse trial were conducted from 2008 to 2010 at two locations in South West and Northern Germany to assess the effect of cultivar, location and year on dormancy characteristics of open-pollinated winter oilseed rape cultivars. A simple selection was performed in the field and in the greenhouse for low-dormant individual plants, and the offspring of these plants (potential volunteers) were tested for the stability of the trait under field conditions [1]. Due to the high demand for rape, the profitability of its culture on surface unit,as well as any special requirementsfor these cultivars to be grown and developed under the conditions from the Big Island of Braila, makes this culture adapted in this area, which has been temporarily excluded from the agricultural circuit for many years to come. By continuous improvement of this technology crops with a view to obtaining maximum yields and performance from all points of view, it must be clear, accurate and flexible [2]. Winter rape cropwas introduced recently in the Suceava Plateau area and the technological elements were accordingly to those recommended in areas where this crop was introduced some time ago, or even from the recommendations of seed production companies [3]. This crop tends to expand in this area because the new used hybrids have a high resistance to frost, the losses during the winter being very small and in good Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, ŞtefancelMareUniversity–Suceava Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014 I oan – C ăt ăl i n E NEA, Ioa n G ONT AR IU , T h e o pt i mum d en si t y f o r wi n t e r rap e un d e r S uc ea va pl at eau con di t i on s, Food and Environment Safety,Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 238 – 243 239 technical conditions high yields per hectare are obtained. The importance of these crops for the big output derives from the fact that there are in the first place certainties of capitalization at competitive prices, production settlement shall be carried out immediately before wheat, while, at the same time profitability much higher than other agricultural crops [4]. For old varieties, the following recommendation is made:to use the density of 150-200 plants /ha, whereas for new hybrids, the density recommended being much lower, namely 35-60 plants/m 2. The behavior regarding density is different from hybrid to hybrid depending on the plant height and capacity of the branch, which leads to research on different varieties, as the recommendation of the crop density on different genotypes could be made [5]. 2. Materials and methods The experiment was set on faeoziomchernozem soil with a clay content of 31.6% in the 0-20 cm layer, weakly acidic with a pH in water of 5.6 to 5.8, a humus content of 3.0% and medium stocked in phosphorus (32 ppm) and potassium (150 ppm). The conditions from the experimental period (2011-2012) are shown in Table 1. The average annual temperature was 8.40oC in 2010/2011 and 9.30o C in 2011/2012, being with 0.60oC and respectively 1.5 higher than the annual average. The average monthly temperature in both years was higher than the annual average during the entire period, with values between 0.5 and 4.40o C, except for the months of October and February when it was lower than 1.60o C and 3.30o Crespectively [6]. Annual precipitation totalized 678.8 mm in the first year and 469.4mm in the second one, their average being lower than the annual average with 11.7 mm [7]. In autumn, (September and October) and in spring (March, April) the monthlyprecipitation average was higher than the annual one, while in the other months the rainfall was lower than the annual average. The experiment was bi-factorial, with the following graduations: Factor A – Advanced cultivar or hybrid a1 – Scelni CS mid-sized and medium branching a2 –TriptiCS high sized and very good branching Factor B-plant density with 5 levels b1= 30 plants /m 2 b2= 40 plants/ m2 b3=50 plants/ m2 b4=60 plants/ m2 b5= 70 plants/ m2 The aim of this work is to ensure optimum density of oilseed rape fall under the conditions of north of the country, having regard to climatic conditions. The seeding was carried out at a distance of 25cm between rows, with a larger quantity of seeds, of 5kg/ha. After emergence, the plants have been depleted by 13, 10, 8, 7, 6 cm distances to provide the proposed densities aimed at by experiments. In autumn and spring the counting was done in order to determine the losses over winter (Fig. 1). During the growing season, observations were made concerning the diameter of the collum, plant height, the height of insertion of the first branch, the number of branches, the number of capsules/plant, the average number of seeds/capsule and seed production/ha. Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, ŞtefancelMareUniversity–Suceava Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014 I oan – C ăt ăl i n E NEA, Ioa n G ONT AR IU , T h e o pt i mum d en si t y f o r wi n t e r rap e un d e r S uc ea va pl at eau con di t i on s, Food and Environment Safety,Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 238 – 243 240 Table 1. Climatic conditions in the period 2011-2012 at ARDS Suceava Specify VIII 2011 IX 2011 X 2011 XI 2011 XII 2011 I 2012 II 2012 III 2012 IV 2012 V 2012 VI 2012 VII 2012 Average or total Precipitation (mm) Decade I 23.3 23.6 7.2 0.6 0.3 0.9 9.9 4.3 14.8 1.6 26.9 1.9 Decade II 0.1 0.4 7.3 0.3 10.4 5.6 4.6 5.4 45.9 36.8 13.1 34.2 Decade III - 2.8 2.8 - 1.4 17.7 5.7 3.4 29.8 42.7 6.3 12.9 Monthly total 23.4 26.8 17.3 0.9 15.4 24.2 20.2 13.1 90.5 81.1 46.3 49.0 457.2 Annual Average 62.8 40.8 29.5 30.6 26.5 24.2 25.6 36.2 48.2 80.2 93.6 88.6 586.8 Standard deviation ± -39.4 -14.0 -12.2 -29.7 -11.1 0.0 -5.4 -23.1 +42.3 +0.9 -47.3 -39.6 -129.6 Temperature (0C) Decade I 18.6 14.8 13.3 4.5 4.4 1.5 -17.0 -2.8 6.7 15.7 18.4 24.6 Decade II 19.2 18.1 5.5 0.4 1.5 -2.6 -9.7 4.9 9.0 13.0 20.6 20.8 Decade III 19.4 14.5 3.9 0.8 -1.2 -8.4 -1.2 7.9 15.1 15.7 20.1 22.5 Monthly total 19.1 15.8 7.6 1.9 1.5 3.2 -9.3 3.3 10.3 14.8 19.7 27.2 9.2 Annual Average 18.3 14.2 8.4 2.4 -1.9 -4.1 -2.9 1.2 0.8 13.7 16.9 18.4 7.1 Standard deviation ± +0.8 +1.6 -0.8 -0.8 +3.4 +7.3 -6.4 +2.1 +2.3 +1.1 +2.8 +4.3 +2.1 ARDS Suceava Fig. 1 Location of experiment in the experimental field at ARDS Suceava Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, ŞtefancelMareUniversity–Suceava Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014 I oan – C ăt ăl i n E NEA, Ioa n G ONT AR IU , T h e o pt i mum d en si t y f o r wi n t e r rap e un d e r S uc ea va pl at eau con di t i on s, Food and Environment Safety,Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 238 – 243 241 3. Results and Discussion a) Winter resistance Before enteringthe dormant period, the plants’ number in one row and plants’ number/plot were counted. In spring, after the beginning of vegetation, the same plants were counted; the percentage of dead plants due to winter conditions was determined. The data in Table 2 show relatively low losses in the two experiment years at this crop. The winter conditions were difficult, the temperatures were very low, and namely bellow -31oC in 2012, but the plants have survived very well because they were covered with a thick layer of snow. The two testedgenotypeshad small losses, the variety ScelniSC up to 7.2% and 12.3% the variety Tripti CS. Also we noticed that the smallest losses were registered by the plants oflow densities. The losses were higher when the plants’densities have been increased, reaching more than double at the plants’ highest densities. The reason is due to the development of autumn plants,plants’ low densities caused the plants to develop their foliage system better and the collum was developed better containing many more reserve substances, thusproviding passage over winter in good conditions. Table 2 Frost resistance of winter rape by plant densities Genotype Density (pl number/m2) Losses over winter (%) 2011 2012 Average 2011-2012 Average on genotype Scelni CS 30 4.0 - 2.0 7.2 40 5.0 5.5 5.2 50 7.2 8.4 7.8 60 8.5 10.0 9.3 70 10.2 12.5 11.5 Trepti CS 30 5.5 7.2 6.4 12.3 40 8.2 10.4 9.3 50 10.6 13.5 12.1 60 17.0 15.5 16.3 70 17.5 17.0 17.2 b) Plant growing During the growing season we made a series of observations concerning plant development in two varieties of rape: collum diameter, plant height, and number of branches, number of capsules/ plant and the average number of seeds in a capsule (Table 3). - Collum diameter was primarily influenced by plant density and less by genotype. So at the variety Scelni, the collum diameter was 10.6 mm to the density, 70 plants/m2, and 14.4mm at 30 plants /m2 and at the variety Trepti, the collum diameter was 10 mm at density 70 plants/m2 and 13.9 mm at a density of 30 plants/ m2. The collum diameter is important in order to create a support base for future plant and resistance to harsh conditions during winter time. -Plant height of winter rape was between 127 cm and 142 cm in variety Scelni and between 165 cm to 137cm in Tripti variety and at higher densities the plant height was lower. On the other hand the height of the insertion of the first branches of the two genotypes was higher in higher densities. Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, ŞtefancelMareUniversity–Suceava Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014 I oan – C ăt ăl i n E NEA, Ioa n G ONT AR IU , T h e o pt i mum d en si t y f o r wi n t e r rap e un d e r S uc ea va pl at eau con di t i on s, Food and Environment Safety,Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 238 – 243 242 - The number of branches was higher at fewer densities, ranging from 5 to 10.8 for Scelni variety and between 8.3 and 12.5 for the other variety. - Number of capsules/ plant was 139 capsules/plant at density of 30 plants/m2 at the variety Scelni, and decreased to 64 capsule at a density of 70 plants/m2, at the variety Tripti, number of capsule per plant was 156 at the density of 30 plants/m2and continuously decreased to 100 capsules/plant at density of 70 plants/m2. - The average number of seeds in a capsule in both varieties was higher at low densities (24 to 24.6) and lower at higher densities (19-20). Table 3 Biometric measurements at winter rape hybrids according to density (Average of the years 2011-2012) Geno- type Density Plants/m2 Collum diameter (mm) Plant height (cm) The height of insertion of the first branch (cm) Number of branches Number of capsules/ plant Medium number of seeds in a capsule Scelni CS 30 14.4 142 58.8 10.8 139 24.6 40 13.2 139 59.0 10.4 148 25.4 50 13.0 128 58.9 10.4 126 24.6 60 12.8 127 63.4 6.4 90 21.6 70 10.6 127 73.4 5.0 64 20.0 Tripti CS 30 13.9 165 60.0 12.5 156 24.0 40 12.8 158 65.0 11.4 152 23.0 50 12.8 142 65.5 10.9 146 20.0 60 11.6 140 72.0 8.5 120 20.0 70 10.0 137 80.0 8.3 100 19.0 c) The yield of seeds in the two varieties of winter rape according to plant densities is shown in Table 4. High potential for production of the varietyTripti (3573 kg / ha) in comparison with the varietyScelmi (3187 kg/ha) can be noticed. Table 4 The yield of seeds (kg/ha) Genotype Density (pl/m2) The yield of seeds (kg/ha) 2011 2012 Ave- rage Diferences kg/ha % Signification Scelni CS 30 2880 2700 2790 -397 87 00 40 3560 3180 3370 183 106 50 3840 3280 3560 373 112 xx 60 3260 3025 3143 -44 99 70 3340 2804 3072 -115 96 The average of the variety 3376 2998 3187 - 100 Trepti CS 30 3220 2017 3019 -554 84 000 40 4150 3285 3718 145 104 50 4060 3876 3968 395 111 xx 60 3850 3514 3682 109 103 70 3615 3340 3478 -95 97 The average of the variety 3779 3366 3573 - 100 DL 5 % 203 DL 1 % 304 DL 0.1 % 407 Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, ŞtefancelMareUniversity–Suceava Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014 I oan – C ăt ăl i n E NEA, Ioa n G ONT AR IU , T h e o pt i mum d en si t y f o r wi n t e r rap e un d e r S uc ea va pl at eau con di t i on s, Food and Environment Safety,Volume XIII, Issue 3 – 2014, pag. 238 – 243 243 The two varieties grown at different densities, have produced the highest yield of seeds at the density of 50 plants/ m2, being of 3560 kg / ha for Scelni and 3968 kg/ha for Tripti. The yield increased in both varieties, being statistically assured. By increasing the rape density, an yielddecrease was registered at the cultivars ScelniandTripti, more exactly the greatest decrease being noticed at the density of 30 plants/m2, the absolute value of this reduction was the following:397 kg/ha and 554 kg/ha. 4. Conclusion In the two experiment years, the winter rape genotypes, Scelni and Trepti, behaved differently to the wintering conditions, depending on density. The biggest losses in the variety Tripti were recorded at lower densities; the plants were well developed, registering lower losses over winter period. The winter rape plants’ density influenced their development, in the sense that at the lower densities the collum diameter, plant height and the number of branches were bigger, and the height of the main branches was lower. Production information: the number of capsules/plant and the number of seeds per plant were larger at low densities. The highest losses were registeredat the density of 50 plants/m2.When the density varied between 40 and 60 plants /m2, the losses were statistically assured. The biggest losses were recorded at the density of 30 plants /m2,taking into consideration that the optimum density of autumn rape culture is to be determined according to the area to be bred in. 5. References [1]. HEINRICH THÖLE, ANTJE DIETZ- PFEILSTETTER, 2012, Molecular marker- based identification of oilseed rape volunteers with different secondary dormancy levels in oilseed rape fields, European Journal of Agronomy, Volume 43, November 2012, pag. 194-200. [2]. BUZDUGAN, L.G., 2011, Research on optimization of rape culture technology of the autumn in enclosure with dig Insula Mare a Brăilei, Work for PhD degree,USAMV Bucharest. [3]. BUZDUGAN, L. G., 2011 – Nutrients management for increasing he soil fertility and the crop productivity în the Great Island of Brăila, Meeting the fertilizer demand on a changing globe: biofuels, climate change and contaminants, 15th World Fertilizer Congress of the International Scientific Centre for Fertilizers 29.08.– 02.09.2010, Romanian Academy Publishing House, Bucharest. [4]. BĂLTEANU GH., SALONTAI AL.,VASILICĂ C., BÂRNAURE V., BORCEAN I., 1991 - Plant Cultivation Technology, vol. II, Ceres Publishing House, Bucharest; [5]. RÂŞNOVEANU L., BUZDUGAN L., 2011 - Somme aspects infuence of sowing time of winter oliseed rape production,in the condition north-east Baragan, Scietific papers, vol. 54, Agronomy Series,USAMV Bucharest. [6]. Suceava Meteorological Station, The register monthly weather observation, 2011-2012. [7]. Suceava Meteorological Station, Synthetic Tables Rainfalls, 2011-2012.