Canola (
Brassica napus L.) is an essential oil seed crop in the world. Its oil is used as biofuel, for human consumption, for feeding animals, used in chemical and pharmaceutical industries
(Friedt and Snowdon, 2009). It belongs to family
Cruciferae, which is becoming one of the major sources of vegetable oil in the world
(Bhagdadi et al., 2012). The crop has commercial importance because with having a high oil content of about 30-45%
(Oad et al., 2001). It has low erucic acid and glucosinolates also known as “double zero” varieties which had made canola oil more popular
(Saleem et al., 2001). The global production of rapeseed oil reached nearly 29.2 million metric tonnes. Canada is the leading rapeseed-producing country in the world with a production of 19.49 million metric tonnes followed by the European Union
viz., 16.29 million metric tonnes and China
viz., 14.05 million metric tonnes in 2020-2021
(Shahbandeh, 2022). Canada is the largest exporter of canola seed in the world followed by Australia
(Asaduzzaman et al., 2020). India is the fourth largest producer of rapeseed in the world with a production of 8.5 million metric tonnes in 2020-2021
(Shahbandeh, 2022). In Punjab, rapeseed and mustard were grown on 31.0 thousand hectares of land with a production of 46.5 thousand tonnes in 2019-2020. The average yield was 14.82 q ha
-1 (Anonymous, 2021).
Among the different agronomic practices, planting geometry plays an important role in achieving higher yield potential, because of an optimum number of crop plants per unit of area and efficient utilization of available nutrients and other resources. Besides, the research on best plant geometry, it is also essential to screen the suitable varieties planted under a suitable geometry for producing higher yield of seed as well as oil. Since, canola achieves maximum yield at a relatively low plant density, any increase in the plant density above the necessary level to reach the yield plateau serves only in escalated production costs without increasing the yield. However, very low plant densities may not enable attainment of the yield plateau
(Hay and Walker, 1989). The planting pattern has an effect on crop yield through its influence on light interception, rooting pattern and moisture extraction
(Kler, 1988). A uniform distribution of plants per unit area is a prerequisite for yield stability
(Diepenbrock, 2000). Hence, finding out the optimum plant geometry is essential for realizing the higher productivity of oilseed rape to a great extent.
A field experiment was carried out during the winter (
rabi) season of 2021-22 at Student’s Research Farm, Department of Agronomy, Khalsa College, Amritsar, Punjab, India. The geographical distribution of the experimental site is 31.63°N, 74.87°E and height above mean sea is 224.33m. The climate of the study area is classified as tropical, semi-arid and hot which is mainly dry with very hot summers and cold winters except during southwest monsoon season. The average annual rainfall in the district is 541.9 mm. The soil of experimental site was sandy loam in texture, having a normal pH (8.2), normal EC (0.34 dSm
-1), low organic carbon (0.40%), low in available N (180.2 kg ha
-1), medium in available P (16.8 kg ha
-1) and medium in available K (258 kg ha
-1), respectively during the study. The sand, silt and clay were 74, 15 and 11%, respectively. The experiment was laid out in split plot design with three replications. There were thirty-six plots with twelve treatment combinations comprising three different canola varieties V
1 (Kenola-1001), V
2 (Hyola Adv-45) and V
3 (GSC-7) assigned as main-plots and four planting geometries S
1 (45 cm x 10 cm), S
2 (45 cm x 20 cm), S3 (45 cm x 30 cm) and S4 (45 cm x 40 cm) set as subplots. The observations on different quality parameters
viz., oil yield, oil content, protein content, nitrogen content, phosphorus content and potassium content were recorded. The content of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids was also noted. The oil was extracted and collected in glass vials as per treatment by an automatic press machine. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content were determined by the modified Micro-Kjeldahl method, 0.5 N NaHCO
3 extractable method (pH:8.5) and ammonium acetate extractable K using Flame Photometer, respectively. The total saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in oil were estimated by FT-NIR (Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy). The crop was raised according to recommended package of practices of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Statistical analysis of the data recorded was done as per split-plot design using EDA 1.1 software. Critical difference (CD) at 5% probability was used to compare the differences among treatments.
The analysis of data presented in Table 1 reveals that among different varieties significantly highest oil yield was recorded in variety V3 (8.63 q ha
-1) in comparison with V
2 (6.85 q ha
-1) and lowest oil yield was recorded in variety V
1 (5.70 q ha
-1). Among different planting geometries, S
1 recorded significantly higher oil yield (8.44 q ha
-1) compared to S
2 (7.33 q ha
-1) and S3 (6.49 q ha
-1), respectively. However, minimum oil yield was recorded in planting geometry of S
4 (5.98 q ha
-1). Similar results were also reported by
Patel et al., (2017),
Shergill et al., (2012) and
Sandhu et al., (2015).
The data interpretation of oil content in different varieties of canola in different planting geometries under transplanting conditions is given in Table 1. Significantly highest oil content was recorded in V
3 variety (42.31%) compared to V
2 (40.17%). However, in variety, V
1 minimum oil content (38.33%) was recorded. Among different planting geometries, significantly higher oil content was recorded in treatment S
1 (42.92%) compared to treatments S
2 (41.34%) and S3 (39.22%). Minimum oil content was recorded in planting geometry S
4 (37.61%). This is in line with the findings of
Wahid et al., (2009),
Singh et al., (2021) and
Shahin et al., (2009).
The data reveals that statistically higher protein content was recorded in variety V
3 (24.72%) followed by V
2 (24.67%) and V
1 (23.48%), respectively. But the data doesn’t varied significantly. Among different planting geometries, statistically improved protein content was recorded in S
1 (24.62%) followed by S
2 (24.58%), S
3 (23.75%) and S
4 (23.69%) respectively but statistically, the data was non-significant. The results corroborated the findings of
Patel et al., (2017) and Wahid
et al., (2009).
The data presented revealed that statistically improved nitrogen content in both seed and stover was recorded in variety V
3 (3.97 and 0.54%) followed by V
2 (3.95 and 0.52%) and V
1 (3.79 and 0.51%) but the data was non-significant. Further, among the different planting geometries, the nitrogen content in seed and stover was statistically improved in S
1 (3.93 and 0.52%) followed by S
2 (3.88 and 0.51%), S
3 (3.79 and 0.49%) and S
4 (3.78 and 0.48%) but the values were non-significant when compared with each other. The results were in agreement with the findings of
Patel et al., (2017) and
Alka, (2019).
The data revealed that among the different varieties, the phosphorus content in seed and stover was statistically highest improved in variety V
3 (0.73 and 0.34%) compared to V
2 (0.72 and 0.32%) and V
1 (0.70 and 0.31%), but the data was non-significant. Among different planting geometries, phosphorus content in both seed and stover was non-significantly. However, satistically improved phosphorus content in seed and stover was realized in geometry S
1 (0.71 and 0.33%) compared to S
2 (0.71 and 0.32%), S
3 (0.69 and 0.30%) and S
4 (0.68 and 0.30%). The results are in line with the findings of
Alka (2019).
The data pertaining to potassium content in seed and stover of different varieties and planting geometries of transplanted canola. Among the different varieties, the potassium content in seed and stover was statistically improved in variety V
3 (0.95 and 1.90%) followed by V
2 (0.94 and 1.88%) and V
1 (0.89 and 1.85%) but the data was non-significant. Statistically improved potassium content in seed and stover was recorded in planting geometry S
1 (0.93 and 1.87%) as compared to S
2, S
3 and S
4 but the data varied non-significantly.
The palmitic acid (16:0) and stearic acid (18:0) contents differed significantly in the different varieties of transplanted canola. Whereas, variety V
3 had recorded significantly higher content of stearic acid and palmitic acid (2.69% and 5.04%) compared to V
2 (2.50% and 4.53%). Significantly lower content of stearic acid and palmitic acid (2.33% and 4.25%) were noticed variety V
1. Statistically higher content of stearic acid and palmitic acid (2.51% and 4.60%) were recorded in treatment S
1 compared to other treatments. The results corroborated the findings of
Alka, (2019),
Farahmandfar et al., (2015) and
Sandhu et al., (2015).
The data pertaining to contents of linoleic acid (18:2), linolenic acid (18:3) and erucic acid (22:1) were influenced significantly by the different varieties of transplanted canola. Among the different varieties, significantly superior content of linoleic acid, linolenic acid and erucic acid (16.39, 7.57 and 1.73%) was recorded in variety V
3 compared to V
2 (15.89, 7.02 and 1.52%). The lower amount of linoleic acid, linolenic acid and erucic acid (14.54, 6.71 and 1.34%) were found in variety V
1. The perusal of data revealed that the amount of unsaturated fatty acids under different planting geometries was found non-significant. Statistically improved content of linoleic acid, linolenic acid and erucic acid (15.72, 7.21 and 1.62%) was recorded in planting geometry S
1. Results agreed with the study of
Alka, (2019),
Farahmandfar et al., (2015) and
Sandhu et al., (2015).
