Screen Oilseed Rape (<i>Brassica napus</i>) Suitable for Low-Loss Mechanized Harvesting

• Main Authors: Yiren Qing, Yaoming Li, Lizhang Xu, Zheng Ma
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
• Series: Agriculture
• Subjects: rape pod; shatter resistance; agronomic characteristics; low-loss harvesting
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/6/504

The main reason for the massive loss of rapeseed in mechanized harvesting is the mismatch between the harvester requirements and the pod shatter resistance and plant branching characteristics. Low pod resistance, entanglement caused by excessive branches, and inconsistent pod maturity are primary mismatch problems. However, studies on rape characteristics by integrating agricultural machinery and agronomy are limited. A total of 15 varieties were planted for research from 2016 to 2018. In this paper, the Two-Degree-of-Freedom (2-DOF) collision method was adopted to evaluate the pod shatter resistance taken from the field, and the plant agronomic characteristics and their correlation were investigated. In 2020, a screened variety of C6009 with higher shatter resistance and suitable plant features for mechanized harvesting was planted in large areas and harvested by machines for verification. The test results demonstrated that the compact plant varieties with high branches might be more favorable for yield and shatter resistance. The field harvest loss of the screened variety was significantly less than that of the control group. It provides a reliable reference for agronomic experts in terms of rape variety improvement and agricultural machinery experts regarding the optimization of rape harvesters.