A COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF SINGLE OR MULTIPLE SPRING APPLICATIONS OF PRILLED UREA OR NITRO-CHALK TO WINTER OILSEED RAPE (BRASSICA-NAPUS)

An earlier report of leaf scorch and diminished yield when using large amounts of urea on winter oilseed rape (Brassica napus) was investigated by applying 200 kg N/ha as calcium ammonium nitrate ('Nitro-chalk') or urea as a single dressing or divided in six ways. The 'single-low' variety Mikado (low in erucic acid) was grown in 1986 and was compared with the 'double-low' variety Ariana (low in erucic acid and glucosinolates) in 1987 and 1988. No scorch was seen in these experiments. Yield from rape fertilized with prilled urea was, on average, 98% of that from rape fertilized with ammonium nitrate. The timing and distribution of the fertilizer also had little effect on yield, through yield slightly decreased when part of the dressing was withheld during March. The earlier-maturing variety Mikado always outyielded Ariana except when harvest was delayed by bad weather. When plots were fertilized with urea, the oil content of the seed was a little larger than when fertilized with Nitro-chalk, which compensated for the smaller seed yield, resulting in almost equal oil yield from both forms of N fertilizer. Crude protein content was lower after a large single dose of urea fertilizer but parity with ammonium nitrate was restored by smaller amounts applied on a number of occasions. Neither form nor timing of N fertilizer had any consistent effect on the total glucosinolate content. The incidence of disease was significantly greater in rape given either form of N fertilizer than where none was given, but when downy mildew (Peronospora parasitica) was prevalent on pods there was significantly less infection in plots fertilized with urea than with ammonium nitrate.