Unimpressed with canola yields? Could be the heat of the night


Canola is a very important crop for the food and feed industries, but scientists are finding high nighttime temperatures may be impacting yield.

“Canola is the third largest source of vegetable oil that humans eat,” says Meghnath Pokharel, a doctoral student in agronomy at Kansas State University. “Similarly, canola meal is the second largest feed meal after soybean meal. The major portion of canola meal in the United States is fed to dairy cows because the high fat content of the meal helps milk production. In addition, it is also used as a source of biodiesel.”



What exactly is the plant doing at night? It’s not sleeping like humans do, but it is carrying out important processes that impact how much oil it can produce. During the night, the plant performs maintenance at the cellular level. This allows it to have enough energy to grow new cells and repair damaged ones.



“High night temperature stress changes different physiological processes that ultimately lead to decreased seed set, grain number, grain filling duration, grain filling rate, and final grain weight in canola,” Pokharel says. That means a lower return for the grower.

In their research, the scientists studied many different aspects of the canola plant. For example, they looked at what time of day the plants flower under normal conditions compared to high nighttime temperatures. The group also looked at the quality of the final seeds.

“The temperatures caused the flowering to shift to earlier hours of the morning,” Pokharel explains. “The timing of flower opening is important for the plant, as it determines aspects related to fertilization and ultimately seed-set.”


“This was the first trial to see the responses of different winter-grown hybrids of canola under high nighttime temperature,” Pokharel says. “The results were very exciting! We’re looking to develop winter canola with enhanced resilience to future warming scenarios.”

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