In the latest issue of Better Crops, Dr. Stewart Brandt and colleagues of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Canada studied the planting requirements of hybrid and open-pollinated varieties of Canola in "Management of High Yielding Canola Cultivars." To maximize seed yield, the article states, high yielding canola cultivars should be receiving more fertilizer than is currently being applied.

By monitoring growth changes with changes in planting conditions, researchers found that both cultivars responded consistently to seeding rate, nutrient level, and fungicide, despite the hybrid producing greater seed yield than the open pollinated cultivar. However, tests on the data showed that seed yield could still be increased by applying more fertilizer.

Article in PDF format:
http://www.ppi-ppic.org/ppiweb/bcrops.nsf/$webindex/11B2D69D32D9CEE585256F9E0020955E/$file/05-1p12.pdf