Australia
January 20, 2009
For the first time in 2008 the
National Variety Trials
(NVT) conducted five genetically modified (GM) canola trials.
NVT Manager, Mr Alan Bedggood said four Roundup Ready (RR)
cultivars were trialed alongside 22 non GM canola varieties in
an experiment designed to allow comparisons between the
different herbicide tolerance types.
“The RR GM canola trials were conducted at five locations in
Victoria and NSW:
o Victoria hosted three trial sites – located near Wunghnu, Lake
Bolac and Horsham
o NSW hosted two trial sites – located near Forbes and Wagga
Wagga,” Mr Bedggood said.
“As a result of the dry season and
frosts only two trials (Horsham and Forbes) were successful. The
trial at Forbes had a site mean yield of 1.00 t/hectare and the
trial at Horsham had a site mean yield of 0.65 t/hectare.
“Drawing conclusions from one year of trials at only two sites
is fraught with danger of drawing the wrong conclusions.
“There is a high degree of variability of results between trial
sites and seasons. For example, in 2008 the highest yielding
variety in one trial did not top any other trials in that state.
“When choosing a variety, growers should make decisions based on
data from multiple sites and multiple seasons. For GM canola,
this data is not yet available,” Mr Bedggood said.
The National Variety Trials are funded by the
Grains Research and Development
Corporation and are conducted by the Australian Crop
Accreditation System Limited. There were 580 trials at over 250
locations conducted in 2008. |
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