Emergence, height, grain yield and oil content of camelina and canola grown in saline media

Crops of CS15 camelina and InVigor 9590 canola, grown under field conditions in Canada’s Salinity Tolerance Testing Facility, were evaluated for plant emergence, height, shoot biomass, grain yield, oil content and composition. The crops were seeded directly into sand tanks flushed four times daily with hydroponics consisting of nutrients and salts ranging in salinity from negligible to severe. Sulphate-based solutions averaging 1.4 (nutrients only), 3.0, 6.0, 10.0, 14.7, 19.9, and 27.0 dS m -1 in electrical conductivity (EC sol ) resulted in respective cumulative emergence of 99.0 to 42.1% for the camelina and 99.3 to 79.6% for the canola and showed statistical differences only at the two highest salinity treatments. Plant height differences between the camelina and the canola increased as salinity increased: from 16% at 1.4 dS m -1 to 60% at 19.9 dS m -1 . Grain yields under salinity relative to the salt-free yield decreased more for the camelina than for the canola at all EC sol -levels. The salinity tolerance index based on the EC sol -value at 50% of the maximum grain yield indicated that the camelina registered less than half (7.4) of that for the canola (18.0). The percentage oil content of the canola oilseed averaged 40% until salinity exceeded 20 dS m -1 , while that of the camelina averaged 35% until 10 dS m -1 , before declining.