New South Wales farmers Wayne and Brodie Williams local expertise in intensive canola hybrid seed production has been critical to maximising the availability of DG Buller G for the 2025 season.
Australian knowledge and farming know-how have been key features of the development of the new glyphosate-tolerant canola hybrid by Dyna-Gro Seed, from genetic selection at the beginning of the breeding process, through to final seed production via crossing of the hybrid’s two parent lines.
The Williams family business, Kenlock Cropping, regularly undertakes this intensive form of crop production from within their broader commercial irrigated farming operation 50km south of Griffith.
“We’ve been doing seed crops for 15 years, although it’s not every year as there’s a lot of parameters you have to work within,” Wayne said.
“For example, we can’t do a hybrid canola line if there’s a neighbour growing a conventional canola crop within 5km because of the risk of cross-pollination contaminating the seed line.
“The crop rotation on our farm is also a factor – we grow corn, maize, cotton, lucerne and canola – and we can’t use a paddock for hybrid breeding if there’s been another canola crop on that paddock within the last three years.
“We also can’t grow a broadleaf crop in that paddock the season following the glyphosate-tolerant canola.”
The introduction of the Optimum GLY herbicide-tolerant hybrid trait into Dyna-Gro canola hybrids offers commercial growers improved crop safety and enhanced weed control through a wider window of application, helping to maximise yield potential.
The process of canola hybrid seed production also involves a lot more work than a typical broadacre crop.
“Compared to a conventional canola crop, there’s a lot more passes,” Wayne says.
“From ground preparation to finish, we’ll go over that field 15 times.”
That includes having to set up a special shielded sprayer for herbicide application over the female lines, which carry the Optimum GLY herbicide-tolerant trait technology.
This prevents any chemical impacting the male lines, which do not carry the gene, where inter-row cultivation was used instead for weed control.
“The glyphosate didn’t affect the female plants at all. It was really easy to control all the weeds – it’s definitely glyphosate-tolerant,” Wayne says.
Late in the season the male lines are removed and mulched to prevent contamination of the progeny seed collected from the female line.
“The parent lines are quite different, and it’s the hybrid progeny that is collected from the female plants that commercial growers buy, and that seed has to meet purity standards.”
The parent lines of DG Buller G were sown onto two, 20ha plots of red loam soils on raised beds for furrow irrigation.
The use of a precision vacuum planter in a two-row pattern resulted in nearly 100 per cent germination rate, maximising the response of just 32 kilograms of available seed.
Good winter rainfall ensured the crop was sown into a full moisture profile, with irrigation not needed until later in the growing season.
Despite the in-season rainfall and wet winter conditions, the crop showed no signs of disease.
The crop was sown in late May to ensure the availability of bees for the critical pollination process.
The Williams place their hives about 50m apart to fully surround the crop.
“It is extra work, but it is really important. The further away the bees are, the pollination rate gets lower and that is critical in hybrid production.
“The team at Nutrien and Dyna-Gro have been great to work with and we’re really looking forward to doing a lot more of this work in the future.”
