Evaluation of Brassica carinata A. Braun in four marginal areas, preliminary results of the SOBIMA project

The results of a study on Brassica carinata A. Braun, genotypes CT 204, in semi-marginal areas of southern Italy are shown in this paper. The research was carried out in three sites of Apulia region, Alberobello -Murgia of Bari (S1), Troia - Sub Apennine Dauno, Foggia (S2), Monteroni - Area of Salento, Lecce (S3) and one site of Basilicata region, Matera - Hill Materana (S4). The B. carinata in all trial areas was submitted to different doses of nitrogen fertilization, no nitrogen supply, low doses of 50 and 60 kg N ha-1 and high doses of 100 and 120 kg N ha-1. The S2 and S4 sites were subjected to minimum and conventional tillage and in the S3 site, two sowing densities of 50 and 100 plant m2 were used. The site with the highest seed yield was S4 site (3.2 t ha-1) under conventional tillage in interaction with organic fertilizer and with or without mineral nitrogen addition. In the S1 site with the application of 100 kg N ha-1, although the marginality of the site due to shallow soil layer, seed yield was 1.8 t ha-1 and there was the highest percentage of oil content (41%). In the S1 site, the effects of nitrogen fertilization were more noticeable which determined increases in seed yield and oil content proportional to the increases in N doses. The response of B. carinata to the two soil tillage methods was different in the two sites, minimum tillage increased seed yield in S2 while conventional tillage determined an increase in seed yield in S3.
Proceedings of the 20th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 18-22 June 2012, Milan, Italy, pp. 639-646