Planting Winter Oilseed Rape in a Double-row

On Tuesday, 10 September 2019, we met with doc. Ing. Václav Brant, Ph.D. from the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, and Ing. Jiří Kunt from Selgen a.s., in a field of the Dolní Újezd Farming Cooperative, near the village of Makov, in the area of the Vysoké Mýto Syncline. We assessed the winter oilseed rape planted there in double-rows with a secondary crop on 9 August. Check out the results in the following video clip.

Basic Information on Double-row Oilseed Rape Planting

Establishing the oilseed rape crops in double rows is an interesting and new planting technology alternative and it consists of two basic steps. The first procedure includes deep loosening with the placement of good fertiliser in the soil profile, using a TERRASTRIP ZN 8/75, a chisel plough designed for strip-till cultivation with a spacing of the working parts at 75 cm.

The TERRASTRIP ZN8R/75 chisel plough aggregated with the FERTI-CART FC 3500 fertiliser hopper

The OMEGA OO 6000 FL seed drill equipped with the ALFA DRILL 400 seeding unit

The second step is planting double-rows with a spacing of 25 cm precisely above the strip of the cultivated and fertilised soil profile. The inter-row is 50 cm wide and can be used for secondary crop, which promotes the winter oilseed rape vegetation in the first phase and then freezes or is mechanically weeded out.

Objectives of planting winter oilseed rape with a secondary crop

Provision of some of the nitrogen nutrition of winter oilseed rape on the basis of joint cropping of plants in the pea family.
Elimination of erosion risks after seeding and during vegetation when growing winter oilseed rape in broader rows.
Reduction in nitrogen losses by washing out in the period from the seeding to the start of vegetation in spring.
Reduction in the growth of weeds, diseases and pests in the winter oilseed rape crop thanks to the present secondary crops.

Increase in the food offer for freely living organisms when the secondary crop is present in the winter oilseed rape.
Biological soil cultivation in the autumn with the secondary crop to develop the root system of winter oilseed rape and to support entry of water into the soil.
Sustainability of winter oilseed rape cultivation as the main oil plant in West and Central Europe in the changing perception of the meaning of agriculture in the society.

Winter oilseed rape with secondary crops planted on 9/8/2019

Winter oilseed rape with secondary crops photographed on 4/9/2019

Double-row System in the Vysoké Mýto Syncline

The establishment of double rows of winter oilseed rape with a spacing of 25 cm and an inter-row width of 50 cm eliminates intraspecific competition of the winter oilseed rape and optimises the space for the development of the plan, even when using seed drills that do not allow planting a number of specimens.
The reduction in the number of plants per area unit is related to decrease in the cost of seeds and also increases the plastic potential of line and hybrid cultivars on the occurrence of stress factors.
The double-row with a spacing of 25 cm and less provides good conditions for suppressing the growth of weeds in the double-row.
The concentration of winter oilseed rape rows into double-rows provides an effective use for strip application of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides.

The inter-row distance between the double-rows (50 cm) allows for inter-row cultivation of the oilseed rape crops using a weeding machine for inter-row crops.
The spacing contributes to the regulation of weeds and threshing of the cereal catch crop, as well as to a substantial reduction in the risks related to the occurrence of weed rape.
The inter-rows can be used for seeding secondary crops together with the winter oilseed rape, or for weeding using weeding machines or inter-row cultivators equipped with the strip pesticide application systems after it emerges.
The inter-rows between the double-rows also enable inter-row cultivation of soil with additional fertilisation.