Dormancy and persistence of volunteer oilseed rape

Abstract

When oilseed rape crops are harvested, a proportion of the seeds are left in the fileds. No harvesting method will collect all the seeds from the mature crop plants. Appreciable quantities of rape seeds can be left behind, providing a source of volunteer plants for subsequent crops. These volunteer plants are important because they compete with the following crops, can act as sources of pests and diseases for the next crop or adjacent rape crops and affect gene excape from genetically modified oilseed rpae gives added emphasis to the potential importnace of volunteers and feral raoe derived from shed or lost rape seeds.

The objectives of the project were as follows:

1) quantify oilseed rpae seed losses at harvest
2) investigate genetic, physiological and environmental factors controlling dormancy 
3) study the influence of agronomic factors on persistence
4) model the populatoin-dynamics of oilseed rape