Canola seed sprouting in the pod

[edbaker]

My neighbor and I both have canola seed sprouting in the pod. Noticed the problem 4-5 days ago checking the seed for color change. I didn't expect the welcome rain that central Alberta received to cause that problem, any other ideas that might have caused this problem.

[edbaker]

I am hearing reports of sprouting this year as well .... we saw a fair bit show up about 3 years ago ...

I discussed it with a number of specialists at that time and no one is sure why it happens... It appears to occur in years where we've had significant variability in weather conditions although this does not appear consistent.

It would appear the affected seed may have reached physiological maturity quicker and a bit of moisture may have encouraged germination...

Other speculation suggests there may be a change in the balance of hormones in the seed.... encouraging those that initiate germination and suppressing those that inhibit germ'n ... we can only speculate that variable growing conditions may have triggered this.

Phil Thomas mentioned he has seen it on and off for many years and seldom more than 5% of the crop ...

[rosco]

I was checking my canola trying to stage it and thought i was seeing sprouting as well. In most cases it was simply the little sprig of pod that feeds the kernel. There were a small percentage of kernels that appeared to have sprouted, notice the yellow band around the kernel, where it has burst the seed coat. Feed peas, light barley, feed wheat and sample canola. Might as well have it all!!

[countryguy]

We had the seed busting/sprouting problem also last year in our Hylite 215.Our other varieties weren't affected.I was quite concerned about the grade and level of dockage(crush)that would show up in the sample.The canola,bad as it looked graded a #1 with a dockage of around 2% if I remember correctly.Don't lose too much sleep over it people,its not as big of a problem as you think.