Situation More than 63% of the petroleum we need daily is imported, with steady increases projected. Our national security is threatened by this growing dependence on foreign oil, and we need to reverse the trend. A key segment of the nation's farmers in the Central High Plains region of the western U.S. (with access to nearly 6 million marginal dryland acres) can play an important role in this effort if provided with the right tools and economic incentives. Those tools and incentives involve the development and broad deployment of new, dryland oilseed crops to support biofuels production. Important early work has been done by Montana State University, Blue Sun Biodiesel, and other universities and growers in semiarid western states. Although the work is preliminary, the data obtained indicates it is necessary and worthwhile to conduct the next phase of R&D in multiple locations throughout this region to 1) establish camelina's broad-based feasibility as a major new energy crop, and 2) identify the best management practices (BMPs) that farmers will need to produce the crop profitably. Blue Sun and its collaborators at CSU, UNL, and KSU have obtained key preliminary data on camelina's water use efficiency, herbicide efficacy, and best management practices. Verification of camelina's superior water use efficiency, its primary benefit over other oilseed producing crops, is needed. And demonstration of herbicide efficacy is needed to begin the process of registering herbicides to effectively control weed populations. Purpose This project addresses the USDA's "high priority" focus upon pursuit of renewable energy opportunities. Validation of camelina as a practical, low-cost energy crop and high-value rotational crop candidate in the Central High Plains will support the nation's fast growing biodiesel industry while providing new economic opportunities for farmers. OBJECTIVES: Prove the feasibility of establishing camelina as a commercially viable source of biodiesel feedstock on the semi-arid Central High Plains. Blue Sun proposes to address two main objectives: 1) identify an effective camelina weed-control package for the Central High Plains, and 2) demonstrate practical camelina yields in this dryland region based on limited and highly variable rainfall. The experienced Blue Sun R&D team and its expert collaborators will assess herbicide efficacy and camelina tolerance via a protocol involving pre plant/pre emergence, post emergence, and pre harvest herbicide applications. They will also investigate the potential for commercial camelina production across a range of water-availability profiles consistent with the region. APPROACH: Camelina Herbicide Research Small, replicated plot research in multiple locations is critical to obtaining labeled herbicides for weed management in camelina. That work will be conducted in Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado to determine the level of injury caused by selected herbicides and the effectiveness of weed control. There are three application timings that will be evaluated 1) pre plant/pre emerge, 2) post emerge and 3) pre harvest. Final reports will include all data collected, including stand counts, flowering data, yield, oil content, weed-control ratings and visual crop injury ratings. If an herbicide causes significant injury such as stand reduction, emergence failure, or yield reduction then that herbicide will be eliminated from the list of registration candidates. Reports will be provided to Blue Sun. Dr. Rife and Mr. Foster will complete the analysis, prioritize herbicides for registration, identify initial registration approach and prepare a Phase II work list. Gradient Irrigation Variety Trial A gradient irrigation study must be conducted at a site in addition to Akron, CO (the site of previous camelina water use research) to represent regional variability. Dr. Charlie Rife will conduct the gradient irrigation variety trial. All research plots will be hand-weeded. In addition to increasing the regional reliability of the water use function for camelina, Blue Sun will be able to evaluate available camelina germplasm. Normally, variety trials are conducted under optimal conditions and the top-yielding lines are advanced. However, in this dryland farming region, production reliability under less than optimal water availability is more important than production potential. This gradient irrigation study will evaluate 20 promising lines from Blue Sun's breeding effort, MSU, and European lines. This may result in the identification of a camelina line that is better suited to dryland production than the top-yielding line under full irrigation
