Nitrogen rate Seed Yield

Central Oregon is the major hybrid carrot seed production area supplying the domestic fresh market carrot industry. Hybrid carrot seed yield is low, typically less than 500 lb/a. However, the price paid the grower is $8 to 15/lb to the grower. Relative small changes in yield make a substantial difference to income, often making the difference between break even and a substantial profit. Nitrogen is needed for carrot seed production and has been given credit for both increasing and decreasing seed yield. No record of replicated N rate evaluation is known for Central Oregon. Our objective was to measure carrot seed yield when 0, 50, and 90 lb N/a were spring-applied to a commercial field of Nantes type hybrid seed carrots, following the standard fall application of. Three replications of the nitrogen rates were applied to four rows (15 ft wide) 1325 ft long areas of a commercial field near Madras, Oregon in a completely randomized design. Cleaned seed yields are given in Table 1