November 5, 2013

Agronomist Notes

Hello Reader

There is at least eight inches of snow on the ground so it must be time for AgriTrade and the busy conference and meeting month of November. I’ll be attending AgriTrade on Wednesday-Thursday this week- text me if you’re around. Our FAST 8100 side dress toolbar will be on display this year so stop by and take a look.

Urea prices remain flat with a prediction that prices may stay flat until spring with excess urea production in the world. Soil test results are coming in steady now and not surprisingly, nitrogen levels are sitting between 20 and 35 lbs/ac in the top 24 inches on average. Canola seed sales are ramping up with the top varieties getting scooped up quickly so be sure to book soon to get what you want.

This week we’ll look at a few new resources to help you make the transition to controlled traffic farming. Next, we’ll look at a trial comparing fungicides in field peas and emphasize the need for multi-modes of action. Last, we’ll look at the results of a high yield barley trial. We’ll finish with technical grain market news.

Have a great week.

Photo: A wintery day along CN Railway near Three Hills, AB. Photo credit: Dan Campbell

New resources for CTF

There are a lot of Q&A’s about controlled traffic farming like setups, design, benefits, economics as well as challenges. I thought I should provide an update on a few of the top resources available online today.

Controlled Traffic Farming Alberta
This is a new CTF Alberta website which provides you with up to date reports on trials, projects, economics and resources available to everyone.

CTF Manual: Northern Agricultural Catchments Council
This pdf document from Western Australia is a technical manual on CTF which outlines everything from design, layout, agronomy, benefits to economics and resources. Very informative!

A Practical Overview of CTF Systems – Southern NSW, Australia
This document outlines CTF, what it is, what the research says and gives case studies of 9M, 10M and 12M systems. An excellent read.

Controlled Traffic Farming Fact Sheet – GRDC Australia
This fact provides a quick overview on transition costs to move to CTF, barriers to adoption, field layouts and guidance options. It also has some names and emails of potential resources.

Controlled Traffic Farming – Nuffield Report Steve Larocque
This handy report outlines all the facts, figures and research I compiled over two years on CTF. It also has links to resources and research on CTF.

Field peas & fungicide use

Many long time pea growers have been applying a fungicide at early flower to help control mycho/ascho complex. In the beginning there were standability improvements from fungicide applications but with limited fungicide options, most growers used Headline (pyraclostrobin) each year. If pea growers continue to use fungicides they must look to fungicides with multiple modes of action to reduce strobilurin resistance.

Let’s take a look at a recent fungicide trial from a Syngenta cooperator looking at four fungicides available on the market. The trial consisted of an untreated check (80.5 bu), an early application of Bravo followed by a standard application of Quit at early flower (82.5 bu). Next, a single application of Quilt (81.2 bu) was made and an application of Priaxor DS (83.2 bu), both at early flower and finally an application of Headline (78.2 bu).

Bravo: Chlorothalonil
Priaxor DS: Pyraclostrobin + fluxapyroxad
Quilt: Azoxystrobin + propiconazole
Headline: Pyraclostrobin

In this trial the highest gross margin was the untreated check, which ironically is a good reality check. The highest yielding treatment and the second highest gross margin was Priaxor DS followed by Quilt, then Quilt + Bravo and finally Headline, which was the lowest yielding and lowest return in the trial. There was an 8% yield difference between the highest and lowest yielding check so we should keep in mind, this site likely didn’t have high disease pressure.

Priaxor DS is relatively new to the pea market and performed very well in this trial. Priaxor offers two modes of action and fits well from a disease resistance standpoint. On the flip side, Bravo is an undervalued fungicide in peas, performs well in combination with Quilt and is a definite option to manage disease resistance. In fact, I wonder if Syngenta could look at a combining Bravo & Quadris to create a competitive product against Priaxor DS. (Hint, Hint.) Quilt also performed very well as a stand alone in this trial but not quite as well as Priaxor. The propiconazole in Quilt may not have the edge that fluxapyroxad has in Priaxor DS.

There are two take home points from this trial. One is to be aware of fungicide alternatives outside of the typical Headline, one mode of action approach. Headline is a good product but it must be used appropriately to avoid disease resistance. Second, we can’t forget the highest net return was the trial with no fungicide at all, so be sure to put checks in your fields to measure what is and what isn’t making you money. SL

High yield barley trial

A lesson in split N application

The results from our high yield barley trials are slowly coming in with the first one coming from Starland Colony, near Morrin, AB. This trial was a last minute trial where we decided to go ahead with the trial days before seeding. The significant lessons learned in this trial were PGR rates and split applications of nitrogen. All weights were measured across a weigh scale along with yield maps collected. Here are the details.

Business as usual (80 acres)
Fertilizer: 90-30-0-0 @ 240 lbs
Variety: Austenson 2-row feed
Seeding rate: 150 lbs/ac
Plant density: 26 ft2
Seed Treatment: Raxil WW
Herbicide: Axial + Refine
Folicur EW: 200 ml/ac
Yield: 113 bu/ac
Input Cost: $167.60/ac
Net Profit: $333.34/ac

High yield treatment (80 acres)
All treatments in business as usual plus:
Ethrel PGR: 250 ml/ac
UAN (28-0-0): 20 gal/ac or 60 lbs/N/ac
Input cost: $215.10/ac
Yield: 133 bu/ac
Net Profit: $364.25/ac

Rainfall: 10 inches growing season, 4 inches stored soil moisture
9.5 bu/inch of moisture

Observations

Ethrel PGR This is the fourth year I’ve been using Ethrel and I’m a lot more confident using this growth regulator. Typical application rates vary between 300-400 ml/ac. These rates result in a serious reduction in plant height, which opens up the crop canopy and encourages late tillering. We dropped the Ethrel rate to 250 ml/ac and it shortened the stems marginally but kept the crop standing. This is encouraging as we can now apply these rates to malt barley, which is sensitive to late tillers and the down grading effect from green kernels in the sample.

Top dress UAN We applied 20 gal/ac of 28-0-0 using John Deere streamer nozzles at 5 leaf 3 tiller. We had 90 lbs/ac of nitrogen applied at seeding so we tried to top up the crop with nitrogen prior to pollination. We did see a yield increase of 20 bu/ac or 17%, which is very close to what I’ve averaged in other trials. The two pass liquid 28-0-0 system works but I do think we’re failing in one area and that is rate.

I know that applying 90 to 100 lbs/ac of nitrogen on fields with 30 to 40 lbs/N in the soil can yield 90 to 100 bu/ac on average. By applying 60 lbs/N as UAN we should expect an extra 40 bu/ac theoretically. The problem lies in the nitrogen demand curve. There is a point on the curve where barley will require more nitrogen to produce that extra bushel for every pound of nitrogen. In my trials it seems we can easily get the 115 bu/ac mark but the top dress nitrogen applications yield half of what I would expect given the nitrogen we apply and the available moisture. Instead of 1.5 lbs/N/bu perhaps we need 3 lbs/N/bu for any yield above 115 bu/ac. This will add cost and may prove uneconomical but something we need to keep in mind in next year’s trials.

In the end, growth regulators and top dress nitrogen are the two inputs that seem to push barley yields consistently into the 130+ bu/ac range. The PGR’s give us the comfort and flexibility we need to apply higher rates of nitrogen without laying the crop down. We’re 26% away from reaching our target of 180 bu/ac. I may end up flipping my nitrogen strategy around and start with 60 lbs/N at seeding and hit it with 120 or 140 lbs/N/ac at tillering. Now, I only have to wait 7 months to do it all over again.

Big thanks to Peter Stahl at Starland Colony for working with me on this project. SL

Photo credit: Steve Larocque

Advanced Agronomy Conference

Don’t miss it!

Our 6th annual Advanced Agronomy Conference will be held in Leduc, AB on November 19 and 20, 2013. We have a great line-up of local and international speakers including Graeme Jones from New Zealand, Blake Vince from Ontario and Andrew Newall from Australia. We’ve put together leading edge topics and content you won’t find at a typical agronomy conference. Be sure to register today!

Topics & Speakers