Take your wheat production and management to the next level

By Doug Rich

NEXT LEVEL--Dr. Jeff Edwards, Oklahoma State University Assistant Professor of Small Grains, examines a wheat sample after his presentation at the Small Grain Solutions seminar in Clinton, Okla. Dr. Edwards outlined ways for producers to take their wheat management to the next level. (Journal photo by Doug Rich.)

As wheat prices reach historically high levels, producers are looking for every yield advantage they can find. Speaking at the Small Grain Solutions seminar in Clinton, Okla., Dr. Jeff Edwards explored ways for producers to take their production to the next level.

After seeing the success of corn and soybean production in this country, the first thing many wheat producers think of as a way to increase yields is biotechnology. Dr. Edwards, Oklahoma State University (OSU) small grains specialist, said the wheat industry has missed out on the biotech boom to a certain degree.

"We have not seen the big increases in average wheat yields as we have in corn and soybeans," Dr. Edwards said. "People think that we are missing out quite a bit by not having biotech in wheat."

Although Dr. Edwards said he is pro biotechnology, he said it has been over exposed in some areas. Biotechnology is a very useful tool for breeding new varieties, especially if you are dealing with qualitative traits, Dr. Edwards said. Flour color and herbicide resistance are examples of qualitative traits. A single gene usually controls these traits, which makes them easier to develop.

Quantitative traits, like yield, are more difficult to work with because several different genes are involved and they all have to come together in a complex way to affect yield.

Dr. Edwards compared developing qualitative traits to turning a 4020 John Deere tractor into a hotrod-pulling tractor.

"In the right hands with the right expertise and quite a bit of work, we can make this happen," Dr. Edwards said.

Qualitative traits, on the other hand, are like taking a B John Deere and dropping in a 3208 Caterpillar engine to make it into a pulling tractor.

"Even if we manage to mount the engine on the frame, there is still a lot of work to do," Dr. Edwards said. "There are a lot of weak links in the system."

"Introducing one gene on quantitative traits usually does not do the trick," Dr. Edwards said. "There is always another link in the system that is weak that holds us back."

It is important to do the background work with biotechnology, particularly with the relationship between correlation and causation. Dr. Edwards said two items can be highly correlated but it does not mean that one causes the other.

"It is the same way when we are looking at genetic resources," Dr. Edwards said. "Maybe we find a gene that is highly correlated to a single trait but, without field-testing, that is all it is. Traditional plant breeders are still very much in demand."

By not being part of the biotech boom, Dr. Edwards said, wheat producers are missing out on easy and effective weed control, easy and effective insect control, and a lot of dollars flowing into the wheat industry.

"Since we don't have biotechnology in wheat, we don't have utility patents and, as a result, we don't have breeding companies involved in wheat," Dr. Edwards said. "We don't have the heavy investment lie we see in corn and soybeans."

"We are not missing out on pie-in-the-sky things like wheat that grows with no nitrogen," Dr. Edwards said. "That is not going to happen. Maybe we can have plants that are more efficient with nitrogen but, as far as getting away from plants that can grow without nitrogen fertilizer, it is not going to happen."

Wheat that can produce a bumper crop even in a drought is another pie-in-the-sky idea. Dr. Edwards said it would be possible to identify a variety, through biotechnology, that is more drought tolerant. A drought tolerant variety might only suffer a yield reduction of 6 percent during a drought, while other varieties in the same area suffered yield reductions of 10 percent.

Besides biotechnology, producers can increase wheat yields through better management practices. Crop rotation, fertility, precisions, timeliness, moisture management, insect control, weed control, disease control, lodging control, harvest management, and variety selection are all yield building factors. Dr. Edwards said the big thing hurting yields in Oklahoma is management, for the most part.

Precision and timeliness are at the top of this list. The difference between success and failure is about five to seven days.

"Never underestimate the importance of timeliness," Dr. Edwards said. "Our lack of emphasis on timeliness may be one reason that rotational crops have not worked out too well in this state."

If something is preventing you from making timely application, then change it. Dr. Edwards said if you couldn't get out there to do it yourself, hire someone else to do it. A good crop scout will make money for you time after time.

"A product costs the same, whether precisely applied or not, but the benefit differs," Dr. Edwards said.

Many farmers are considering using a fungicide this year for the first time. The price of wheat makes this an economically feasible option. The key is early application with the correct amount of product.

"Yield reduction from foliar disease occurs early in the season," Dr. Edwards said. "Once the flag leaf is out, or just poking out through the boot, that is the time to put on the fungicide."

The amount of water used with fungicides is an important issue. Fungicide labels state that five gallons is the minimum. Ground application rigs can apply fungicides with up to 15 gallons of water. However, many producers use aerial application of fungicides and pilots typically only use two gallons of water.

"If we drop down from five gallons to two gallons, the coverage drops down to 2 percent." Dr. Edwards said.

Dr. Edwards told producers to push for the five gallons rate if using aerial applications of fungicides.

When it comes to fertility management, Dr. Edwards said producers have two options: the first option is to put plenty of product out there and hope for the best; the second option is to use tools like soils tests, nitrogen rich strips, or sensor-based programs to determine the best rate.

"Nitrogen and DAP are expensive but they still offer some of the best return on investment, Dr. Edwards said. "Make sure you have plenty out there and maybe a little on top of that amount."

Dr. Edwards said management means wise use of dollars rather then more dollars.

Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or e-mail at richhpj@aol.com.
By Doug Rich

Cropping specialist sees problem with $12 wheat

By Larry Dreiling

AGRONOMY VS. PRICES--Dr. Drew Lyon tells producers there can be a problem with $12 wheat—farmers may be tempted to abandon their crop rotation system. Lyon is the dryland cropping systems specialist at the University of Nebraska's Panhandle Research and Extension Center at scottsbluff. (Journal photo by Larry Dreiling.)

While $12 wheat is a nice thing, a high-priced crop brings agronomic problems, according to Dr. Drew Lyon, dryland cropping systems specialist at the University of Nebraska's Panhandle Research and Extension Center at Scottsbluff.

Lyon spoke during the Sidney, Neb., stop of the fifth annual Small Grain Solutions tour.

"While there are good things that come with high-priced wheat, there might be a problem with the concept from an agronomic perspective," Lyon said.

With the assistance of research by UNL agricultural economist Paul Burgerner, Lyon described returns to producers in reduced tillage wheat-fallow rotations as far outpacing returns generated by adding other crops, such as corn, sunflowers and grain sorghum into a rotation with wheat.

"What pops out at you is how good wheat fallow looks. When I came to Scottsbluff in 1990, there was little other than wheat-fallow around. I have been trying since then to get farmers to intensify and diversify their cropping systems."

Crop rotations work

Lyon noted the work of Dr. David Baltsenberger, a former Scottsbluff center colleague, who did research on a number of crops, including amaranth, proso millet, safflowers, and different kinds of forages as alternatives to wheat-fallow.

"We have quite a few people in this area growing proso millet, corn and sunflowers, but with these high prices, a lot of people are thinking they need more wheat in their program and are considering going back to wheat-fallow," Lyon said.

"You know that's a horrible thing to do agronomically. As an agronomist, I can understand why you do it. Just don't do it three years in a row. In that third year it can get awful. You get diseases and weeds and all kinds of problems."

When Lyon arrived at Scottsbluff, he said he saw problem weeds, like jointed goat grass, downy brome and volunteer rye.

"All three are annual grasses and all grow very well in a wheat-fallow system. Over the next few years we looked at ways to address these problems. We performed an eight-year study of various rotations," Lyon said. "Basically by taking winter wheat out of the rotation for two years, we didn't completely eradicate downy brome but we got it to very low levels. The same thing happened with feral rye.

"Just by adding one summer crop to our rotations, we can get out of that cycle."

As this research was going on in the 1990s, two things happened that assisted in the research to show it to be profitable: Freedom to Farm provisions of the 1995 farm bill and it rained.

"It helped those summer crops work out," Lyon said.

Another pest working its way across Nebraska is the wheat stem sawfly, unless producer act with heavier tillage to destroy the stalks where the harbor in winter. Wheat curl mites also are very active in some fields.

"The more wheat you plant on last year's wheat ground, you're going to have more problems than the wheat stem sawfly. Whenever you can, destroy the stalks," Lyon said. "Also, in the last few years, we've had a lot of tan spot. It's one of a whole list of residue-borne diseases.

The list includes septoria leaf blotch, septoria leaf and glume blotch, take-all, chephalosporium stripe, root and crown rot and seeding blights.

"All of these do well when you turn a lot of wheat residue."

Lyon suggests a series of management practices on wheat to prevent residue-borne diseases. This series is headlined by crop rotation.

"You want to seed your wheat following a non-host crop," Lyon said. "You don't want to be seeding wheat that has had wheat on it recently. You want at least two years between wheat crops. That's where wheat-fallow and especially wheat-wheat gets to be an issue."

He also suggests planting resistant, locally adapted cultivars, adjust seeding dates to prevent wheat streak mosaic, control weeds better, bury crop residues and apply fungicides.

"Farmers in this part of the country aren't used to using fungicides," Lyon said. "Generally you don't see to many of them but you will see more use of them as we leave more residue. In areas where there are light soils, where there is a lot of stubble mulching and no-tilling, we can always find some diseases because of the residue they carry over in wheat-fallow rotations."

Lyon added that conservation tillage mixed with rotations work well, especially in the last few years where drought has affected cropland on the High Plains.

"The drought we've recently experienced is actually longer and drier than the Dust Bowl era," Lyon said. "I don't see as much of it as we used to because we are leaving more crop residue. One way to control diseases and weeds is to till, but the result is you see more soil blowing and I don't think we want to go back to that."

Instead, Lyon suggests moving toward a more intensified cropping system utilizing conservation tillage.

"The benefits of conservation tillage are many," Lyon said. "Even though we have a fair system of fallow, we still lose a fair bit of moisture if we don't use conservation tillage. It can be up to 60 percent of stored moisture."

The best thing producers can do, Lyon says, is to always have a working crop that uses the water in the soil.

"In a fallow system, you can actually lose more water in a year's time than you store it in some cases. Why not use that stored water to grow a crop and still store a little moisture," Lyon said. "Evidence shows that by growing just one summer crop you can get a nice bump in yields on wheat and a nice bump of biomass."

Lyon thinks the benefits of an intensified cropping system includes increases in annualized grain yield that mean increased net incomes. Such a system improves the physical and chemical properties of the soil, increased weed and disease control, and increased water use efficiency. It reduces the risk of total crop failure.

"You can do a lot of good things for your soil and increase your yields through intensive cropping," Lyon said. "It's a tough sell, though, when you got wheat at $12."

Larry Dreiling can be reached by phone at 785-628-1117 or by e-mail at ldreiling@aol.com.