Harvest: A season in review – Crop Production Magazine

This season has presented challenging conditions for growers with talk circulating about whether the wet autumns and dry springs will become the norm, but there are still positives and key lessons to take away, say experts.

Although irregular establishment may explain the variability in wheat yields seen this harvest, Hutchinsons’ Neil Watson observes that there are a number of other lessons emerging which could help to clarify.

“What’s most evident so far this harvest is the significant variability in yield with some crops performing well considering the circumstances, while others have barely reached half their potential – and occasionally within the same field,” he says.

“The trend seems to be better on freer draining soils which have maintained their yield capabilities, albeit with no record yields. Conversely, the heavier and poorer structured soils have seen their potential plummet.”

So much so, Neil believes soil drainage and root development to be the more significant issues. “The ratio of 20:1, the final above ground biomass production to below ground root production tells you everything. If you hinder root development, the knock-on effect on biomass will be all too evident. The effects of temporary root drowning were not only limited to the winter – in some parts of the country heavy rain late on in the season, just as the crop approached ripening, caused premature senescence.”

This lack of biomass was all too apparent from early spring onwards, where wet soils impeded uptake of nitrogen at a vital stage, while the lack of sunshine has significantly limited biomass production, particularly early in the season at the construction phase, he says. “The latter stages of the season didn’t help with grain fill either, subsequently bushel weights have suffered. Elevated temperatures towards the end of the growing season also meant accelerated leaf aging leading to negative effects in the grain filling phase.”

However, he feels that in general, the lower temperatures through most of the critical spring/summer growth period helped reduce stress on crops.

Neil also believes that blackgrass control, or lack of it, will have impacted yield. “Not because of poor residual control in the autumn, quite the contrary, but because the wet spring surviving plants were able to negate the effects of the autumn residuals.”

Disease played a key part in most areas as well, he notes. “Septoria pressure was high in the early part of the season, continuing through the critical months of April and May. The early drilled crops were at the greatest risk with many growers struggling to keep leaf two clean.

“Both yellow and brown rusts were a major risk in susceptible varieties this season – once in the base of the crop, fungicide programmes struggled to hold the disease at bay beyond three weeks,” says Neil. “And fusarium and ergot were more prevalent this year than most, primarily because of a wet flowering period.”

He also believes that partly because the wet soils delayed applications, BYDV was more common among winter than spring crops this season. “The wet winter didn’t help with take-all in cereals this year either, it’s even shown through in first cereals.”

“When you consider all of the issues that the season has thrown at crops, it’s no wonder we’re seeing a range of yields across farms and even fields,” he adds.