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Wheat producers advised to take advantage of existing soil nitrogen

19Oct

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu

Contact: Dr. Jake Mowrer,  jake.mowrer@tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – As producers across the state are planting winter wheat, it is important they consider crediting soil nitrogen in their management plans, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service specialist.

New study shows nitrogen in the soil can be credited without hurting wheat yields. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

New study shows nitrogen in the soil can be credited without hurting wheat yields. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Dr. Jake Mowrer, AgriLife Extension state soil fertility specialist in College Station, said producers can save money in fertilizer costs by taking advantage of existing soil nitrogen and still make expected yield goals.

Each year producers must determine what and how much nitrogen they will use to fertilize their crop, Mowrer said. His study is determining how soil testing can help producers know how much nitrates their soil already contains so they can credit that to their overall needs.

He said a study in the Hill Country on the effect of reducing nitrogen fertilizer applications to wheat based on soil test nitrates at depths as great as 3 feet was the first of its kind on a cool-season crop.

Previous studies on warm-season crops such as corn, sorghum and cotton suggest nitrates may be credited to 24 inches without affecting yield, Mowrer said.

“We know that crediting nitrogen fertilizer could save an estimated $23 per acre for cotton and $31 per acre on corn and grain sorghum. But what about wheat – how does it respond to this program?”

Working with a producer in Itasca on a project funded through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Southern Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education, he said their goal was to produce 60-bushel per acre wheat. Soil samples were taken to 48 inches prior to planting in October 2015. The soil is Houston black clay.

Nitrogen from the soil was credited in different plots down to 36 inches. The wheat was harvested June 10. The full application of nitrogen performed the same as a credit to 6 inches and 12 inches, Mowrer said.

“Our results indicate that yield in wheat was not affected by crediting nitrate-nitrogen in the soil profile to a depth of 12 inches,” Mowrer said. “However, yields in this study were adversely affected when fertilizer was reduced by crediting nitrate deeper in the profile.”

He said the reason for this may lie in the different efficiencies at which wheat takes up nitrogen already in the soil, as compared to nitrogen that is applied at the surface.

“At 24 and 36 inches, there was a range of 10-60 pounds of nitrogen,” Mowrer said. “Surface application of a liquid fertilizer was less efficient than recovery of existing soil nitrate. This result will be explored more closely in the next growing season.”

Mowrer said soil fertility is the most limiting factor in plant growth, right after water.

“We know the best you can do productionwise is determined by the amount of water. Nitrogen is the input needed for crops right behind water.”

And, he said, the timing of any necessary fertilizer applications once the soil testing is done will affect the growth of wheat.

“We recommend putting out a third of the nitrogen upfront, and then right before jointing put out the other two-thirds,” Mowrer said.

“But remember, we can’t manage the rate unless we know what is in the soil to begin with,” he said. “Voluntary soil testing isn’t as widespread as we would like to see it. Soil testing is a really, really important part of managing our nutrients, particularly for nitrogen.”

Mowrer said his recommendation is to put about 1.5 pounds of nitrogen for grain production or 2 pounds per acre of nitrogen for grass.

“If there is some nitrogen in the soil, we can adjust that rate,” he said. “But you don’t know what is there unless you test it. We recommend you can credit what you find all the way down to 2 foot.”

Another study he is working on is examining the different root systems to see if they make a difference in what nitrogen can be utilized, as well as determining if types of soils matter.

Following up on the results in the previous year’s wheat study will be a top priority in the coming season, Mowrer said.

“Although topdressing with surface applications is the recommended procedure for wheat at jointing, there are new technologies for fertilizer delivery that may hold the potential for increased nitrogen-use efficiency over what we see today with stream bars and tips.”

Texas wheat variety ‘Picks’ for High Plains, Rolling Plains released

22Aug

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contacts: Dr. Calvin Trostle, 806-746-6101, ctrostle@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Jourdan Bell, 806-677-5600, jourdan.bell@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Emi Kimura, 940-552-9941 ext. 233, emi.kimura@ag.tamu.edu
Dr. Clark Neely, 979-862-1412, cbneely@tamu.edu

AMARILLO – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has released its “Picks” of annual grain wheat varieties for the 2016-2017 cropping season in the High Plains and Rolling Plains.

Texas High Plains and Rolling Plains wheat Picks released by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Texas High Plains and Rolling Plains wheat Picks released by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Kay Ledbetter)

Dr. Jourdan Bell, Dr. Calvin Trostle and Dr. Emi Kimura, AgriLife Extension agronomists from Amarillo, Lubbock and Vernon, respectively, along with statewide small grains and oilseed specialist Dr. Clark Neely, compiled the list of Picks.

“Our ongoing Picks criteria include a minimum of three years of data in AgriLife wheat variety trials across numerous annual locations within each region of Texas,” said Trostle. “As we have noted before, a Pick variety means this: Given the data, these are the varieties we would choose to include and emphasize on our farm for wheat grain production.”

The data are derived from High Plains wheat grain testing coordinated by the Texas A&M AgriLife wheat breeding program based at Amarillo. Irrigated and dryland test sites range from Lamesa to Stratford, including a test site at New Mexico State University-Clovis.

Picks are not necessarily the numerical top yielders, he said. Disease-resistance traits such as leaf or stripe rust or wheat streak mosaic virus, or insect tolerance for greenbugs, Hessian fly or Russian wheat aphid are important.

Standability can also be an important varietal trait that is an important consideration for high input production. Considering multiple traits in addition to yield potential enables a producer to better manage potential risk and better position specific varieties for their management, Bell said.

Among the top High Plains Picks are:

– Full irrigation – TAM 113, TAM 114, TAM 304, WB Grainfield, Iba and Winterhawk.

– Limited irrigation – TAM 111, TAM 112, TAM 113, TAM 114, WB Grainfield, Iba, T158 and Winterhawk.

– Dryland – TAM 111, TAM 112, TAM 113, TAM 114, WB Grainfield, Iba, T158 and Winterhawk.

“We initially discussed removing TAM 111 from our Picks list due to a modest decline in recent yields and its susceptibility to leaf and stem rust,” she said. “However, TAM 111 is still a top-yielding variety in our regional variety trials.

“So, for producers, as long as you understand that good management, which will include timely scouting for rusts and treatment if needed, is an important key for TAM 111, then it remains a good choice.”

TAM 114 has good across-the-board resistance to rusts, good straw strength, desirable milling and baking qualities, and also has intermediate resistance to some biotypes of Hessian fly, Bell said. WB Grainfield grain yields are good and key rust resistance is in place.

T158, a Limagrain product, is on the recommended list due to its tolerance to stripe rust under both dryland and limited irrigation.

On the two and three-year “watch list” are Gallagher, by Oklahoma State University, due to its good rust resistance, she said. Denali and Byrd, both from PlainsGold/Colorado State, show good yields and have generated discussion as possible Picks, though susceptibility to rusts is a concern.

“TAM 304 remains a viable choice for true high-input production systems with high irrigation, high nitrogen fertility applications, etc. where producers are shooting for yields at 100 bushels per acre or more,” Bell said.

Kimura said the Picks list for the Rolling Plains region includes Greer by Syngenta; TAM 114, Texas A&M; WB Cedar, Monsanto; Gallagher, Oklahoma State; WB 4458, Monsanto; and TAM 304, Texas A&M. Yields are obtained only from dryland trials in the Rolling Plains.

Bentley and SY Grit are on the “watch list” for the Rolling Plains. Both have moderate to good resistance to leaf and stripe rust and have performed reasonably well in yield trials the past two years. In their first year of testing, Monsanto’s WB 4721 and WB 4515 and Syngenta’s SY Southwind did well across the Rolling Plains in 2016.

She said a more complete discussion of each variety can be found athttp://bit.ly/2bd3PMM, including yield trends from past trials and photos of each variety taken during growing season in the Rolling Plains.

“Pick varieties with a minimum of three years under AgriLife testing in the High Plains continue to yield an average of 7-11 percent better as a group than all other varieties in both irrigated and dryland tests,” Trostle said.

“Though you may have a variety for your production conditions that you really like, we encourage you to include one of our Picks in your cropping. Perhaps a Pick variety that has a specific disease package, which may have been valuable in the stripe rust outbreaks of 2015 and 2016, or relative maturity that contrasts with your current variety would be a good complement to your overall program.”

For further discussion of wheat Pick varieties in the Texas High Plains consult “Pick Wheat Grain Varieties for the Texas High Plains and Eastern New Mexico (2016-2017)” available at http://lubbock.tamu.edu/ orhttp://bit.ly/1PjMAGL. The full report will include the two-, three- and four-year averages calculated for irrigated, dryland, yield and test weight.

More information will be posted by Neely on Picks for the Blacklands, South Texas and Lower Rio Grande Valley onhttp://varietytesting.tamu.edu/wheat/index.htm and titled Wheat Variety Grain Picks—Other Texas Regions.

Multi-County Wheat Tour set May 6 in Taylor, Callahan counties

21Apr

Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu

Contact: Robert Pritz, 325-672-6048, r-pritz@tamu.edu

ABILENE – The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will conduct the Multi-County Wheat Tour beginning at 8:30 a.m. May 6 at the Taylor County variety test plots.

The test plots are located off State Highway 351 on County Road 521, also known as Mesquite Lane.

Robert Pritz, AgriLife Extension agent in Taylor County, said a stellar wheat growing season should make for an exciting and informative tour.

“This season’s optimal growing conditions should really reveal what these wheat varieties can do,” Pritz said. “On the other hand, the abundant moisture may also show us which varieties are more susceptible to the added pest and disease pressures these weather conditions often bring.”

Pritz said the tour and industry-sponsored lunch are free and open to the public. For further information and to RSVP by May 4, call any of the participating AgriLife Extension offices in the following counties: Callahan, 325-854-5835; Jones, 325-823-2432; Shackelford, 325-762-2232; or Taylor, 325-672-6048.

The first stop will include the following topics and speakers:

– Review of the planted test varieties and an overview of the area’s current small grain situation, Dr. David Drake, AgriLife Extension agronomist, San Angelo.

– Fertilizer applications and nutrient use efficiency, Dr. Jake Mowrer, AgriLife Extension soil nutrient and water resource management specialist, College Station.

– Farm Service Agency update, Robert Frost, Callahan County Farm Service Agency executive director.

The second stop, the Callahan County test plot, topics and speakers will include:

– Weed control demonstration and weed management options, Drake.

– Continuation of talk on fertilizer applications and nutrient use efficiency, Mowrer.

The final stop at the Eula Lions Club will include:

– Cover crops and their effect on soil health, Dr. Paul DeLaune, Texas A&M AgriLife Research environmental soil scientist, Vernon.

– Market situation and strategies, Dr. Mark Welch, AgriLife Extension economist, College Station.

– Crop insurance and decision aid tool, Bill Thompson, AgriLife Extension economist, San Angelo.

A Texas Department of Agriculture representative will make a presentation on laws and regulations following lunch.

Three Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be offered.

Hybrid wheat time has come

25Feb

AgriLife Research breeder expects releases within five years

Writer: Kay Ledbetter, 806-677-5608, skledbetter@ag.tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Amir Ibrahim, 979-845-8274, aibrahim@ag.tamu.edu

COLLEGE STATION – There’s growing interest in hybrid wheat and Dr. Amir Ibrahim, a Texas A&M AgriLife Research wheat breeder in College Station, believes the time is right to make it available.

Ibrahim has been working toward the development of hybrid wheat varieties since 2013, but wheat breeders first began looking at hybridization in wheat more than 50 years ago in the early 1960s, he said.

“The price for wheat was so low, and the cost for the hybrid seed was too high at the time,” he said. “Today we have a better handle on the genes and better prices and availability of genomic tools.”

And it is something that is needed, Ibrahim said. Wheat production yield potential has been leveling off and “this is one way to break that barrier.”

The performance of the TAM varieties of wheat developed by AgriLife Research’s wheat breeding team has been improving across the state and into other states with diverse climates, providing a solid base of germplasm.

Under a Monocot Improvement Initiative grant by AgriLife Research, as well as funding from the Texas Wheat Producers Board, Ibrahim is working with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to test more than 600 lines of hybrid wheat in Nebraska and Texas.

Ibrahim explained U.S. corn is a hybrid crop. The hybrid crops have increased vigor over the two parents in yield and other traits. There must be enough hybrid vigor, technically referred to as heterosis, to justify the increased costs of seed and production.

For wheat, past efforts have increased hybrid vigor about 10 percent, but Ibrahim said they want to get that figure in the range of 15-20 percent to make it attractive to producers.

He explained hybrid seed must be bought each year due to inbreeding depression and dilution of vigor associated with growing saved seed, so producers cannot save their seed and replant, as is commonly done now.

In hybrids, the female parent does not produce viable pollen, but is used as a seed plant, Ibrahim said. The male parent has the role of pollinator. Together they have the capacity to combine and express hybrid vigor.

Part of the problem has been the increased cost of seed. There are two systems for producing seed: chemical hybridization agents, which kill the anthers on the female; and the male sterility system, which includes breeding females and males separately and making selections based on the best combination.

The effort now is aimed at developing cytoplasmic male sterile females and male parents by breeding fertility restoration genes into them, he said. A minimum of three fertility restoration genes is needed in the males. This genetic system is very slow.

Hence, AgriLife Research and University of Nebraska-Lincoln are working on developing parents using a chemical system for suppressing pollen development in the females, Ibrahim said.

He said this does not require breeding male sterile genes in the female and restoration genes in the male pools, although both approaches are utilized in Ibrahim’s program.

“For successful hybrids, parents need to be genetically distant to maximize hybrid vigor, and that’s why AgriLife Research is collaborating with UNL, as the two institutions have divergent germplasm,” Ibrahim said. “If you cross same to same, you don’t get the hybrid vigor.”

He said they will continue to try new combinations every year and then will need to test the hybrids for several more years before anything is released.

“Within five years, I hope we can have the first commercially available hybrid seed available for producers,” Ibrahim said.

He said in addition to the field work, his team now has access to medium- to high-throughput genotyping, which will help them map the restoration genes and understand hybrid vigor at the molecular level. They are also screening the germplasm for the floral characteristics and for combining ability.

With the next generation sequencing technology, Ibrahim said they may be able to select for performance traits that can result in higher biomass and yield, drought tolerance, consistent performance, quality, disease resistance and agronomic adaptation, vigorous root system and increased production in low-fertility conditions.

Resisting rust in Texas

9Oct

October 07, 2015

By Rup Chakravorty

Wheat, from breads and pastries to beer and pastas, is an integral part of diets. Farmers produced about 730 million tons of wheat globally in 2014. It serves as the staple food for more than 35% of the world’s population – around 2.5 billion people – according to the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization.

Researchers in wheat field, Texas

Ibrahim and Jackie Rudd in the field at Castroville, Texas. Photo provided by Amir Ibrahim.

But wheat is vulnerable. Among the most damaging diseases that affect wheat crops across the world are rusts. The fungi that cause stem rust, leaf rust and stripe rust belong to the genus Puccinia. These parasites cannot grow without infecting a host plant, and are responsible for some of the greatest destructions of crops in human history.Wheat rusts have a bulls’ eye target over Texas. “It can overwinter here as it doesn’t usually get cold enough to kill it,” says Amir Ibrahim, a professor in the Soil and Crop Sciences Department at Texas A&M University.

The windblown spores of Puccinia can travel great distances and quickly adapt to host plant resistance. Their adaptability makes breeding new resistant cultivars of wheat a priority for researchers like Ibrahim.

Ibrahim and his colleagues have recently released a cultivar of winter wheat – TAM 305 – that is resistant to many of the rust fungi.

“It’s a natural resistance,” says Ibrahim. “We make (genetic) crosses to incorporate the right genes needed for resistance.” Even under optimal environmental conditions for rusts and the presence of virulent strains, plants with strong resistance can do well, he says.

TAM 305 is resistant to stem and leaf rust. Adult plants are resistant to stripe rust as well, although seedlings did show some susceptibility. There may be some symptoms in the field but those symptoms do not spread very fast, and the crop can be harvested without significant loss.

Ibrahim and his colleagues select for durable resistance. This is like building an obstacle course. Instead of having to overcome one major resistance factor, the rust fungi face plants that have a number of weaker, or minor, resistance genes. “It is difficult for one kind of rust pathogen to overcome this kind of resistance,” says Ibrahim.

Tagging wheat plant heads in field

Ibrahim tagging wheat plant heads at Castroville, Texas. Photo provided by Amir Ibrahim.

The benefits of growing resistant cultivars of wheat in Texas spread beyond the state. “It warms up earlier in Texas than in other states, and the germination of the Puccinia spores begins earlier as well,” says Ibrahim. “These spores are then blown by the wind to states like Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, the Dakotas and other wheat growing areas.” If the spread of rusts isn’t controlled in Texas, wheat crops across the continent can be affected.In fact, farmers across North America have been battling wheat rusts for over a century. In 1904, stem rust destroyed more than half the harvest in South Dakota, then considered the wheat center of the world. Three epidemics of stem rust from 1939-1941 destroyed wheat crops in the Yaqui Valley of Mexico. Agricultural scientists such as Edgar McFadden and Norman Borlaug – who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 – have led efforts to breed cultivars of wheat resistant to infection by rusts. But new strains continue to rise and threaten crops across the world.

TAM 305 is now being adopted by farmers in its target area. It has excellent yield and generally good quality for use by bakers and other commercial end users.

One of the challenges breeders face is trying to improve yield and quality while maintaining resistance. “Every time you introduce new sources of resistance, you might bring along other genes that could reduce yield or quality,” says Ibrahim.

With TAM 305 as a parent, Ibrahim is now developing resistant, high quality strains of winter wheat.

The development of TAM 305 resulted from work done by the Texas A&M AgriLife Wheat Improvement Team, USDA-ARS, and various other universities, with collaboration from Jackie Rudd. The Texas Wheat Producers Board and Texas A&M AgriLife Research funded this project.

Ibrahim’s research is published in the Journal of Plant Registrations.

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