Agronomy Archives - Page 4 of 6 - Canadian Agronomist

Digging into Research

20 Aug Pre-harvest herbicide and desiccation options for straight-combining canola

Posted at 17:37h in Agronomy

While applying a pre-harvest or desiccant frequently provided drydown benefits in straight-cut canola, not applying a pre-harvest herbicide or desiccant should be considered a potentially viable option, especially for early seeded, reasonably uniform and weed free fields where a hybrid with good pod shatter tolerance...

25 Jun PGRs on malt barley

Posted at 19:01h in Agronomy

Overall, all PGRs reduced lodging in some site-years on CDC Copeland malt barley. Moddus showed the largest reduction in lodging followed by Ethrel, although the Ethrel response was not consistent. Manipulator affect on lodging was inconsistent and quite minor in reducing lodging. None are recommended...

14 May Assessing sunflower seeding and N rate

Posted at 19:16h in Agronomy

An optimum seeding rate between 30,000 and 35,000 seeds/ac for hybrid 63A21 sunflower, and between 40,000 and 45,000 seeds/ac for open-pollinated AC Sierra was determined under no-till cropping systems in Saskatchewan. At N fertilizer prices of around $0.50/lbs., the recommended N fertilizer rate based on...

07 May Maintaining test weight in milling oats

Posted at 15:45h in Agronomy

Seeding early should increase the likelihood of harvesting quality grain before weathering, but this did not guarantee higher yields or higher test weights. Generally, 71 lbs. N/ac resulted in optimum test weights and often produced optimum economic returns. Selecting a variety with genetics for high...

07 May Pea oat intercrop has potential

Posted at 15:41h in Agronomy

Intercropping may be beneficial when the desired crop is field pea, with potential contributions to weed suppression and reductions in lodging. There was no indication of a yield advantage to intercropping peas and oats. If profitability can be derived from reductions in in-crop herbicide use,...

10 Mar Maximizing economic return in oats

Posted at 17:24h in Agronomy

A nitrogen fertilizer rate of 89 lbs. N/ac provided the most consistent economic returns when oat prices were between $2.50 and $3.00 per bushel. Fungicide application did not provide a benefit at any N application rate. In an effort to maximize yield and quality, some oat...

28 Jan Vertical tillage no more effective than managing crop residue with the combine

Posted at 17:55h in Agronomy

Managing flax residue with vertical tillage, tandem disc, or rake and burn did not produce significantly higher yield for three subsequent wheat, pea and canola crops than chopping and spreading straw with the combine. Limited differences in soil attributes were observed, and they were diminished...

12 Dec Pollinators increase yield and mitigate drought impacts

Posted at 21:43h in Agronomy

Pollinators increased yield by promoting earlier flowering and reducing loss associated with drought. However, pollinators were unable to compensate for suboptimal seeding rate or low nitrogen fertility. Get more bang for your buzz. This project consisted of three experiments that investigated whether pollinators could help maintain...

05 Dec Understand the limitations of combine grain-loss monitors

Posted at 15:51h in Agronomy

Existing combine grain loss monitors could not be correlated to an actual grain loss measurement. However they did provide an indication if grain loss was increasing or decreasing with different feed rates. You can’t manage what you can’t measure. That adage from the business world also...

05 Dec Optimal canola seeding rate based on seed size

Posted at 15:50h in Agronomy

This study compared three canola seeding rates (5, 10 and 15 seeds per square foot) with small and large seed size lots from two different hybrids.  It concluded that the most economic and least risky seeding rate to achieve adequate plant stand population is about 10...