BarleyBin Live Recap: Kochia Tips, Variety Insights and Stubble Suggestions
By Mitchell Japp, Research and Extension Manager
Do you have a burning question for a barley researcher? Dr. Charles Geddes, Christiane Catellier, and Dr. Phillip Harder brought some productive discussions to a packed house at Harvest Eatery in Shaunavon in March. We posed some starter questions to get the conversation rolling and the crowd kept it going. If you missed it, you can rewatch the livestream on Twitter/X. Here’s a few tidbits.
- If you’ve got a major kochia problem, what steps would you take mitigate that problem in a long-term drought?
Dr. Charles Geddes, Research Scientist in Weed Ecology and Cropping Systems at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada highlighted the challenges of the kochia plant and some opportunities for control. Kochia is well adapted to many conditions – dry, cold, heat, salinity. It has an advantage in all those conditions, and there are populations resistant to several herbicide groups.
Start management where the problem is worst: Kochia becomes a problem in areas where the crop is not able to be competitive – primarily sloughs or slough rings and saline areas. Because of the competitive advantage that kochia has in those areas, the number of seeds a plant can produce and the tumbleweed characteristic, kochia problems quickly spread from areas where the crop is already in poor condition (and likely losing you money). Starting control in these areas, where the crop is limited expands options for control to include mowing, cutting for feed, strategic tillage, spot spraying, as well as more long-term solutions like planting a crop that can be competitive in those areas, such as barley or even a saline tolerant forage. Dr. Geddes had more to say on kochia management, catch up on the rest by watching the live stream.
- We sometimes hear of barley varieties that outperform the expectations we have from the seed guide – what is behind that?
Christiane Catellier, of Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation (IHARF),got into the rationale behind a project she led (SaskBarley funded a portion) to do a deep dive into the data in the Varieties of Grain Crops / SaskSeed Guide.
The yields achieved in by any variety are dependent on a combination of factors: the variety’s genetics, the environment and management practices. The goal of the regional variety trials, which contribute the data to the SaskSeed Guide, is to minimize variability from the management practices. By growing the trials over multiple locations and for several years, the environmental variability is limited as much as possible. The result is that the seed guide provides the best assessment of the genetic potential of a variety. But, with so much data collected, there is an opportunity to dig deeper and see how a specific variety performs in specific conditions.
Considering the drought conditions in southwest Saskatchewan the past several years, it would make sense to look for varieties that outperform others in hot and dry conditions. Christiane was able to review the data and compare barley varieties performance across a range of environments. As it turns out, most barley varieties are broadly adapted. This means that they will generally have similar relative performance to other varieties regardless of the conditions they are grown in.
For more insights into her research, watch the live stream from the event.
- How much difference does an inch or two of stubble make?
Dr. Phillip Harder, Research Director & Hydrological Scientist at SWATMAPS, shared his research and experiences with tall stubble in some of the work he has done.
The taller your stubble the better: An extra inch of stubble may add up to about 5 mm water equivalent and, it also reduces the evaporative demand. That means that it is losing less water compared to shorter stubble. Taking the extra time to adjust the combine header can be worthwhile in dry conditions by retaining a bit more moisture in the system, both by captured snow and reduced losses. Further steps can be taken with equipment changes – like using a stripper header – to fully maximize snow retention.
This is just a quick summary of one of the two questions I presented each BarleyBin Live presenter with. There were also some great questions from the packed house at Harvest Eatery. Give the full event a listen if you’ve got a chance.