Amarillo, Texas, USA
August 3, 2009
Blow after blow troubled High
Plains’ wheat crop
This year was a disappointment for most wheat farmers in the
Texas Panhandle, said a
Texas AgriLife
Extension Service specialist.
Drought in the fall and through most of the winter and early
spring resulted in many dryland fields being plowed up, said Dr.
Brent Bean, AgriLife Extension agronomist in Amarillo.
“Conditions were somewhat better north of Amarillo, but good
dryland fields were still hard to find,” he said. “Even
irrigated wheat suffered due to a lack of fall and winter
precipitation.
“And our old nemesis, the Russian wheat aphid, also played a
major role in reducing wheat yield potential throughout the
area," Bean said. "This was probably the worst year for Russian
wheat aphid in the last 20 years.”
The final weather issue in many fields was damage caused by a
late freeze in April, he said. Diseases in general were not a
major problem in 2009, but wheat streak mosaic and triticum
mosaic infection were significant in a few fields.
Bean said lack of adequate fertilization also tended to hurt
wheat yield potential, especially in irrigated fields. Nitrogen
deficiency symptoms were observed in the fall and early winter
in many fields.
In many cases, compost had been applied prior to planting, he
said. But the nitrogen released from the compost was not
adequate to prevent nitrogen deficiency in the wheat crop. It
was also observed, especially in wheat no-tilled behind corn,
that fields were deficient in phosphorus.
“Those fields where phosphorus was applied at planting had a
much better stand of wheat than in similar fields where no
phosphorus was applied,” Bean said. “Care should be taken when
planting late and under no-till conditions that adequate
phosphorus is present.”
Bean said variety trials were planted and harvested at five
locations around the Texas Panhandle and at the New Mexico State
University station near Clovis, N.M. The yield trials are
partially funded by the Texas Wheat Producers Board through
grower check-off funds.
Four irrigated varieties clearly stood out in this year’s
trials. Hatcher, Bill Brown, TAM 111 and Dumas averaged more
than 58 bushels per acre across the five locations, with Hatcher
averaging 69.8 bushels per acre.
Both Hatcher and Bill Brown have Russian wheat aphid resistance,
which likely contributed to these two varieties topping the
trial, Bean said. This is the first year Bill Brown has been in
the Panhandle trials.
“Not only did these four varieties have the highest yield when
averaged across locations, but were in the top 25 percent in
yield in four of the five sites,” he said.
Other varieties that averaged in the top 25 percent were
Billings, T81, Duster, TAM 203, Endurance, and the experimentals
TX02A252 and OK04525. Billings was released this year by
Oklahoma State University, and a decision is expected soon to
release the Texas AgriLife Research experimental TX02A252, which
yielded well in last year’s trial.
Of the nine dryland trials planted, only five were harvested,
Bean said. The others were abandoned due to poor stand
establishment, drought and high variability within a trial site.
In the five trials reported, the top five varieties were easily
identified as Hatcher, TAM 112, TAM 111, TX02A0252 and Bill
Brown.
“Hatcher has proven itself in previous years as a good dryland
variety,” he said. “It performed exceptionally well this year,
averaging almost five bushels more than its nearest competitor,
likely because of its Russian wheat aphid resistance.”
Hatcher and Bill Brown were the only two varieties in the
dryland trials with Russian wheat aphid resistance, Bean said.
Similar to the irrigated trials, Endurance and Dumas also
yielded in the top 25 percent at most of the locations.
“Varieties recommended here are those that have consistently
performed well over at least a three-year period,” he said.
“Those varieties that perform well under full irrigation also
tend be the same varieties that yield well under dryland
(conditions). In our environment, even those varieties grown
under full irrigation are going to be subject to heat stress and
likely some periods of drought.”
Yield data from previous years, variety descriptions, two- and
three-year averages by location, and other information can be
found at:
http://amarillo.tamu.edu/programs/agronomy under
Publications. |
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