Welcome to the Cereals 2008

There’s no better opportunity to see the latest arable research and developments put into farm practice than at Cereals 2008.

The scope of technical content and the calibre of this year’s 90 plus crop plots are hugely impressive. There will be new varieties on display from winter and spring wheat through to barley, oilseed rape and peas; disease resistance developments and comparisons; breeding for low input production; and even ‘mutant crops’ that probe whether the 20t/ha wheat crop is fantasy or potential reality.

In the context of increasingly unpredictable weather and spiraling input costs, Cereals offers a first hand opportunity to assess field performance of agrochemical rates, timings and management options. Highlights include efficient use of nitrogen for different varieties and markets (including biofuel); head to head herbicide and fungicide comparisons; growing maize under plastic; the impact of compaction and heavy rain on soils; and much more.

Let’s talk wheat genetics

Rothamsted’s ‘Tall stories’ plot probes the heart of the current work underway in wheat genetics. Based on the Rht genes (dwarfing or reduced height gene at the heart of the ‘green revolution’) there will be mutant plants on display (ranging from slightly dwarfed to very stunted). The questions surrounding these plots are: “is the current height of wheat optimal for resource use efficiency and yield?” and is the 20t/ha wheat crop a fantasy or a potential reality?

The HGCA will have eight ‘Breeder’s corner’ crop plots showing the latest results from two genetic based projects (wheat and barley) focusing on old versus new variety yields and relative levels of disease control.

Rothamsted will also be discussing new sources of disease resistance, specifically Septoria and Take-all in wheat. The Take-all work is part of the WGIN project looking at diploid wheats. The concept here is that old diploid wheats contained a high natural resistance to fungal diseases, but has not been fully exploited in current breeding programmes. The work asks if these resistance traits could be re-introduced into modern varieties at a crucial time given the increased area of second and continuous wheat.

NIAB will be looking at low input production and novel methods in plant breeding.

Varieties: the new, the not so new and the baked

Nickerson will have 16 new varieties in their crop plots (14 of which are candidates), including six new HGCA Candidate Winter Wheat varieties, of which, Panorama, Walpole and QPlus are selected as potential bread-making varieties, Cassius as a potential biscuit-making variety, and feed varieties Lear and Bantam. Nickerson will also have Buckingham, a new Spring Wheat variety with Group 1 bread-making potential. There will be two new HGCA Winter Barley candidates, Daybreak (selected as potential malting variety) and Karioka (selected as feed variety); plus three new HGCA Spring Barley candidates, Concerto, Berlioz, Virgil (all selected as potential malting varieties). For visitors growing winter oilseed rape, there will be two new HGCA candidate varieties, Emerson and Mallory; and for pea growers, Falstaff a newly recommended marrowfat pea will also be on show.

KWS Ltd will have master baker John Haynes producing bread, biscuit and cake products from KWS UK wheat varieties on the stand for visitors to try. All the varieties in the bakery (except Malacca) can also be seen growing outside in the KWS plots. Come to the stand to sample doughnuts and Chelsea buns from Viscount, the Group 3 which is likely to secure UKS rating for export and above average distilling potential; Try bread rolls from Zircon, the white grained alternative wheat which produces pale coloured flour from milled wholegrain. Or how about Robigus scones, muffins and cookies or French sticks baked from Cordiale, now the UK’s second most widely sown breadmaking wheat. Finally give the wholemeal bread and white rolls from Malacca a try. This group 1 tried and tested variety is very versatile and is used in a wide array of milling grists with continued excellent baking performance in the UK and abroad.

RAGT will be focusing on wheat suitable for early drilling and early harvest and using suitable varieties to reduce workload. There will be seven crop plots, six of wheat and one of spring barley. Varieties in the crop plots will be: Battalion, Gladiator, Marksman, Ambrosia, Mascot, Shogun (new feed wheat candidate for RL) and Toucan (spring barley). The main focus will be on three varieties, Battalion suitable for breadmaking markets and the early sown and second wheat slot, the feed wheat Gladiator and the newly recommended Group 2 breadmaking variety, Marksman, suited to situations where an early maturing crop is needed.

Varieties: Oilseed

Grainseed Ltd will be demonstrating the new rape variety Es Alienor. Hailed as a ‘hi tech, low biomass’ variety, it is just one of four conventional varieties in current candidate HGCA Recommended National Trials, and has been one of the all-round top performers. According to Richard Fenwick, Es Alienor ‘has an excellent set of plant characteristics, including very good resistance to light leaf spot and stem canker’. Combined disease rating is unmatched by any other variety, conventional or hybrid, in HGCA trials. Gross output is similar to that of Castille.

Grainfarmers will be demonstrating new wheat varieties Viscount and Limerick in the context of growing the two varieties as potential premium earners.

Pioneer will be launching two new winter Oilseed rape varieties. The first, PR46W21 is a full Candidate for the 2009 HGCA RL. The second, PR44W22 has been selected as a southern Candidate for the HGCA RL Trials.

Oilseed rape varieties will take centre stage on DSV’s stand at Cereals 2008, with particular emphasis given to the benefits of hybrids such as Flash – the highest gross output variety available.

Varieties: Oats

Senova’s Just Oats stand will discuss oat variety and crop development innovation, demonstrated in growing plots and technical and financial comparisons will be provided. More people are going naked! Increased interest in high energy naked oats had led to increased usage in livestock feed and poultry industry representatives will be extolling their benefits in feed rations. Also, new opportunities that are emerging from the release of set aside land and increase the place for oats in the rotation. Increasing NVZ areas will also open up opportunities for a wider cropping of oats. There will also be marketers will be on hand to take prospective growers through various contracts and trading options.

Soil & Nitrogen Management

Rothamsted will be discussing the RB209 revisions and will have information on how different RL varieties respond to nitrogen and how efficiently they use it. Rothamsted will also have a rain-making machine and soil compaction specialists on site to discuss the impact of heavy traffic and heavy rain on soil dynamics. And the HGCA will be demonstrating the detection of soil nitrogen supply through canopy sensors, the management of nitrogen inputs for current recommended varieties and also nitrogen requirements for wheat being grown for biofuel markets.

GrowHow UK is using its plots to demonstrate the likely need for changes in the timing of Nitrogen applications in winter barley. Recent findings have suggested that current RB209 advice for winter barley may be inappropriate, particularly for two-row barley, where the recommended nitrogen timing of early stem extension may be too late to maximise yield. Two-row barley has fewer potential grain sites so if yields are to be kept high the objective should be to keep as many tillers alive as possible. For six-row barley, which has many more potential grain sites, an approach similar to that for winter wheat ought to pay dividends. In wheat it generally pays to hold back on Nitrogen to keep tiller numbers down to optimum levels. GrowHow is currently funding ADAS trials to explore these theories and to look at optimum N rates in winter barley.
Potash Limited will have an extensive range of crop pots which will show different crops and their specific nutrient deficiency symptoms.

Pests & Disease

Visitors with pest or disease infestations are encouraged to bring along samples to the Central Science Laboratory (CSL) stand for identification. With the resurgence of diseases like Septoria nodorum and the increase in levels of tan spot, the CSL team is heavily involved in identifying changes in disease patterns, virulence and incidence as weather patterns become increasingly unpredictable. CSL will also have a series of crop plots untreated with fungicides so that growers can see the relative varietal resistance to disease in field situations. Plus the hot topic of mycotoxin risk from different Fusarium spp will be debated by CSL’s Phil Jennings; his aim being to help improve the understanding of mycotoxins and Fusarium and the conditions which predispose the different species.

The HGCA will have eight wheat plots: demonstrating up to date information on fungicide performance for wheat growers, plus eight barley and six oilseed rape plots demonstrating fungicide performance on linked to dose response curves on fungicide efficacy and potential resistance issues. There will also be a quiz to increase awareness of pests and predators which will test participants’ ability to differentiate between pests and natural enemies and a new guide ‘Management of natural predators to control pests’ will be also be available as will the Cereal Disease Management Guide

Bayer Crop Science will be bringing a new active ingredient to their portfolio. BAYF869 is a co-formulation of prothioconazole with a ‘new generation’ active ingredient, which significantly extends the disease spectrum of prothioconazole and brings exciting yield-enhancing effects. The product is in demonstration on Velcourt’s site.

The Great Weed Debate

The HGCA will have eight grassweed plots demonstrating their integrated management of herbicide resistance project. The focus will be blackgrass, brome and Italian rye-grass. Dow Agrosciences will be launching a new herbicide and Bayer Crop Science will be talking ‘Life After IPU’ and plan to showcase the new Othello herbicide which is designed to offer growers efficient control of annual meadow-grass and broad-leaved weeds.
Bayer’s crop plots will show low-rate Liberator vs trifluralin and Othello vs IPU/DFF. The plots show AMG and BLW; weeds which formerly presented a major market for IPU products but where growers will be forced to change this autumn due to very limited supplies of IPU. The company’s new BAYF869 is in demonstration on the Velcourt site.

Maize under plastic

Pioneer will have a demonstration of maize grown under film using the Samco System for grain production. An increasing area of Pioneer hybrids is being grown under film using the Samco System in the UK & Ireland. In addition to expanding the area of forage maize in marginal areas this system has the potential to increase the area of maize grown for grain in the UK.

Continuing the maize theme, RAGT will have information on Ixxes forage maize, the French variety suitable for UK growing conditions.

And RW Agriculture has plots which have been commercially planted under plastic as a comparison against the crop planted in the open. They will also use their plots to discuss growing whole crop maize for the biofuels market. The company argues that utilising the plastic for the growing of the biomass means a higher yielding energy crop, an early harvest allowing for a good entrance for first wheat and less soil structure damage.

Crop Plot Exhibitors include:

AICC
Bayer
Belchim Crop Protection
BBRO
British Sugar
Chemtura
CPB Twyford
CSL
Dow
DSV
Elsoms
Frontier/Kings
Glenside
Grain Farmers
GrowHow
HGCA
Just Oats
Monsanto
NIAB
Nickerson
Nutrient Management System
PGRO
Pioneer
RAGT Rothamsted
Rob Wilkinson Agriculture
Soil Solutions
Speciality Fertilizer
Swift Nature
Syngenta
Syngenta Crop Protection
TAG
Velcourt
Wherry and Sons