Crop watch: Manganese deficiency in barley – Farmers Weekly – Helen Brown
Helen Brown looks at agronomic issues in the North (Cumbria) ...
After a cold and wet February, it seems spring is finally making an appearance and soil temperatures have been rising fast over the past fortnight.
With the increasing temperatures, diseases in winter crops are starting to show. In particular, rhynchosporium is prevalent in winter barley crops, along with brown rust in certain varieties.
It is advisable to consider targeting this at the T0 timing, as barley yields can be severely affected by early disease because it can affect tiller survival, and ear number is crucial for final yield in barley crops.
Manganese deficiency is a particular issue in barley crops at the moment, and is also evident in some wheat crops, especially on light land. It is crucial to get manganese into these crops as soon as possible to reduce the effect on yield. If soils are lifted and puffy, rolling is advisable if conditions permit, as this will help plants access nutrients in the soil.
Wheat disease
Septoria infections in wheat increase in the wet weather and the level of infection varies hugely from field to field. It is important to assess crops thoroughly before deciding on fungicide strategy.
Our Cumbrian trial site is looking well and already providing some interesting observations in terms of disease presence in various varieties. Infections of septoria and yellow rust in the wheats, and rhynchosporium and brown rust in the barleys are present at the site.
Extase is currently the standout variety within the wheats for high biomass and low disease infection at this stage. We are seeing some interesting increases in tiller numbers with Tiros seed treatment on Skyscraper wheat.
The trial site this year will include some field-scale spring barley drilling trials, which I hope will be drilled over the next week. It will compare the farm’s traditional plough and combination drill programme with the Mzuri strip-till option.
This strip-till option will move less soil, improve soil structure and look to improve our carbon balance on the farm, which is a key area of interest at our trial site.
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