Agricultural News
Rain and Mild Temperatures Combine to Push Oklahoma Wheat Crop to Higher Yield Potential
Mon, 11 May 2015 05:05:12 CDT
Rejuvenated! That's a word that describes the 2015 Oklahoma Wheat Crop- especially north of Interstate 40. Extension Wheat Specialist Dr. Jeff Edwards calls the recent rains and cooler weather a "real shot in the arm" for the Oklahoma wheat crop. He cautions though- that while the wheat crop has responded state wide to the moisture- so have the foliar diseases that have been hanging around most of the growing season. Edwards says that farmers who did not use a fungicide and have a susceptible variety to stripe rust or leaf rust will likely pay with a reduced yield come harvest.
One OSU bred variety that is in the category of being vulnerable to foliar disease- especially stripe rust- is Ruby Lee. Dr. Edwards pointed out to wheat farmers gathered at the Lahoma Wheat Field Day on Friday the difference seen in the station's Ruby Lee plots that were sprayed versus the plots that were not sprayed. He believes that there could be a twenty five percent yield difference in the treated versus untreated plots.
One variety that appears to be holding up well to the stripe rust invasion- sprayed or not- is Gallagher. Iba is also showing at least some level of stripe rust resistance.
In his discussion of the various wheat varieties that are growing at the Lahoma station- Edwards also highlighted Doublestop CL+. This is the variety developed by the OSU Wheat breeding team- working with BASF as they have incorporated the Clearfield technology- allowing this wheat to be herbicide tolerant to Clearfield which allows control of feral rye- a huge problems in many Oklahoma wheat field.s Edwards says that many farmers have been very pleased with the control achieved using Doublestop- and he expects more acres will be planted to this OSU produced variety this coming fall for the 2016 harvest.
Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays talked with Jeff Edwards at the Lahoma Field Day- you can hear their full conversation by clicking on the LISTEN BAR below. One of the topics they discussed was the potential size of the 2015 Oklahoma Wheat Crop.
Earlier this past week- crop scouts reporting at the Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association predicted an Oklahoma Wheat Crop at 108 Million Bushels. Dr. Edwards told Hays "I've been saying around one hundred million bushels- if this weather continues, if we continue to get moisture, if temperatures stay 85 degrees or below- I think we will surpass that 108 millon bushels." Edwards says that we need another week to ten days of these type conditions to really allow the full potential of this crop to be seen. He adds that we would also need to see drier weather by the end of May and into June to allow the combines to harvest the bushels made by the rains and cooler temperatures.
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