An update on current research activities has been a feature of the national tillage conference over the past few years. This gives reasons for optimism, as well as warnings of current and future problems.
Modern farming has to cope with increasingly unpredictable weather, geo-political events, volatile markets, etc. While we have little or no influence over any of these things, they make it increasingly important to influence the things we can.
Breeding for plant resilience
At the tillage conference, Ewen Mullins from Teagasc made a very interesting presentation on breeding for resilience. The more resilience we have in our varieties – in respect of environmental factors – the less they should suffer when such conditions occur.
This appears to have happened already in other parts of the world where regions that were historically hit by hot/cold or wet/dry conditions now seem to be able to cope much better and go on to produce big crops.
Ewen outlined one of the programmes targeting these objectives, the Virtual Irish Centre for Crop Improvement (VICCI). This programme is attempting to identify genetic differences for some of these factors across a range of varieties. Traits such as nutrient use efficiency, abiotic stress tolerance, disease resistance and import replacement are being evaluated in six crops; wheat, barley, beans, ryegrass, oilseed rape and potatoes.
Waterlogging tolerance
The ability of winter barley to cope with wet ground conditions is one of the factors being studied. A large amount of varieties were grown in waterlogged conditions at Oak Park and those that withstood those conditions best were subsequently examined to identify the gene(s) that appeared to be associated with the trait.
There has been considerable progress to date and when genes are found, the information is to be provided to plant breeders. This may help them target specific offspring for our climate, while other climates might need an ability to cope with heat. Ultimately, the objective is to help produce varieties that better suit Irish conditions.
Diseases
This type of investigation is also being used to help unravel the basis for septoria and head blight resistance in cereals.
It is now established that one of the main characteristics of genetic varietal resistance is to lengthen the duration of the latent period, ie the time from infection to the production of a visible lesion. It seems that varieties that are very resistant to septoria take longer to cycle the disease and this slows development.
Wheat lines were found that showed useful septoria resistance and breeders have been notified. The work also found genes that help prevent the fungus from penetrating the cell wall and this too slows septoria development. The greater the number of incremental resistance traits that can be identified and combined in a single variety, the more robust and resilient resistance can become.
Hi-tech examination has also identified genes in the fungus itself which are important for disease development. The research identified elements of the plant’s protein which can interact with the fungal genes to slow its development and enhance resistance.
Ewen commented that we may begin to see substantial improvements in septoria resistance in two to three years.
This investigative work is also examining the concept of gene-silencing as a partial mechanism to enhance resistance to fusarium head blight. Such resistance will require multiple incremental effects to help its efficacy and durability.
Headlands
Ongoing research on crop performance on field headlands looked at four different segments of the turning headlands. Mark Ward concluded that headland position or zone affects all indicators of crop performance.
The area inside the headland tramline showed the highest yield across the four zones, while the zone closest to the hedge produced the lowest yield. While this may have taken the most of the turning, it could also be an area with below optimum fertility close to the hedge. But soil structure did have an impact.
A piece of related research looked at the effect of turning systems on headlands and the impact of multiple trafficking on pressure on the soil.
Brendan Burke reported that loop turns and turns that facilitate a bout skip each time had the lowest level of wheelings while the three-point turn, L-loop turn and four-point turn systems had the highest level of wheelings (one, two and three times). The research showed that stress on the soil was greatest with higher-axle loadings.
Rotations
Dermot Forristal gave an update on break crops, saying that a recent survey showed many incorrect perceptions regarding break crops and rotations.
He said that yield of individual crops in a rotation cannot be taken alone as the measure of the rotation. Dermot concluded that we must use margin to really compare break crops because there are benefits to the following crop from a number of common break crops.
While beans may not always have a very high margin, in one example Dermot pointed to the fact that a first wheat after beans showed a 50% increase in margin.
Soil structure
Looking at ways to evaluate soil structure, Giulia Bondi described a number of systems that are currently in use and also the “double spade method” which measures down to 40cm in depth. Comparing samples taken from the turning area on the headlands and in-field samples, Giulia concluded that the double spade method seems better able to pick up the differences that existed compared with the other assessment methods.
Grass weed control
For decades we have seen the control of weeds – grass or broadleaf – as the job of an active in a bottle. But as the number of problems increase and the challenges of resistance proliferate, it is time to look towards a more balanced approach.
Michael Hennessy explained that a new project called Enable Conservation Tillage aims to educate the industry on grass weeds to include identification, population mapping, control, etc.
The project has a dedicated adviser and involve 10 farms using a range of establishment systems to provide a platform to learn about the effect of rotation, cultivation system, etc, on weed infestation and numbers.
On a related topic, Ronan Byrne of Teagasc reported that over 50% of the wild oat samples he tested show resistance to herbicides. Random sampling of fields in Wexford in 2017 found the about 55% of samples were resistant to at least one of Axial or Foxtrot. Further examination identified that both target-site and non-target-site resistance were found in these populations.
Nitrogen on spring oats
In recent years, we have benefited greatly from the evaluation of appropriate husbandry for oats. Previous information on winter oats was provided by John Finnan of Teagasc and, this year, Dermot Forristal reported John’s findings on spring oats.
The research concluded that the response to nitrogen in spring oats is broadly similar to the winter crop with the optimum somewhere around 120kg N/ha for the spring crop. It was not very sensitive to the timing of this as long as it was applied before GS30. And, in general, increasing N rate had a negative effect on specific weight as did delayed application.
Key points
Research remains hugely important for the control of problems and to point a direction for the future.The VICCI project is targeting the genetic basis for differences between varieties with regard to a range of desirable traits to help in future breeding programmes. Wild oat populations have become resistant to both Axial and Foxtrot in parts of the country.How we manage our activities on our headlands has a bearing on crop yield.
An update on current research activities has been a feature of the national tillage conference over the past few years. This gives reasons for optimism, as well as warnings of current and future problems.
Modern farming has to cope with increasingly unpredictable weather, geo-political events, volatile markets, etc. While we have little or no influence over any of these things, they make it increasingly important to influence the things we can.
Breeding for plant resilience
At the tillage conference, Ewen Mullins from Teagasc made a very interesting presentation on breeding for resilience. The more resilience we have in our varieties – in respect of environmental factors – the less they should suffer when such conditions occur.
This appears to have happened already in other parts of the world where regions that were historically hit by hot/cold or wet/dry conditions now seem to be able to cope much better and go on to produce big crops.
Ewen outlined one of the programmes targeting these objectives, the Virtual Irish Centre for Crop Improvement (VICCI). This programme is attempting to identify genetic differences for some of these factors across a range of varieties. Traits such as nutrient use efficiency, abiotic stress tolerance, disease resistance and import replacement are being evaluated in six crops; wheat, barley, beans, ryegrass, oilseed rape and potatoes.
Waterlogging tolerance
The ability of winter barley to cope with wet ground conditions is one of the factors being studied. A large amount of varieties were grown in waterlogged conditions at Oak Park and those that withstood those conditions best were subsequently examined to identify the gene(s) that appeared to be associated with the trait.
There has been considerable progress to date and when genes are found, the information is to be provided to plant breeders. This may help them target specific offspring for our climate, while other climates might need an ability to cope with heat. Ultimately, the objective is to help produce varieties that better suit Irish conditions.
Diseases
This type of investigation is also being used to help unravel the basis for septoria and head blight resistance in cereals.
It is now established that one of the main characteristics of genetic varietal resistance is to lengthen the duration of the latent period, ie the time from infection to the production of a visible lesion. It seems that varieties that are very resistant to septoria take longer to cycle the disease and this slows development.
Wheat lines were found that showed useful septoria resistance and breeders have been notified. The work also found genes that help prevent the fungus from penetrating the cell wall and this too slows septoria development. The greater the number of incremental resistance traits that can be identified and combined in a single variety, the more robust and resilient resistance can become.
Hi-tech examination has also identified genes in the fungus itself which are important for disease development. The research identified elements of the plant’s protein which can interact with the fungal genes to slow its development and enhance resistance.
Ewen commented that we may begin to see substantial improvements in septoria resistance in two to three years.
This investigative work is also examining the concept of gene-silencing as a partial mechanism to enhance resistance to fusarium head blight. Such resistance will require multiple incremental effects to help its efficacy and durability.
Headlands
Ongoing research on crop performance on field headlands looked at four different segments of the turning headlands. Mark Ward concluded that headland position or zone affects all indicators of crop performance.
The area inside the headland tramline showed the highest yield across the four zones, while the zone closest to the hedge produced the lowest yield. While this may have taken the most of the turning, it could also be an area with below optimum fertility close to the hedge. But soil structure did have an impact.
A piece of related research looked at the effect of turning systems on headlands and the impact of multiple trafficking on pressure on the soil.
Brendan Burke reported that loop turns and turns that facilitate a bout skip each time had the lowest level of wheelings while the three-point turn, L-loop turn and four-point turn systems had the highest level of wheelings (one, two and three times). The research showed that stress on the soil was greatest with higher-axle loadings.
Rotations
Dermot Forristal gave an update on break crops, saying that a recent survey showed many incorrect perceptions regarding break crops and rotations.
He said that yield of individual crops in a rotation cannot be taken alone as the measure of the rotation. Dermot concluded that we must use margin to really compare break crops because there are benefits to the following crop from a number of common break crops.
While beans may not always have a very high margin, in one example Dermot pointed to the fact that a first wheat after beans showed a 50% increase in margin.
Soil structure
Looking at ways to evaluate soil structure, Giulia Bondi described a number of systems that are currently in use and also the “double spade method” which measures down to 40cm in depth. Comparing samples taken from the turning area on the headlands and in-field samples, Giulia concluded that the double spade method seems better able to pick up the differences that existed compared with the other assessment methods.
Grass weed control
For decades we have seen the control of weeds – grass or broadleaf – as the job of an active in a bottle. But as the number of problems increase and the challenges of resistance proliferate, it is time to look towards a more balanced approach.
Michael Hennessy explained that a new project called Enable Conservation Tillage aims to educate the industry on grass weeds to include identification, population mapping, control, etc.
The project has a dedicated adviser and involve 10 farms using a range of establishment systems to provide a platform to learn about the effect of rotation, cultivation system, etc, on weed infestation and numbers.
On a related topic, Ronan Byrne of Teagasc reported that over 50% of the wild oat samples he tested show resistance to herbicides. Random sampling of fields in Wexford in 2017 found the about 55% of samples were resistant to at least one of Axial or Foxtrot. Further examination identified that both target-site and non-target-site resistance were found in these populations.
Nitrogen on spring oats
In recent years, we have benefited greatly from the evaluation of appropriate husbandry for oats. Previous information on winter oats was provided by John Finnan of Teagasc and, this year, Dermot Forristal reported John’s findings on spring oats.
The research concluded that the response to nitrogen in spring oats is broadly similar to the winter crop with the optimum somewhere around 120kg N/ha for the spring crop. It was not very sensitive to the timing of this as long as it was applied before GS30. And, in general, increasing N rate had a negative effect on specific weight as did delayed application.
Key points
Research remains hugely important for the control of problems and to point a direction for the future.The VICCI project is targeting the genetic basis for differences between varieties with regard to a range of desirable traits to help in future breeding programmes. Wild oat populations have become resistant to both Axial and Foxtrot in parts of the country.How we manage our activities on our headlands has a bearing on crop yield. 
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