OSR Planning Guide

AUTHORITATIVE NEW GUIDE HELPS OSR GROWERS MAKE THE MOST OF EARLY DRILLING

Bringing together the latest intelligence from across the industry to help oilseed rape growers make the most of early August drilling is an authoritative 20-page guide published this summer.

Produced jointly by leading crop production and establishment specialists, Bayer and Opico with experts from ADAS, NIAB and Wright Solutions, the new guide provides a wealth of practical advice for early drillers alongside the most important establishment essentials.

Sowing in the first two weeks of August has been invaluable in allowing many crops to survive cabbage stem flea beetle grazing in recent years, it observes. But moving drilling forward from its main mid-late August window brings with it a number of challenges that need to be addressed to make the most of this opportunity.

Chief amongst these is the danger of increased CSFB larval burdens in the spring. While reducing the pressure from phoma, earlier drilling is also recognised as adding to risks from light leaf spot, clubroot, and possibly also verticillium and turnip yellows virus.

At the same time, the guide points to the increased agronomic pressure presented by overly-large canopies susceptible to pre-mature stem extension in mild winters and serious damage from frost and snow if conditions turn cold.

Higher lodging risk is highlighted as a particular consideration too; especially where a combination of higher seed rates and better establishment results in dense stands of thinner-stemmed plants.

In addition, of course, sowing in early August means very little time from harvesting the previous crop, with obvious implications for previous cropping, straw management, grass weed control and correcting any soil structural problems. And machinery and workload issues at the peak of cereal harvest for most cannot been ignored either.

To make the most of the valuable opportunities earlier OSR drilling brings while avoiding its main pitfalls, the Guide to Early OSR Drilling identifies a number of important rotational, varietal, machinery and management priorities in a series of easy-to-read sections.

Foremost amongst these are:

Key Rotational Priorities

• OSR should never be sown if there is insufficient moisture in the seeding zone or soil structure is compromised. • Soil structural issues need to be corrected ahead of the crop in the rotation wherever possible, and ground with a history of clubroot problems should be avoided. • Winter barley offers the best entry, with winter oats, winter wheat and spring barley also suitable providing their maturity is not delayed by genetics or management. • Leaving long cereal stubbles will ensure the most rapid combining and effective straw chopping and spreading while providing OSR with a good micro-climate for establishment. • Sowing with companion crops can improve establishment, and brassica-containing cover crops sown later in nearby fields may be useful in ‘trapping’ migrating CSFB.

Key Variety Priorities

• As well as establishing vigorously, varieties should be rapid in their development to get crops away but not so fast that they produce excessively-forward pre-winter canopies. • Varieties that are earlier or faster in their spring regrowth can provide valuable extra tolerance to higher levels of

CSFB larvae. • First-class standing power based on the best combination of stem stiffness and lodging resistance is more essential than ever. • Strong light leaf spot resistance is also crucial, combined with good resistance to verticillium where possible. • Turnip yellows virus resistance can be a useful extra safeguard, although only in addition to the more important priorities.

Key Machinery Priorities

• Single pass establishment is essential, with speed balanced by sufficient care and precision in seed placement in particular. • Where the soil is in good enough condition with an unrestricted structure for root penetration and drainage, no-till drilling should be preferred. • Alternatively, structural concerns and any harvest trafficking damage can be tackled with some low disturbance metal at depth as part of a tailored seeding regime. • Seed should always be sown through coulters into soil re-consolidated after any disturbance to provide good depth control and seed-to-soil contact. • Machines should be able to cope with long stubbles and trash; apply fertiliser with the seed; and, ideally, also be able to sow companion crops and apply slug pellets.

Key Management Priorities

• Seed rates leading to higher-than-ideal plant populations should be avoided to ensure the most productive canopies and stems with the least susceptibility to CSFB larval damage. • The reduced threat from phoma should give more flexibility to delay autumn fungicide treatment, targeting

it more effectively against the higher light leaf spot risk. • An early autumn application of metconazole may be needed to regulate the growth of crops that are particularly forward – especially if they are also very thick. • Relatively large canopies coming out of the winter put the onus on careful spring N management to Green Area

Index (GAI) and effective plant growth regulation. • Levels of CSFB larvae can be reduced by sheep grazing or mechanical defoliation but this must be neither too intense nor too close to stem extension to avoid compromising yields

“Making the new Guide available as widely as possible to growers and their advisers across the country this summer will, we very much hope, help them to take full advantage of the particularly good prospects for OSR in the coming season with the least risk,” comments Bayer OSR campaign manager, Lizzie Carr-Archer. “Copies can be obtained free-of-charge from both Bayer and Opico and will be available from the OPICO /SKY /HEVA stands at Groundswell and Cereals. Alternatively it can be downloaded using the QR Code.

PRODUCTS

IN FOCUS...

In the agriculture industry, wear is a common problem that is largely caused by ground contact causing abrasion against wear parts. To help reduce the effects of wear, Tenmat manufactures Ferobide, an effective and durable wear part specifically for the agricultural machinery.

From heavy duty subsoilers to mechanical seed drills, Tenmat efficiently solves the wear protection challenges of the agricultural sector with FEROBIDE; an all-purpose tungsten carbide composite wear protection material which distinguishes itself through its high resistance to impact and installation through welding. The superior material gives soil-engagingpoints which work longer and harder than before. Tenmat offers significant benefit to the farmer by greatly reducing farm downtime and stock holding, whilst increasing point lifetime. Working efficiency and farm outputs are directly improved through the use of durable FEROBIDE wear protection tiles. The low profile tiles significantly reduce drag through soil and maintain the design profiles and working depth of soilengaging-points. By maintaining its shape and being itself a long-life material able to withstand heavy abrasion and impact, FEROBIDE offers long-lasting protection to soil-engagingpoints. Furthermore, FEROBIDE is applied within minutes through welding. Firstly, this allows for the farmer to determine exactly where soil-engaging-points receive wear protection. The simple welding installation reduces downtime as it requires very little weld preparation outside of chamfering to hide weld support behind the FEROBIDE tile. FEROBIDE puts total control over wear protection in the hand of the customer. FEROBIDE is welded directly onto Agricultural Machinery Points and can be itself cut to shape, fitting any point geometry. Welding of FEROBIDE is carried out with standard workshop equipment, meaning there is no time lost. This is in contrast to the difficult attachment methods inherent to the specialist brazing techniques of traditional tungsten carbide. • Excellent impact strength • Superior resistance to chipping • Very high resistance to abrasion • Weld anywhere onto a point • Quick weld installation greatly reduces downtime • Easy to cut to shape with standard workshop tools • Welding maintains the overall hardness of steel points and thus further reduces abrasion wear • Customise to match your point geometry • Low profile tiles reduce drag Ferobide can be produced in bespoke shapes and dimensions according to customer requirements. The standard low-profile tile dimensions are as follows: 4mm thick – 8 x 40 mm – 15 x 40 mm – 25 x 60 mm – 40 x 40 mm 6mm thick – 15 x 40 mm – 25 x 60 mm – 40 x 40 mm 8mm thick – 15 x 40 mm – 25 x 60 mm – 40 x 40 mm The following assemblies are available as standard: 15x200mm / 25x180mm / 40x200mm / 200x200mm Ferobide tiles can also be supplied with studs welded, or on steelbacking for added impact resistance.

Farmer case study.

Poskitts Carrots, one of the leading producers of carrots in the UK, Producing 50,000 tonnes of carrots each year, as well as parsnips, potatoes and arable crops. The company faces extensive wear on the legs of their subsoilers. They successfully used Ferobide to increase the life of the legs, wanting a weldable material suitable for repair on the farm. Since welding Ferobide, Poskitts have not needed to stop for any refurbishment of the legs. The Same Ferobide tiles have completed more than 3 years of work on abrasive sand soils, the previous legs would have been refurbished more than 9 times over the same period without the use of Ferobide, resulting in significant savings in both wearing parts and maintenance time.