Oilseed rape and winter barley crops are looking good

Press, 13 December 1985, Page 21

Oilseed rape and winter barley crops are looking good

Two new crops growing on Lincoln College’s arable farm were looking particularly good and could have a permanent place in the farm’s future cropping programme, according to the farm supervisor, Mr Tony Whatman.

The crops are oilseed rape, currently in flower, and winter barley.

Mr Whatman told about 80 visitors during a walk over the farm on Wednesday morning that the rape crop was sown instead of Chinese kale which had given disappointing results the previous season. Birds had destroyed much of the kale crop and the yield was only 837 kg per’ hectare. Mr Whatman said he would not be surprised if birds had eaten 50 per cent of the crop. Although birds would probably cause losses in the rape crop, the yield was expected to easily exceed the kale, and had the potential to top 2500 kg per

hectare. Other problems with the rape could arise from shattering of the seed at harvest and the possibility of picking up stones by the header. The paddock had not previously been rolled because the nine-hectare paddock had a poor soil structure. If it had been rolled, north-west winds could have caused severe windblow.

Mr Whatman said he hoped the rape could become one of the farm’s main break crops. The rape was drilled on September 25.

The other promising crop, winter barley, was sown on May 7. Mr Whatman said the farm had a history of not being able to produce good barley crops, but this year’s winter crop was looking very good. Researchers are doing trials on hastening the maturity of the barley. Freezing peas were a

traditional break crop grown on the farm and had several benefits, including being in the ground for just four months and requiring a small number of inputs. Experiments with autumn sown peas, to allow double cropping, had given some acceptable results. Peas sown at the end of May and harvested early November had yielded over four tonnes per hectare and had allowed a barley crop to be sown. Trials with peas sown earlier had suffered frost damage. Other problems with early-sown peas could, result from a carry-over of diseases and weeds. Another regular seed crop on the farm is ryegrass, which will continue to play an important part in the cropping rotation, said Mr Whatman. In spite of low financial returns, ryegrass helped improve structure of the soil which could be classed as a return. The college has moved.

away from short rotation ryegrasses to' perennials because of a better price.

Mr Whatman thinks a paddock of Rongotea wheat will yield well, but the problem with wheat crops was the high cost of inputs. The cost of materials for weed, insect and fungal control and the cost of seed,

fertiliser and passes by machinery to apply the inputs was $586 per hectare. Weed and pest control alone was $268, equivalent to one tonne of wheat. Wheat had to yield at better than five tonnes per hectare to be competitive with some of the break crops, and the farm was hoping for six

tonnes from Rongotea. In the last few years, the 216 ha farm has grown a maximum amount of wheat and used break crops of ryegrass, white clover, brassica seed, peas and barley. This year 76ha are in wheat, 60ha barley, 25ha clover seed, 15ha freezing peas, 17ha grass seed, 9ha oilseed

rape and llha are rented. The farm had budgeted for a deficit in 1985-86 of $1920. Mr Whatman said the farm was experiencing the same squeeze as other cropping farms were and it was hoped budgeted yields would be exceeded, taking into account the good growing conditions this season.