Progress 10/01/17 to 12/07/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience included wheat growers, commodity groups, Extension personnel, crop consultants, private-industry partners, and other stakeholders throughout Oklahoma and the southern Great Plains. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Results pertaining to this project were presented a number of OSU Extension grower meetings, conferences, and in-service trainings. Wheat variety selection and intensive management were discussed in-depth at four of these events. Thirty-two wheat variety tours were also conducted throughout the state in which stakeholders had the opportunity to see and learn about the characteristics of wheat varieties suitable for their area. In addition to these field days and meetings, six fact sheets and current reports summarizing wheat variety characteristics and forage, grain, and protent content results were published and disseminated to stakeholders. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In addition to the field days and meetings mentioned, the blog osuwheat.com was used to deliver technical information and updates in a timely manner. During the reporting period, 33 articles were posted to the blog site, generating 14,860 pageviews from 10,525 visitors. Wheat management information was also disseminated via social media throughout the reporting period. There were 257 posts to the OSU Small Grains Facebook page which reached 69,500 people, and the 183 posts to the OSU Small Grains Twitter account generated over 230,000 impressions. Wheat variety trial results were posted to the small grains extension website (wheat.okstate.edu) within 4.1 days of harvest on average, allowing producers to access the data quickly regardless of their location. Stakeholders were notified of new data postings via email and social media. The wheat.okstate.edu website generated approximately 7,500 pageviews during harvest alone (mid-May through late-June). The print version of the small grains variety performance tests was published in early July, and this report was also distributed to over 8,000 High Plains Journal subscribers in Oklahoma. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Unfortunately, there will not be another reporting period for this particular project as I will no longer be employed by Oklahoma State University after August 17, 2018.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During this reporting period, 27 variety performance trials were conducted at 22 locations across Oklahoma. In total, 56 different varieties were tested. Fall forage production was measured at three locations, with 5, 31, and 53 varieties tested at Haskell, Chickasha, and Stillwater, respectively. Grain yield was measured in 24 performance trials conducted at 20 locations across Oklahoma. The range in the number of varieties tested in these trials was 25 to 52. Additionally, 20 non-replicated wheat variety demonstrations were implemented across the state. These replicated and non-replicated sites were used as opportunities for stakeholders to visualize varietal differences and learn about various characteristics, suitability, and end-use quality at 32 locations across the state from mid-April to late-May. Fact sheets and current reports listed above, primarily PSS-2142 (wheat variety comparison) and CR-7668 (foliar fungicides and wheat production), were distributed at these wheat variety field days. Drought conditions persisted during the much of the growing season, resulting in below average fall forage production and grain yields. Grain subsamples from all harvested wheat variety performance tests were collected and analyzed for grain protein content. Results showed above-average grain protein content (14.1% average). This was primarily a result from poor grain-filling conditions which limited overall seed size. Subsamples were also tested for other milling and baking quality characteristics, but results are not available at this time. Once they are available, the data will be distributed to farmer stakeholders as well as industry groups and end users. As part of the wheat variety performance testing, several advanced OSU experimental lines were tested across the state and an additional elite nursery with 35 more advanced lines was tested at Cherokee, OK. The data collected for these advanced experimental lines continued to help in the development, release, and identification of target areas of adaptation for future OSU wheat variety releases. This has helped in the adaptation of several popular wheat varieties including Gallagher, Iba, Ruby Lee, Doublestop CL Plus, and Bentley. Varieties developed by the OSU Wheat Improvement Team and tested as experimental lines as advanced experimental lines as part of this project now account for almost half of the wheat acres planted in Oklahoma and over three million acres in the southern Great Plains. These improved varieties offer improved acid soil tolerance, disease resistance, insect resistance, yield, and end-use quality as compared to previously released varieties. A significant portion of this project also focused on the management of different inputs and combinations of these inputs to understand the impact on yield, quality, and profitability. Because of the impact that diseases such as leaf rust and stripe rust have had over the past several years, producers were ready to apply a foliar fungicide to susceptible varieties, but unfavorable conditions for disease development this growing season did not warrant an application in most cases. As part of the wheat variety performance tests, wheat varieties were evaluated with and without fungicide applied at the heading growth stage at two locations (Apache and Lahoma). Results from these two locations indicated that producers in these areas were justified in not spraying, as no evidence of a positive response to a fungicide application was found. Another performance site, Chickasha, was used to evaluate two fungicide applications, one applied at jointing and the other applied at heading. At this location, low to medium levels of leaf and stripe rust and medium to high levels of powdery mildew were present, and the two fungicide applications implemented at this location contributed to protecting the yield potential for a number of varieties compared to the non-treated plots of those same varieties. The average response was +16 bushels per acre with a range of +2 to +32 bushels per acre. To complement the fungicide evaluations performed as part of the performance tests, six more field trials were conducted at two locations (Stillwater and Perkins) during the reporting period. These trials evaluated inputs such as seed treatment, additional nitrogen fertilizer, Palisade, fungicide, and insecticide. Due to the drought conditions and lack of insect and disease pressure, the individual inputs and combinations of these inputs did not significantly contribute to increased yields compared to the control. While this may seem disappointing, this is very useful information for producers in knowing that there is not a good likelihood of a positive return on investment for these additional inputs when conditions like this past season are observed. It should be noted too that protein content was significantly increased by an average of 1.2% in all treatments where additional nitrogen fertilizer was applied.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Biedenbach, A.M., B.W. Brorsen, J.T. Biermacher, J.K. Rogers, R.E. Austin, and D.A. Marburger. 2018. The design of the rainfall index annual forage pilot program. Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting. Jacksonville, FL. February 2-6.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Watson, B., R.M. Hunger, and D.A. Marburger. 2017. Dual fungicide applications for increasing winter wheat yield and profitability in Oklahoma. In Agronomy Abstracts. ASA, Madison, WI.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Watson, B., T.A. Royer, R.M. Hunger, and D.A. Marburger. 2017. Fungicide + insecticide applications for increasing winter wheat yields and profitability in Oklahoma. In Agronomy Abstracts. ASA, Madison, WI.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Haggard, B., B. Carver, and D. Marburger. 2017 (revised). Maturity classifcation of wheat varieties. OSU Fact Sheet PSS-2168. Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service, Stillwater, OK.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Hunger, B., and D. Marburger. 2018. Foliar fungicides and wheat production in Oklahoma. OSU Current Report No. 7668. Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service, Stillwater, OK.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Marburger, D., B. Hunger, B. Carver, and T. Royer. 2018 (revised). Wheat variety comparison. OSU Fact Sheet PSS-2142. Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service, Stillwater, OK.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Marburger, D., R. Calhoun, B. Pugh, B. Watson, and C. Gillespie. 2018. Fall forage production and first hollow stem date in small grain varieties during the 2017-2018 crop year. OSU Current Report No. 2141. Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service, Stillwater, OK.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Marburger, D., R. Calhoun, B. Carver, B. Hunger, B. Watson, and C. Gillespie. 2018. 2017-2018 Small grains variety performance tests. OSU Current Report No. 2143. Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service, Stillwater, OK.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Marburger, D., R. Calhoun, and B. Carver. 2018. Protein content of winter wheat varieties in Oklahoma - 2017-2018. OSU Current Report No. 2135. Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service, Stillwater, OK.
|