Performing Department
Plant Science
Non Technical Summary
The predominant crop production system in the Midwest is a corn-soybean rotation. Diversifying this rotation with a cool-season grass such as winter rye would be beneficial in terms of disrupting pest lifecycles and allowing for increased use of cover crops to benefit soil health. Addition of other cereal crops to this system has been constrained in the past by the limited economic value of oats, wheat, barley, and rye. However, with the recent introduction of hybrid rye it appears this situation may have changed. Hybrid rye has high yield potential (70% higher than open-pollinated lines in our trials), and recent feeding trials conducted with beef cattle and hogs at our research farm show it has good potential as a feed grain, with a trend for it to do particularly well with younger animals. If this market for rye as a feed grain develops, there would be tremendous potential for its acreage to expand, given the high grain yields that hybrid rye has demonstrated. Rye is a very resilient crop, being the most winter-hardy and cold tolerant of the cereal grains. It is more disease resistant than wheat and needs less fertilizer than wheat. It is more nutrient dense than oats or barley, which makes it more likely to find a niche in the feed market. It represents a relatively low-input crop with good yield potential that would benefit the production system.Very few farmers in the Midwest have raised hybrid rye as a grain crop. There are a number of management questions to be resolved and fine-tuned in order to optimize its production. If these questions are answered, hybrid rye could be economically and environmentally beneficial for farmers and the general public. This project will address the following production questions: 1) Identify good varieties for grain and forage production, 2) Determine optimal levels of N fertilizer, 3) Determine the best time to plant this crop and how wide the planting window is, and 4) Assess the potential for hybrid rye silage in a double-cropping situation.This project will address these issues for farmers to help them better manage rye and hopefully make it easier for rye to be adopted in our production area. This would have significant benefits for long-term resiliency of our crop production system.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Goals and Objectives. The goal of this project is to develop agronomic practices for optimizing the production of rye in order to contribute to increased crop diversity in the corn:soybean production system. Towards this goal, the objectives of the project are:Objective 1. Identify lines of rye, including hybrid rye, that have high grain yield and/or high forage production potential in our environment.Objective 2. Determine optimum levels of N for profitably producing rye as a grain crop.Objective 3. Measure the effect of planting date on rye grain production.Objective 4. Compare soybean, forage sorghum, and early-maturing corn as double crops following harvest of a rye forage crop.
Project Methods
Objective 1. Identify lines of rye, including hybrid rye, that have high grain yield and/or high forage production potential in our environment.Lines of open pollinated and hybrid rye will be grown in replicated trials at the Southeast Research Farm near Beresford, SD. Plot size will by 5 x 20 feet and the materials will be laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. On-farm trials with two cooperators in other parts of our work area will also be conducted in order to see results from a broader environment and to include growers in the process. Following the seed companies recommendations, the seed rate will be 800,000 seeds per acre for the hybrid lines and 1.2 million seeds per acre for the open-pollinated lines. Nitrogen will be applied at a rate of 110 lb per acre with one third applied in the fall, and two thirds in the spring. In the grain trial, plots will be combined with a Zurn model 150 small plot combine to obtain a yield estimate. In the forage trial, plots will be harvested near heading with the stage of each line recorded at time of harvest. Moisture content will be determined for each line. Variety evaluations will be conducted throughout the duration of this project.Objective 2. Determine optimum levels of N for profitably producing rye as a grain crop.Nitrogen response in the spring will be determined by applying N at rates of 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 lb/ac of N primarily as urea. Soil nitrate content to a depth of 24 in (0.6 m) will be determined prior to fertilizer application. Plot size will be 10 x 30 feet and plots will be laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. These plots will be established in mid to late September after harvest of an early-maturing soybean line. A parallel set of plots will also be established on oat stubble, if resources allow. Following the seed companies recommendations, the seed rate will be 800,000 seeds per acre for the hybrid lines and 1.2 million seeds per acre for the open-pollinated lines. A basal application of 30 lb per acre of N and 15 lb per acre of S will be made in the fall. The N treatments noted above will be applied to the plots in the spring. Plant height will be measured at milk stage, and lodging will be rated on a 0 to 10 scale at time of harvest. Plots will be combined with a Zurn model 150 small plot combine to obtain a yield estimate. The N response trial will be run for four years in order to get a good measure of year to year variation in N response..Objective 3. Measure the effect of planting date on rye grain production.Rye will be planted near August 15, Aug. 30, Sept.15, Sept. 30, Oct. 15, and Oct 30 in replicated studies at the Southeast Research Farm. Plot size will be 10 x 30 feet and plots will be laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. A hybrid line ('Tayo' or 'Serafino') will be used for this study. Following seed company recommendtions, the seed rate will be 800,000 seeds per acre. Nitrogen will be applied at a rate of 110 lb per acre (one-thrid in the fall and two-thirds in the spring). Broadleaf weeds will be controlled with bromoxynil, or another labelled herbicide applied in the spring, if needed. Stands will be visually rated in early November and again in early April. Heading date will be recorded (Feeke's stage 10.5) and height measured at early milk stage. Lodging will be scored (0 to 10 rating) at harvest. Plots will be combined with a Zurn model 150 small plot combine to obtain a yield estimate. This trial will be conducted for three seasons.Objective 4. Compare soybean, forage sorghum, and early-maturing corn as double crops following harvest of a rye forage crop.Small plot studies comparing soybean, forage sorghum, an earlier maturing line of corn (96 day relative maturity), and a full-season line of corn (105 day relative maturity) will be conducted to evaluate these crops for their relative productivity when planted following harvest of rye for silage. Plot size will be 15 by 45 feet and plots will be laid out in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Soybeans, corn, and forage sorghum, will be planted at rates of 140,000, 32,000, and 140,000 seeds per acre, respectively. Weeds will be controlled with a preemergence application of glyphosate and metolachlor, and appropriate herbicides if needed, post-emergence. For corn and soybeans, yield will be determined with a small-plot combine at harvest maturity. For forage sorghum, shoot biomass will be measured in late September by harvesting 20 feet of row from the center of each plot, obraining a fresh weight, and drying a subsample for determination of percent moisture. Results from this trial will be evaluated on an annual basis and it may be modified from year to year based on results and on the potential for profitable inclusion of other crops into this system.