The proof-of-concept algorithm has potential for use in real-time prediction of other disease outbreaks in food animals.

PEDv is a virus that causes high mortality rates in preweaned piglets. The virus emerged in the U.S. in 2013 and by 2014 had infected approximately 50 per cent of breeding herds. PEDv is transmitted by contact with contaminated fecal matter.

Gustavo Machado, assistant professor of population health and pathobiology at NC State and corresponding author of a paper describing the work, used machine-learning techniques to create an algorithm capable of predicting PEDv outbreaks in space and time.

Machado, with colleagues from the University of Minnesota and Brazil’s Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, used weekly farm-level incidence data from sow farms to create the model. The data included all pig movement types, hog density, and environmental and weather factors such as vegetation, wind speed, temperature and precipitation.

The researchers looked at “neighbourhoods” that were defined as a 10-kilometre radius around sow farms. They fed the model information about outbreaks, animal movements into each neighbourhood and the environmental characteristics inside each neighbourhood. Ultimately, their model was able to predict PEDv outbreaks with approximately 80 per cent accuracy.

The most important risk factor for predicting PEDv spread was pig movement into and through the 10-km neighbourhood.

The post Researchers create algorithm to predict PEDv outbreaks appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

PhD student Desmond Essien is investigating the potential of using biofilters as an odour mitigation technology for use in swine barns in Manitoba.

Essien spoke about his research at the New and Emerging Research sessions at last month’s Prairie Livestock Expo.

A biofilter, Essien explained, is essentially a layer of organic material (typically mixture of 30 per cent compost and 30 per cent wood chips) that supports a microbial population. Odourous air is forced through this material and is converted by the microbes to carbon dioxide and water.

Research first began in North America in 1999 when Dick Nicoli, a professor at University of Minnesota started to explore the concept.

Nicoli began by building a 750-sow facility and placed a biofilter on it. He then invited guests to a series of lunches at the facility. When not a single complaint about smell was received, Nicoli realized he was on to something and the research on biofilters gained traction.

Essien did a literature review of the science since that time and found the research is encouraging.

Studies reported:

• A reduction of ammonia of 45-75 per cent;
• A reduction of hydrogen sulphide of 80-95 per cent;
• A reduction of odour of 70-95 per cent;
• A reduction of particulate matter of 80 per cent; and
• A reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOC) of 76-93 per cent.

The wide range in the results was largely because the effectiveness is seasonally dependent.

Moisture content is the most critical part for the efficient operation of a biofilter. Generally a sprinkler system on automated timers is used to maintain optimum moisture content (50-60 per cent humidity). But Essien points out that achieving the optimum levels is a fairly tricky process because it’s difficult for farmers to determine what that moisture level exists at in the biofilter.

The most accurate measurement is known as a gravimetric method which involves taking a sample of the medium and putting it in your oven to determine the moisture content. The problem with this method is that it’s impossible to get real-time results.

To get real-time results, other methods have been used: a “load-cell” method (measures the change in weight of the material); a time domaine reflectometry (TDR) method (passes energy through the system and produces a waveform reading that is analyzed to determine moisture); and soil and hay moisture probe method. But none of these methods are as accurate as the gravimetric method.

Essien says he is working on combining these methods.

“I want to use the gravimetric method and calibrate them to the load-cell method, the TDR and the soil and hay moisture probes,” he said.

The optimal operating temperature of a biofilter is between 30-35 C. In winter it is a huge challenge to reach these temperatures. However, Essien said that research from Minnesota was showing that the air exhaust from the barns has shown to be warm enough to keep the biofilter operational in winter.

The final factor affecting the efficiency of a biofilter is the empty bed contact time (EBCT). This refers to the amount of time the air has to be in contact with the biofilter. Early tests were using 20 seconds or more contact time, but it’s been determined that a 70 per cent reduction in odour can be achieved with an EBCT of just three seconds.

Construction costs including materials and labour, typically run between $80 and $270 per 1,000 cfm. Operating and maintenance costs are estimated at between $5-$15 per 1000 cfm annually.

During the opening remarks of the Emerging Research session Andrew Dickson, Manitoba Pork’s general manager, noted that there is a desperate need for more hog barns to make sure that production facilities run at full capacity.

With this projected growth, and odour being one of the big complaints of people living nearby hog barns, Essien is convinced odour mitigation will be an important consideration for the industry’s future.

The post Biofilters a natural way to control hog barn odour appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The CFFO prides itself on considering agricultural issues not only from an economic perspective. Last week’s commentary considered the social impacts of Canada’s supply management system, and this week we will examine its environmental impacts.

The current debate about supply management in the context of NAFTA negotiations has raised speculation about what Canadian dairy might look like without supply management. For example, University of Minnesota economist Marin Bozic has said, “if Canada were to get rid of its supply management program, some dairies in that country likely would go out of business. However, others would expand and new dairies may start up… we could see a lot more cows in Canada.”

What might “a lot more cows” mean environmentally in Canada? To consider this question, it is interesting to compare Canada with New Zealand, a small country that is currently competing in the global export dairy market.

Canada’s dairy system focuses on producing for the domestic market. We have a total population of dairy cows (milking and heifers) of just under 1.4 million, about one milking cow for every 37 people. New Zealand has a total dairy cow population (milking and heifers) of 6.5 million cows — slightly more than one milking cow per person. The average size of a dairy farm in New Zealand is 414 cows, compared to the average size in Canada of 73 cows. It is interesting to note that Canadian cows are actually about twice as efficient at producing milk, producing roughly 8,500 litres per cow per year, compared to New Zealand’s 4,259 litres per cow per year.

This large New Zealand dairy herd concentrated in a small land mass is having significant environmental impacts on the country. The industry gained a reputation as “dirty dairy” and has been working to improve both environmental standards and compliance of dairy farmers for a number of years, especially around water quality.

Our more efficient cows in much smaller herds over a larger landscape significantly reduce the environmental impact of our dairy production system, making it much easier and less costly for farmers to meet the high environmental standards set by general legislation and the dairy sector itself.

There are, of course, other significant environmental benefits that result from the overall system of supply management, such as reduced food waste, better soil health, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Even economic factors, like farm business debt (extremely high in New Zealand), also naturally affect farmers’ ability and willingness to invest in on-farm environmental improvements.

Economic, environmental and social impacts are always closely interconnected. The economic and social implications of our broader systems of producing, trading and marketing dairy also lead to significantly different environmental impacts. When considering the benefits and costs of supply management, it is important to look beyond price per litre on the shelf to the bigger picture of the overall economic, social and environmental impacts of the system as a whole.

Suzanne Armstrong is the director of research and policy for the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario.

The post Opinion: Counting cows appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Minnesota has become a leading U.S. state for its adoption of solar and other renewable energy sources, thanks to legislation and policies that set a goal of a quarter of its energy use coming from renewable energy by 2025.

“We made some great strides. We are at 25 per cent renewables right now,” Melissa Pawlisch, director with the University of Minnesota’s Clean Energy Resource Teams (CERTs) told the Manitoba Sustainable Energy Association conference in Winnipeg earlier this month.

Interest in renewable energy was initially sparked by Minnesota’s farmers who wanted to establish small-scale ethanol plants and own wind farms, she said in her presentation.

Incentive programs led to both initiatives and a good deal of thought then put into where the wider community fits into the picture of renewables.

Now solar is what everyone in Minnesota is talking about. In 2013 Minnesota passed legislation requiring its largest utility Xcel Energy to develop and administer its Community Solar Garden Program and provide broader access for more Minnesotans to go solar.

A solar garden is a centrally located solar panel system people become subscribers and get the benefit of its production through a credit on their utility bill, said Pawlisch.

“The idea was that this would really democratize who can participate,” she said, noting that not everyone has the means nor space to put up solar panels.

A pilot program rolled out in December 2014 took everyone by surprise, she said. They expected there might be proposals for “maybe 10 or 20 megawatts of solar gardens.”

“Over 100 were proposed within the first week.”

Dedicated solar programs have since been established across the state, with residents now comprising the largest number of solar garden subscribers to the Xcel program.

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association 98,000 homes in Minnesota are powered by solar and 1.3 per cent of the state’s electricity is now generated by solar.

The other part of Minnesota’s renewable energy story is new jobs created. A recent report showed clean energy jobs growing at just over triple the rest of the market. Minnesota now has over 57,000 clean energy jobs.

CERTs job is work connecting people and communities to the resources they need to first identify and then implement community-scale clean energy projects.

“These need to be solutions that are everywhere, across audiences across industries… so that everyone can see themselves in that future,” she said.

Pawlisch was one of eight guest speakers attending the Future of Sustainable Energy in Manitoba meeting hosted by MANsea this month.

Other speakers included Robert Elms, spokesman for the Manitoba Electric Vehicle Association (MEVA), championing the use of some of the carbon tax to be collected in Manitoba to help build charger stations in this province and create incentives to purchase more electric vehicles.

MEVA estimates 19 stations could be installed at a cost of about $3 million. Right now 40 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions in Manitoba is generated by the transportation sector, and most of that comes from private automobile usage.

Jeff Kraynyk, with the food and agri-product processing branch of Manitoba Agriculture pointed out that Manitoba’s energy imports are still approximately at $4 billion a year worth of fossil fuels.

“That’s all money leaving our economy and going to other jurisdictions,” he said in his presentation.

Kraynyk noted Manitoba’s capacity for producing biomass is growing, and now at over 100,000 tonnes of biomass annually. More growth is expected as more institutional users, which need to replace their aging boilers, look to biomass, accompanied by changes to the regulatory environment to accommodate these systems.

“The energy landscape in Manitoba is large,” he said during a later panel discussion.

“There is room for all renewables. There isn’t one technology that’s going to address this. This has to be an approach that embraces all technologies.”

Wayne Digby, MANsea director, said later in an interview the Minnesota experience shows what can happen when communities and groups of individuals are given the information they need to look at their energy needs and options and make choices.

MANsea continues to push for more domestic energy use and production, he said.

“Community-driven energy projects, we think, are the way to go,” said Digby.

The post Clean energy can drive rural economy appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Now a group of scientists says cutting-edge genome sequencing technology could provide a better path forward than the traditional approaches using fungicides.

The scientists, from U.S. and Australian government agencies and universities, recently released the results in mBio, a journal from the American Society of Microbiology.

The research team has now generated the first haplotype-resolved genome sequences for the rust fungi causing oat crown rust and wheat stripe rust diseases, two of the most destructive pathogens in oat and wheat, respectively.

“Like humans, rust fungi contain two copies of each chromosome, which makes their genetics much more complicated than other types of fungi,” said Melania Figueroa from the University of Minnesota. “A key advance of this work is that for the first time, separate genome assemblies were generated reflecting both of the two chromosome copies in the rust.”

These studies represent a breakthrough in plant pathology as they now show how genetic diversity between the two chromosome copies can influence the emergence of new virulent pathogen strains.

Both studies uncovered a surprisingly high level of diversity between the two copies, suggesting that such variation likely serves as the basis to rapidly evolve new rust strains.

“This work will really help understand how new rust diseases like the highly destructive Ug99 race of wheat stem rust can overcome resistance in crop,” said Peter Dodds of Australia’s CSIRO Agriculture and Food.

The post Winning the race against rust appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

“Field losses, splits and cracked seed coats increase as moisture content decreases,” he says. “Shatter losses have been shown to increase significantly when seed moisture falls below 11 per cent or when mature beans undergo multiple wetting and drying cycles.”

Because harvest losses increase dramatically when the moisture content is below 11 per cent, harvesting during high humidity such as early morning or late evening or damp conditions may reduce shatter loss, Hellevang notes.

Many times, the discount for delivering beans with a moisture content in excess of 13 per cent may be less than the discount for shatter losses from harvesting overly dry soybeans. He recommends that producers begin harvesting at 14 or 15 per cent moisture to reduce the amount harvested below 11 per cent.

Moisture content can increase by several points with an overnight dew or it can decrease by several points during a day with low humidity and windy conditions. Avoid harvesting when beans are driest, such as afternoons, to maintain moisture and reduce shattering losses.

Changing colour

“Unfortunately, there has not been adequate research examining if immature green soybeans will change colour in storage,” Hellevang says. “Limited studies indicate that green soybeans will tend to stay green in storage. They do not lose their internal green colour caused by chlorophyll, although the surface colour may lighten or mottle somewhat after weeks or months in storage.”

Field losses need to be balanced against the discounts for green seeds in determining when to harvest. Another possibility is harvesting some of the field and leaving the portion with the green soybeans unharvested, he says.

Equalizing moisture content

Soybean moisture variation may lead to storage and marketing losses. Operating an aeration fan will help move moisture from wet beans to drier beans. Air going past wet beans picks up moisture, and that moisture will transfer to drier beans as the air goes past them.

Moisture movement will be minimal without aeration airflow. Hellevang suggests initially running the fan longer than is required to cool the grain to even out the moisture content. The moisture will not be all the same, but it should become more uniform.

Soybeans at 11 per cent moisture have similar storage characteristics as wheat or corn at 13.5 to 14 per cent moisture, so an allowable storage time (AST) chart for cereal grains can be used to estimate allowable storage times for soybeans.

For example, soybeans at 16 per cent moisture content would be similar to cereal grains at about 19 per cent moisture, so soybeans would be expected to have an AST of about 70 days at 50°. The AST is reduced to 35 days at 60° and extended to about 140 days at 40°.

Drying options

The recommended maximum moisture content for air-drying is about 16 per cent moisture, with an airflow rate of at least one cubic foot per minute per bushel (cfm/bu.) during October. The amount of natural-air drying that will occur in late October and November is limited in northern states.

The equilibrium moisture content of soybeans for air-drying at 40 F (4.5 C) and 70 per cent relative humidity is 13.7 per cent, but even with an airflow rate of one cfm/bu., drying soybeans with 16 per cent moisture will take about 70 days. Adding supplemental heat to raise the air temperature by 5 F (2.4 C) will permit drying the soybeans to about 11 per cent moisture in about 55 days.

Only about one-half of the beans would be expected to dry by mid-November, when outdoor temperatures become too cold to dry efficiently. Adding heat would cause the beans on the bottom of the bin to be dried to a lower moisture content and it would increase drying speed only slightly. Cool the soybeans to between 20 and 30° for winter storage and complete drying in the spring. Hellevang recommends starting to dry when outdoor temperatures are averaging about 40°.

Increasing the airflow rate will increase the drying speed. However, the fan horsepower required to achieve the higher airflow rate becomes excessive unless the grain depth is very shallow.

For a soybean depth of 22 feet, the rule of thumb is that each 1,000 bushels of soybeans will need about one horsepower of fan to achieve an airflow rate of one cfm/bu. Achieving an airflow rate of 1.5 cfm/bu. will require about 2-1/2 horsepower per 1,000 bushels, and an airflow rate of two cfm/bu. will need about five horsepower per 1,000 bushels.

The type of fan greatly affects the airflow provided per horsepower, so use a fan selection software program such as the one developed by the University of Minnesota. It is available on the NDSU grain drying and storage website (https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/graindrying).

Soybeans can be dried in a high-temperature dryer, but the temperature needs to be limited to minimize damage to the beans. Refer to the manufacturer’s recommendations for maximum drying temperature. Typically, the maximum drying temperature for non-food soybeans is about 130 F (54.5 C). Even at that temperature, some skins and beans will be cracked.

One study found that with a dryer temperature of 130 F (54.5 C), 50 to 90 per cent of the skins were cracked and 20 to 70 per cent of the beans were cracked. Another study found that 30 per cent of the seed coats were cracked if the drying air relative humidity was 30 per cent, and 50 per cent of the skins and about eight per cent of the beans were cracked at 20 per cent relative humidity.

The relative humidity is reduced by one-half for each 20° that the air is warmed. Therefore, if air at 40 F (4.5 F) and 80 per cent relative humidity is warmed to 60°, the relative humidity is reduced to 40 per cent, and if it is heated to 80°, the relative humidity is reduced to 20 per cent. Monitor the amount of damage occurring during drying and regulate the temperature to obtain the acceptable amount of damage.

Most dryer fires occur due to trash accumulating in the dryer. Monitor the grain flow in the dryer and periodically clean the dryer to reduce the potential for a fire.

Food soybeans and seed beans must not have damage to the seed coat, so natural-air or low-temperature drying is the preferred drying method, Hellevang says.

For more information, do an internet search for NDSU soybean drying.

The post Avoid soybean loss during harvest, drying and storage appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

As of last week populations were generally well below the economic threshold, but some higher populations did exist, he said.

Some spraying was going on in the Portage la Prairie area, Red Beard Farms aerial applicator Chris McCallister said in an interview.

The threshold for applying an insecticide to control soybean aphids is 250 and rising across 80 per cent of the field. The “rising” part is important, says Cassandra Tkachuk, production specialist with the Manitoba Pulse & Soybean Growers (MPSG).

“I hope farmers aren’t spraying unnecessarily,” Tkachuk said in an interview.

Economic injury to soybeans doesn’t occur until there are 670 soybean aphids per plant, she added. The 250-per-plant-and-rising threshold is meant to give farmers enough time to arrange to spray a field if necessary. It’s recommended fields be assessed again after one or two days to see if populations are increasing.

Soybean aphid numbers are growing in North Dakota and Manitoba, the MPSG July 28 Bean Report states.

The report says farmers should assess aphids by going in a W pattern.

“They tend to prefer new growth where they can hide in the folded leaflets of new trifoliates at the top of the plant. However, they can also be found on the undersides of older leaves and along the stem.”

Farmers should not only be scouting their soybean fields for aphids, but also beneficial insects. If present they can help control soybean aphids without applying an insecticide. Insecticide is an extra cost and will kill the beneficial insects.

Tkachuk also urges farmers to contact local beekeepers who might wish to move nearby hives before a field is sprayed.

There are many insects that prey on soybean aphids. The Aphid Advisor app available for iPhone, iPad and BlackBerry (www.aphidapp.com) can help farmers determine whether they should be spraying soybean aphids or not.

The five main beneficial insects (photos are on the app) are as follows:

1. Lady beetles (adult and larvae)
2. Lacewings (adult and larvae)
3. Hover fly (Syrphid larvae)
4. Minute Pirate Bugs (Orius), (adults and nymphs)
5. Aphidoletes

Soybean aphids blow in from the United States, Gavloski said. He spotted some in early July, which is normally when they show up.

The Bean Report says according to a North Dakota State University publication some soybean aphids are suspected of being resistant to pyrethroid insecticides, such as Lambda-cyhalothrin and Matador-Silencer 120EC. Farmers should take note of any insecticide failures.

Get more information on scouting for soybean aphids, including a visual guide on the University of Minnesota Extension website.

Manitoba Agriculture Pulse specialist Dennis Lange has seen soybean aphids in different parts of the province this season and echoed Tkachuk on not spraying unnecessarily.

“Just because your neighbour is spraying doesn’t mean you have to be spraying,” he said. “Farmers need to be scouting their fields and looking for soybean aphids, especially under the leaves.”

A version of this story first appeared on AGCanada.com.

The post Get scouting, soybean aphids showing up in fields appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Walther compared four tillage treatments in soybean crops — standard double disc, vertical till low- and high-disturbance systems, and strip tillage. In a strip-tillage system, producers till strips in the field and leave the rest of the field undisturbed. The three-year study consisted of on-farm trials at four Manitoba locations.

The strip-tillage system consistently had lower nighttime and higher daytime temperatures than the other tillage regimes, which Walther speculates is because of the way strip tillage works. Strip-tillage equipment cuts residue with a cutting coulter, then pushes the residue aside with trash cleaners. A shank, discs and rolling basket follow and create a raised berm.

“Because the residue is set aside and not incorporated, it doesn’t act as an insulating layer, and the soil in the berm contains a lot of air which warms up and cools down faster than soil,” said Walther. “Soil radiation per square inch is also higher on the berm than on a flat surface.”

When it came to germination, the difference in soil temperatures didn’t make any difference in plant emergence, but at 47 days, the strip-tillage soybeans were already at 75 per cent flowering compared to the double-disc areas, which were at 25 to 40 per cent.

Although there was no significant difference in soybean yields between the four tillage systems, an economic analysis showed that strip tillage saves farmers money and time, largely because strip tillage requires only one pass, and the other tillage systems require two: one in fall and another in spring to prepare the seedbed.

Strip till versus no till

When it comes to comparing strip-till with no-till systems, long-term studies done in Illinois with corn and soybean rotations, have shown strip till significantly increased yields compared to a no-till system, regardless of whether fertilizer was broadcast or deep banded in each case.

These findings are significant because some producers assume that deep banding improves fertilizer efficiency and allows them to cut back on application rates, but that’s not what the research suggests, said Fabian Fernandez of the University of Minnesota. He discussed his research into fertilizer placement in strip-till and no-till systems.

“Strip tillage produced greater yields than no till, even with no phosphorus (P) applications, so there is no evidence to suggest that if a producer bands fertilizer he or she can reduce the amount needed; they still need to apply the same amount,” Fernandez told agronomists at the Manitoba Agronomists Conference in Winnipeg in December.

Fernandez emphasized that it was the tillage system which made the difference in yields in his studies, not the fertilizer placement. What is important to understand, said Fernandez, is where and how plant roots access moisture and nutrients. In a real farming situation, there are nutrients present in more parts of the soil than just where farmers apply fertilizer. Fernandez found the majority of plant roots developed in the top two inches of soil, regardless of whether fertilizer was deep banded at six inches or broadcast on the surface of the soil.

When the researchers measured drawdown of nutrients over time, plants reduced the amount of fertility in the top two inches of soil in both strip-till, deep-banded and no-till, surface-broadcast situations.

“When we applied P we saw a buildup in the no-till system where we applied at the surface, and in the banded application we saw a huge buildup of fertility at greater depth, but the plants continued to take quite a bit of nutrient out of the soil surface even though we hadn’t applied any fertilizer there,” said Fernandez. “Roots continue to take nutrient from where it is easiest to get, closer to the soil surface.”

Soil water content also affects the ability of plant roots to take up nutrients. “When we get a small rain event the surface layers of soil are recharged but the deeper layers aren’t,” said Fernandez. “In dryland agriculture, where we have intermittent rain events, the potential to recharge soil deeper down may be restricted. If producers apply all the nutrient in a deep band, when the plant takes up nutrient it also takes up water, and if that part of the soil dries up the chance of rewetting it is less likely.”

More roots doesn’t mean more yield

There was also greater organic matter content in the strip-tillage areas than the no till — 3.8 per cent compared to 3.5 per cent, which had an impact on the roots’ ability to penetrate the soil, and ultimately the yield.

“Within the first 10 inches from the seed row there was much lower soil penetration resistance in the strip till than the no till,” said Fernandez. “There were also substantial differences in root length densities. The no-till rows had about 17,000 miles per acre more root length than the strip-till rows.”

More roots are generally a good thing, but if the extra roots are there because the plants are sensing a stressful environment, that may not be so good.

“Plants put a lot of energy into their root systems and if they are growing in an environment where they sense some restriction, they will put more resources into developing the root system to compensate for a lack of water or nutrients,” said Fernandez. “That is why we saw substantially lower yields in the no-till than the strip-till system.”

The take-home message from a fertility standpoint is that the strip-till system outperformed the no-till system because it improved the OM content in the soil and that gave greater biomass and yield.

“There were much larger densities of roots, which the plant uses to take up nutrients, in the no-till system, but in terms of how much of that surface area was used to take up nutrients the strip till outperformed the no till quite a bit,” said Fernandez. “The smaller root system of the strip-till plants was able to use nutrients more efficiently than the no-till system, and it had nothing to do with how we applied the fertilizer.”

If asked where producers should apply fertilizer if they want to band it — for example in situations where they have high fixing soils for P or K, Fernandez suggested it might be more efficient to band it between the rows.

“Because the majority of nutrients is taken up at the surface and in the top two inches of soil, banding it between rows might be a good idea, but with strip tillage most people are not doing that. They tend to band the fertilizer in the tillage strip itself,” he said. “Having the correct level of fertility is more important than how you apply it — with the exception of high fixing soils. There is no evidence that producers can reduce rates by banding instead of broadcasting.”

Fernandez also reminded agronomists and producers that when they band fertilizer they need to make sure they take multiple soil samples from inside and outside the row to get a true picture of the fertility in the field.

A good sampling strategy is to take three cores outside of the fertilizer band for each core taken from the fertilizer band. “If they only sample where the fertilizer was banded, it will suggest they have more fertility than they have, and if they just take samples from between rows it might suggest fertility is lower than it is,” said Fernandez. “That could prompt them to apply fertilizer they don’t need and not get a return on it.”

The post Is strip tillage the new black for Manitoba farmers? appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Finding ways to reduce these losses and help producers get more value from their N fertilizer is crucial, and that begins with understanding how these losses occur, said researcher Fabian Fernández at the recent Manitoba Agronomists Conference in Winnipeg.

Ammonium volatilization usually occurs with urea but can occur with any N source that will transform to ammonia, Fernández, a professor with the department of soil, water and climate at the University of Minnesota, told the conference.

When urea comes into contact with soil water it produces carbon dioxide and then ammonia. If that transformation occurs on the soil surface a lot of the N is lost as ammonia gas.

Fernández shared some research from 2014 which showed that urea applied at the surface lost 50 per cent of its N into the air after 25 days, and when applied at one inch below the surface there were still significant losses. “This study would suggest that producers need to be looking at incorporating the urea into the soil to a depth of at least two inches to protect that investment from getting lost into the atmosphere,” said Fernández.

Volatilization losses are often highest in moist soils that are drying quickly in the spring. Dry soils are not usually as prone to volatilization losses, but high soil pH can also enhance the process and lead to greater losses.

The biggest potential for volatilization is where producers have a lot of residue on their fields. The more urease enzymes that are in the soil, the greater is the potential for the breakdown of urea and volatilization of ammonium. Crop residue typically has 20 to 30 times more urease concentration than the soil underneath. “That is one of the reasons why we incorporate urea into the soil, not only to help ammonia be retained in the soil, but also to pull the urea away from the high concentration of urease that you typically have on crop residues,” said Fernández.

Urease is an enzyme that is present in the soil, especially in crop residue, and it’s extremely persistent because it’s hard to break down. Soil temperature has a big impact on that process. At high temperatures — around 29 C — urease breaks down at double the rate it will at 1 C, but even at lower temperatures there can still be losses due to volatilization.

“A fall application in cooler temperatures might be better to reduce losses, but it is still better to incorporate the urea into the soil to protect it from volatilization,” said Fernández.

Preventive products

Urease inhibitors — such as the trade names Agrotain and SUPERU, from Koch Agronomic Services — contain thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) which blocks the reaction that turns urea into ammonium carbonate, reducing the amount that converts to ammonia and escapes into the atmosphere.

The N form will have an impact upon how effective urease inhibitors and nitrogen stabilizers are.

“If I had to make a decision about where to put my money, urea would be No. 1 and UAN No. 2 because with UAN you have less potential for volatilization losses than you have with urea,” Fernández said. “One hundred per cent of urea is subject to volatilization, whereas only a portion of the UAN is in urea form.”

Studies in Illinois have looked at different broadcast methods with different N sources and inhibitor or stabilizer products, and found that when applying N on the soil surface, a product with NBPT will help protect it from volatilization, but dribble banding the N is better and injecting it below the surface is best for preventing volatilization losses. That said, if producers are able to inject the urea into soils they may not need to add the inhibitor product as they are already better protecting the N source, said Fernández.

An inhibitor is definitely a good investment when broadcasting urea, in no-till situations where there is a lot of residue, in sandy soils, under high pH conditions and in moist spring soils that dry out quickly.

Nitrogen stabilizers

Nitrification is the conversion of ammonium to nitrate by bacteria in the soil making it vulnerable to leaching and denitrification.

Nitrogen stabilizers such as N-Serve and eNtrench from Dow Agro Sciences Canada contain nitapyrin, which delays the process of conversion. N-Serve is for use with anhydrous ammonia, and the eNtrench, which is encapsulated, can be used with urea, UAN and also manure.

N stabilizers degrade slower and so provide better protection for the N source in high organic matter (OM) soils than in low OM soils. It’s best to apply these products at lower temperatures, because they break down more slowly and bacterial activity that increases nitrate formation is also lower. Data from Illinois studies show that using an N stabilizer increased the ammonium recovered at around 16 C to 20 C, whereas in a test strip where none was applied only half the ammonium remained — the rest had converted to nitrate.

“As farms get larger it is a challenge to find a window of opportunity to apply N in the fall,” Fernández said. “Temperatures vary day to day and year to year, but trying to ensure that temperatures are lower than 10 C, and likely to keeping getting cooler when N is applied, is important because at this temperature the relative amount of nitrate accumulation goes down quickly, but will increase if it gets warmer.”

Nitapyrin doesn’t move far in the soil — typically no more than three inches from the injection site.

“It stays where you put it in the soil,” Fernández said. “In studies, a majority of the nitapyrin was found within one inch of the application point, and in drier soils it will protect a smaller amount of N than when it is applied under adequate moisture conditions. It’s important to know how these products work because how much of the N you are applying will be protected by that product is nothing to do with the chemistry or the atmosphere changing, it has everything to do with the soil conditions.”

ESN polymer-coated N is a slow-release, granular N product that also has demonstrated a good ability to protect against N losses from leaching, volatilization and denitrification.

Whether producers choose to use a fertilizer enhancer not, in general, a spring fertilizer application is more beneficial for keeping N in the soil for the crop than a fall application because there is a shorter window of time for potential N loss, said Fernández. When they do use these products they shouldn’t be lulled into a false sense of security.

“Ammonium is not stable. When we talk about stabilizing N it’s not stable for good, and we still need to use good agronomy with all of these technologies,” he said.

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It seems commercializing hybrid wheat has been just over the horizon for years, but it’s now on the market in Europe and Marcus Weidler, head of Seeds Canada, for Bayer CropScience, says the company is developing hybrid wheat for Canada.

“Hybrid wheat in Europe is a commercial reality,” Weidler said in a Dec. 15 interview.

“The company (which is not Bayer) producing hybrid wheat in Europe is having a hard time keeping up with the demand. It is sold out every single year.”

Around a million acres of hybrid wheat are seeded annually in Europe — mostly in France and a lesser amount in Germany, he said. Typically it’s grown where farmers face more production challenges, Weidler said.

But the biggest advantage of hybrids over open-pollinated crops, is heterosis, where a crossbred individual demonstrates qualities superior to both parents, with the goal being higher yields.

More yield is also essential to offset higher hybrid seed production costs, especially for wheat, which is normally self-pollinating and has heavy pollen that doesn’t travel far.

Hybrid seed production and distribution costs are the main reasons for commercialization delays. But Bayer CropScience has developed several small-scale systems that work and is confident they can be expanded.

“The volumes are so huge it takes a long time to scale this up and also to have it reliably working is key…” Weidler said.

“The system has been tried before by many other people, but we got it working.”

Hybrid wheat is expected to yield 10 to 15 per cent more than open-pollinated cultivars, he said. Is that enough? That’s the question Rob Graf, a winter wheat breeder with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Lethbridge, asked during his presentation ahead of a panel discussion on wheat research during the 3rd Canadian Wheat Symposium in Ottawa Nov. 23. Weidler was one of the panellists.

The upper range of the hybrid wheat yield projection is for feed wheats, Graf added.

“In quality wheats the heterosis is much lower,” Graff said.

Based on average Saskatchewan wheat yields, a 15 per cent increase translates into 5.4 more bushels an acre, he said.

“Not bad, but is it enough?”

In Manitoba 15 per cent more yield adds another 8.7 bushels an acre.

“I would say in essence hybrids, when they come, if we have that kind of yield they will be used, but they won’t be for everyone,” Graf said.

Jim Anderson, a wheat breeder at the University of Minnesota, said with the exception of Nebraska State University and Texas A&M, most publicly funded American breeders are taking a “wait-and-see approach.”

“If they are successful that is great for the industry, but if not, the public will still be there developing those inbreds,” Anderson said.

“I think there is a good chance for some success there but the key is to having that economical (hybrid) seed production and then working with the seeding rates so the growers don’t have to purchase quite so much seed to put into the ground.”

The rate of hybrid wheat yield gain will not keep pace with inbred lines, Graf said.

“The main reason for that is with hybrids the lines that are males to females must incorporate many more traits that make them ideal female lines,” he said.

“The rate of (yield) increase in hybrids, after that initial boost in heterosis, will actually be slower and so in essence what will happen is over time inbred line breeding will meet and surpass the yield of hybrids.”

It’s partly because there are so many genes involved in wheat breeding, Graf said.

Wheat breeders in the past complained about a yield drag because of kernel visual distinguishability (KVD) — a prerequisite for registering new western Canadian milling wheats, which ended in 2008.

“In fact with hybrids you are probably adding far more trades than with KVD,” he said.

Hybrids are primarily a way for breeding firms to get a return on investment, he said.

“And I don’t think it is a secret to anyone that there are very definitely major challenges ahead for hybrids. I am not saying that it can’t be done, but there are significant challenges.”

Seed grown from a hybrid crop lacks heterosis. As a result a farmer must buy new seed if he or she wants to grow that variety again.

Variety developers need a return on investment, but instead of investing in hybrids innovative ways to capture value should be found, Graf said.

“If we can move the investment that may be going to hybrids (and) put it into line breeding long term I would suggest we would be better off,” he said.

Improved yield is Bayer CropScience’s main motivation for hybrid wheat, not capturing revenue, Weidler said later. A slower rate of yield gain hasn’t been the case with hybrid canola, he said.

“We have also seen in canola the last 10 years the average yield increase is 4.4 per cent, which is unmatched anywhere,” Weidler said. “Other crops show me that there might be good reason to believe that the breeders can manage this and come up with the same yield gain or maybe better yield gain than when you have line breeding.”

The cost of producing and distributing hybrid wheat seed is the biggest challenge, Weidler said. Not only does wheat have a bigger seed and is bulkier than canola, the ideal wheat field plant population is four times that of canola. Contrary to the production of hybrid canola seed, to serve western Canadian farmers hybrid wheat production needs to be decentralized.

“It means we will have a big number of partners to help us produce the right amount and the right quality of seed for a specific geography,” Weidler said. “There is no way to have central production, absolutely no way. But to be clear, we do not have all the answers. We are in conversation with a lot of people to get this done. Nobody has done this before.”

Hybrid wheat production is also complex and time sensitive, he said.

“No. 1 is to synchronize males and females,” Weidler said. “And the second challenge is a chemical hybridization agent, which has to be applied in a very tight window to the females so they are male sterile. If you can’t get into the field because it is too wet, or it has been too dry and you don’t want to stress the plants, that can be a challenge.

“The key in hybrid wheat is to come up with a sustainable, easy-to-use hybridization system to produce it.”

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