Winter oilseed rape is the most widely grown break crop in the UK, but as from January 2015 growers will have to abide by several greening measures in order to qualify for the new Basic Payment. The new Three Crop ruling is probably the most significant in terms of management change. In this measure three different crops must be grown on the farm, with the main crop area not exceeding 75% of the arable area and the third crop being no less than 5% of the total arable area. So many growers will have to introduce another crop after wheat and rape into their rotation this year.
“Winter beans are an obvious candidate, suiting heavier ground and being the classic pulse crop for heavy land. An important bonus is that in winter rape and winter beans farmers can use herbicides which are not recommended in cereals, such as Kerb Flo 500 (propyzamide), enabling the most effective use of a break crop in a combinable crop rotation,” says David Roberts of Dow AgroSciences.
“Nowadays weed control practices have a stronger rotational element to them, with growers not thinking just about a single crop any longer. Winter beans offer them the opportunity to control grass-weeds with different chemistry. This fits in perfectly with the Dow AgroSciences LifeCycle, (www.myfarmlifecycle.com), which focuses on effective weed control and resistance management across the rotation,” says David.
He reports that independent trials in winter beans have demonstrated that Kerb 500 Flo, applied pre-emergence in mixtures or in sequences, gave the highest levels of black-grass control. “It can be mixed with a range of other herbicides approved in winter beans including clomazone, pendimethalin + imazamox and under Extension of Authorisation of Minor Use (EAMU’s) prosulfocarb or pendimethalin. Most common weeds in this crop can be controlled with these chemicals,” he says.
David advises that winter beans should not be drilled any earlier than mid-October as forward crops are susceptible to disease. “Drilling beans from mid-October through to mid-November allows stale seedbeds with glyphosate to reduce difficult grass-weed populations. Once again this fits in with the LifeCycle principles where cultural control goes hand in hand with chemical control. Winter beans are not very competitive early on and a pre-emergence herbicide will remove weeds and encourage branching of the beans.”
David points out that there is no known weed resistance to Kerb Flo 500 and so it is useful to help clean up key weeds such as black-grass, rye-grass, meadow-grass and wild-oats across the rotation.
“With widespread black-grass resistance to ALS and ACCase herbicides, winter beans have become a true break crop. Applied at 1.7 l/ha, Kerb Flo 500 has a label recommendation for all varieties of winter beans on medium and heavy soils. It is applied within 7 days of drilling and before crop emergence,” he says.
ASTROKerb does not have a recommendation for beans.
Kerb Flo 500 contains 500 g/litre propyzamide formulated as a suspension concentrate and packed in a non-foil sealed 10 litre pack. It is recommended in all varieties of winter beans at a dose rate of 1.7 l/ha for the control of black-grass, annual meadow-grass, rye-grass, wild-oats, brome and volunteer cereals and a wide range of broad-leaved weeds including chickweed and speedwells. In winter beans Kerb Flo 500 is used pre-emergence within 7 days of drilling. It has no LERAP.
