Biofuels open day attracts the farmers
A recent Darlington-based oilseed rape agronomy and biofuel day in support of the Regional Strategy for Transport Biofuels attracted around 150 farmers from the North East and Yorkshire and had some key messages for growers to learn from, according to crop protection and agronomy specialist Agrovista, a member of the Northeast Biofuels consortium.
"Dealing with soil compaction is a key component in ensuring good oilseed rape establishment in the autumn, especially after the last couple of seasons where heavy traffic across fields has caused severe damage to soil structure," said Agrovista’s Chris Glover, who instigated the project.
"Consideration also needs to be given to soil nutrient levels – it is worth sampling more thoroughly than the standard ’W’ pattern and we recommend GPS-based mapping to see the variation in fields. It is this attention to detail that gets crops off to a good start and makes a huge difference when harvest comes around," he added.
The trials site encompassed 2 cultivation techniques – ploughed, and min-till subsoiled, 3 leading varieties of oilseed rape, and a range of fungicide and nutrient treatments. Over 400 plots will be harvested and their oil contents measured, and the results presented at a follow-up meeting in December.
"Although it is too early to say what combination of treatments has performed the best, it is clear that where foliar nutrient P-Kursor was added, the plants have produced a much higher proliferation of roots than the untreated. This was the case in both the ploughed and minimum-tillage plots. Our expectation is that this will have had a positive impact on crop growth and subsequent yield, with good root development being even more crucial with the difficult winter we’ve just had, "said Mr Glover.
Tours of the trial were led by North Yorkshire-based agronomist Chris Martin and colleagues. "When it comes to varieties, I believe the future lies with the semi-dwarf types in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions – for one thing, combining them is less demanding and therefore less energy intensive. But they have a way to go yet in terms of performance compared to hybrids and even some of the top conventional varieties," commented Mr Martin.
The December follow-up meeting will also serve to launch the 2009/10 Agrovista trials programme which will encompass both oilseed rape at Cockle Park, Northumberland and Askham Bryan, York, and winter wheat for bioethanol at the Darlington site.
