Recent trial work carried out by Teagasc has confirmed that the carbon footprint of Irish oat crops is extremely low.
In addition to this, the grain is highly resistant to take-all. Meanwhile, consumer demand for oats continues to grow.
These are just three reasons why Teagasc tillage specialist, Ciaran Collins, believes that the potential to expand the area of oats grown in Ireland is significant.
The recently developed Tillage Life Cycle Assessment has been used to determine the carbon footprint of oats from 28 Tirlán suppliers.
According to these figures, the gross carbon footprint was 207kg CO2/t, which is low by international standards.
In warmer countries like Italy and Spain, the figure would be closer to 1,000kg CO2/t.
However, when the carbon sequestered by straw incorporation was included in the calculations, the figure dropped dramatically, giving an average net carbon footprint of 38kg CO2/t.
Low carbon footprint
The marketing potential that can be realised as a result of this research is enormous.
Collins said: “To grow high yields of quality oats, it is important to understand its agronomy, particularly if growers are faced with a thin stand.
“Like other cereals, oat yields are primarily driven by grain number. Oat yields are more closely related to grain number per panicle rather than the number of panicles.
“This is because the oat panicle has a very large capacity to set grains compared to barley and wheat.
“As a consequence, high numbers of panicles are not needed to achieve high grain numbers,” he added.
Trial work has confirmed that, despite populations as low as 40-50 plants/m², oat crops recovered to produce acceptable yields.
Nonetheless, 300-350 plants/m² is still considered the optimum plant population.
Optimum seed rate depends on field conditions, and the thousand grain weight (TGW) of the seed, but a typical seed rate for spring oats is 150kg/ha for seed with a TGW of 40g.
Recent Teagasc research has shown that winter oats is very responsive to nitrogen (N) application, however, there may be a trade off with increasing lodging risk.
“Teagasc research has shown that the most successful reduction in lodging comes from a split plant growth regulator programme with the first application at growth stage 30, followed by a second application at growth stage 32.
“Active plant growth is essential to achieve successful plant growth regulation.
“Oat crops are more forgiving of low soil fertility than wheat and barley but off-takes are high, especially of potassium. Growers should apply phosphate and potash in line with soil test recommendations.
“Crown rust, mildew and fusarium are the key disease threats. Growers should follow a three-spray programme for winter oats at GS30, GS32 with a final fungicide applied once the panicle is half out at GS45-55.
“It is important to avoid crop stress with fungicide mixes,” he explained.