A challenging winter may lie ahead for winter barley growers as barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) becomes a bigger threat in the absence of the neonicotinoid contained in Redigo Deter.
Last week, AgriLand ran into Tim O’Donovan of Seedtech at the National Ploughing Championships. The recommended lists had just been published.
He was happy to see Belfry and Bazooka at the top of the list; however, challenges lie ahead this autumn for winter cereal crops.
The first hurdle to get over will be BYDV. Destroying the green bridge of grass or volunteers with is one of the steps to take, along with delayed planting.
“It’s very important to have a number of weeks where the aphids have nothing to feed on. Basically you want to starve the aphids in your field,” Tim noted.
Delayed sowing will be a key method of BYDV prevention. Farmers are moving away from September sowing. Rain this week has also prevented planting.
It’s important that people delay [sowing] a little bit.
“It’s a very simple thing. Aphids need a number of days at 12° to fly. If you can actually delay the number of days at 12° – I know today is about 20°, but those days decrease over time. So all you’re doing is playing a numbers game and having colder days and less aphids fly into your field then.”
Delaying sowing can also help with diseases such as take-all. Farmers are also facing into a season with less chemicals available.
“One of the things we would be very confident about with our own varieties is that the hybrid barleys are that little bit tougher when they’re sown later, which we’re telling people to do.
When you delay, you automatically help take-all, but the hybrids do well in a continuous cereal rotation.
“They have a bigger root system. They burrow down into the ground and they’re able to take a bit of hardship.”