- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
- Contributor: Mark Lundy
- Contributor: Nicolas George
Fall has arrived, and for many crops, this means that it is harvest season. For small grains, however, the season starts anew. The UC Davis small grains variety evaluations are conducted across the state, including a site in the Delta. The results of last year's evaluations are now available, and we invite you to take a look as you prepare to plant your new crop.
To understand trends over time, we suggest reviewing the 3-year summaries, which are available from the link “Yield and Protein Summary” for common wheat and triticale. These summaries indicate which varieties performed consistently well over time. For these summaries, the Delta is grouped with other Sacramento Valley locations. The data indicated that the varieties performed similarly between the Sacramento Valley and the Delta, compared to the San Joaquin Valley and the Delta. This is probably due to similar climatic considerations, like rainfall and temperature. The 3-year summaries rank the varieties for both yield and protein. In the future, rather than tables, the research team will develop an online tool to assist with variety selection that will take both yield and protein into account. Stay tuned for more information on this tool.
Keep in mind that disease ratings are important considerations. Disease ratings are found here, where “S” indicates susceptible varieties and “R” indicates resistant ones. Additionally, some of these varieties are in initial stages of testing, so not all of them are commercially available. Look for whether the variety is “released”, which is indicated on the data tables.
Barley and durum wheat were also evaluated at certain locations but not in the Delta. We will continue trialing small grain varieties in the Delta in 2018.
- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
The annual UC Davis Small Grains and Alfalfa Field Day will take place on Thursday, May 11, 2017 at the Agronomy Field Headquarters (2400 Hutchison Drive, Davis, CA 95616). Registration opens at 7:45am, and lunch is provided between the small grains morning program and alfalfa afternoon program. The event is free and open to the public, and continuing education credits will be available. Directions are as follows:
The field day is located on Hutchison Drive, just west of Davis. Take the Hwy. 113 exit north from I-80, or Hwy. 113 south from Woodland. Exit west on Hutchison Drive. Take a right at the first roundabout, a left at the second roundabout, and the Agronomy Headquarters is about ¼ mile down in a clump of trees and buildings on the left.
Agenda
7:45 Registration (no charge)
Small Grains Program
8:15 Welcome and Introductions—Mark Lundy, CE Grain Cropping Systems Specialist
8:20 Overview of wheat breeding—Jorge Dubcovsky, UC Davis wheat breeder
8:25 California Wheat Commission remarks—Claudia Carter, Executive Director
8:30 California Crop Improvement Association remarks—John Palmer, Executive Director
8:35 Depart for field
Field Tour
9:00 – 11:30 Small grain variety evaluations, breeding, and management research
9:00 Common Wheat, Durum and Triticale variety evaluations: productivityanddiseaseresistance—Mark Lundy and Nicholas George, UCCE/UCDavis
9:30 Barley breeding update—Alicia del Blanco, UC Davis
9:45 Wheat breeding update—Oswaldo Chicaiza, UC Davis
10:00 Common wheat lines with increased resistant starch, positive and negative effects on agronomic traits— André Schönhofen, UC Davis
10:15 Triticale breeding for breadmaking quality—Josh Hegarty, UC Davis
10:30 Root differences favoring flooding and drought tolerance—Tyson Howell, UC Davis
10:45 Research progress in grain yield components—Alejandra Alvarez/Junli Zhang, UC Davis
11:00 Barley & Common Collaborative variety evaluations: productivity and disease resistance— Mark Lundy and Nicholas George, UCCE/UC Davis
11:10 Malting barley market prospects—Konrad Mathesius, UCCE Sacramento Valley Agronomy Advisor
11:15 Research update: Nitrogen management for productive & high quality malting barley—Taylor Nelsen, UC Davis
11:25 Seeding rates in grain sorghum—Michelle Leinfelder-Miles, UCCE Delta Farm Advisor
11:35 Return for lunch
12:00 Barbeque Lunch
Alfalfa and Forage Program
12:30 Welcome and Introductions—Dan Putnam, UCCE/UCD Alfalfa Specialist
12:35 Appreciation for the Field Station Staff—Brad Hanson & Ted Dejong, UCCE/UC Davis
12:45 Key Activities for California Alfalfa & Forage Association—Jane Townsend, CAFA, Sacramento, CA
Field Tour
1:05 Near-loss of Chlorpyrifos (Lorsban) – The story isn't over yet: pay attention to stewardship in alfalfa IPM! – Pete Goodell, UC IPM Program, Kearney Ag Center, Parlier, CA
1:20 Implementing IPM in Alfalfa Production for insects, weeds and diseases –Rachael Long & Larry Godfrey, UCCE Yolo-Solano-Sacramento Counties, Woodland, CA
1:35 Alfalfa Blogs- Electronic Communications on Pest Management of Interest to you!— Michelle Leinfelder-Miles, UCCE, Delta Region, CA
1:40 Developing cropping systems to maximize protein from alfalfa for human consumption – Dan Putnam, UC Davis, Davis, CA
2:05 Identifying the Bad Guys—Identifying Weeds Common in Sacramento Valley&What strategies makes sense Q&A –Brad Hanson, Weed Specialist, UC Davis
2:20 Poisonous weeds in alfalfa – Nitrates, alkaloids and tannins: What are the keyones that affect animals?—Birgit Puschner, UC Veterinary College, UC Davis
2:35 Estimating the true water needs of alfalfa and using ET to schedule Irrigations–Daniele Zaccaria, Irrigation Specialist, UC Davis, CA
2:50 Kura Clover – Introduction of a new crop – the importance of being patient–Dan Putnam, UC Forage Specialist, UC Davis, CA
2:55 Switchgrass Plantings for Biofuels—Dan Putnam, UC Davis
3:00 Choosing Alfalfa Varieties for Maximizing Pest Resistance and Yield—Dan Putnam, UC Davis
3:15 Low Lignin Alfalfa – A New Technology coming along - Current and Future UC Experiments – Brenda Perez, UC Graduate Student, UC Davis
3:30 Drip Irrigation Studies in Alfalfa—Ali Montazar, Department of Plant Sciences, UC Davis
3:45 Breeding and Evaluation of Fall Dormancy in Alfalfa – Charlie Brummer, UC Davis
4:00 Deficit Irrigation of Alfalfa and Interactions with varieties—James Radawich, Graduate Student, UC Davis
4:20 Return to Base
/h2>- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
The UC Small Grains program requests your participation in a survey, which will help inform research and extension efforts. The questions were developed to help us understand the changing landscape of small grains production in California. The survey was designed to take less than 10 minutes, and responses will remain anonymous. We thank you for your participation!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/UC_SmallgrainsSurvey
For more information on the UC Small Grains program, please see the webpage: http://smallgrains.ucanr.edu/.
- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
On Friday, January 6th, I hosted the annual SJC and Delta Field Crops Meeting in Stockton, CA. The presentations from that meeting have now been posted to my website and are available here. Also available from my website are full reports of local research trials, including the Delta sorghum seeding rate trial and field corn variety trial.
UC statewide specialists make their research results available through the Agronomy Research and Information Center (RIC) website. At the meeting, we had presentations that referenced the sorghum website and the variety selection tool for small grains, which are products of UC statewide programs.
We hope you will find this information useful, and we hope you will share your feedback with us so that we may best serve your research and outreach interests.
- Author: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
The UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences has announced their field day for small grains and alfalfa. The event will take place on Wednesday, May 11, 2016 from 8:15am to 4:15pm. The small grains field day will take place in the morning, and the alfalfa field day will take place in the afternoon. Lunch will be provided, and there is no registration fee.
The field day is located on Hutchison Road, just west of the city of Davis. Take Highway 113 north from Interstate 80, or take Highway 113 south from Woodland. Exit on Hutchison Road, and go west. Take a right at the first roundabout, left at the second roundabout, and the Agronomy Headquarters is about ¼ mile west in a clump of trees and buildings on your left.
A tentative agenda is as follows:
8:15am – Noon: Small Grains Field Day
7:45 Registration (no charge)
8:15 Welcome and Introductions—Mark Lundy, UCCE/UCD Grain Specialist
8:20 Overview of wheat breeding—Jorge Dubcovsky, UCD wheat breeder
8:25 Introducing new California Wheat Commission Executive Director Deanna Fernandez
8:35 Depart for field
Field Tour:
8:50 – 10:50 Advances and directions in small grain breeding
8:50 Promising malting barley varieties —Alicia del Blanco, UC Davis
9:05 Durum Wheat Varieties: new genes for grain yield—Alicia del Blanco, UC Davis
9:15 Promising common wheat releases—Oswaldo Chicaiza, UC Davis
9:30 Evaluation of high resistant starch wheat lines—Andre Schönhofen, UC Davis
9:45 QTL for increased number of spikelets— Junli Zhang and Saarah Kuzay, UC Davis
10:00 Discovering genes for drought tolerance—Tyson Howell, UC Davis
10:15 Combining two stripe rust resistance genes in a single locus—Nicolas Cobo, UC Davis
10:30 Mutants for stripe rust resistance—Josh Hegarty, UC Davis
10:45 Travel to forage trial
10:55 – 11:55: Variety testing and agronomic management of small grain crops
10:55 Small grain forage variety evaluation—Cal Qualset & Lynn Gallagher, UC Davis
11:10 Statewide Variety Development and Evaluation – Wheat, Triticale, and Barley Yields, Performance and Pest Resistance—Mark Lundy & Phil Mayo, UC Davis
11:40 Demonstration of in-field N monitoring & quicktests for improved precision of N fertilization—Jessica Schweiger, UC Davis
11:50 Late-planted heirloom varieties at different seeding rates—Margaret Lloyd, UCCE
12:00 NOON – Barbeque Lunch – Many thanks to California Crop Improvement for the Complementary Lunch!
12:35pm - 4:15pm: Alfalfa/Forages Field Day
12:35 Introductions—Dan Putnam, UCCE/UCD Alfalfa Specialist
12:40 Welcome, Department of Plant Sciences—Chris Van Kessel, Chair
12:50 Welcome from the Dean-Changes at UC Davis in Agriculture—Dean Helene Dillard, Dean College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, UC Davis.
1:00 Depart for field
Field Tour:
1:05 Insect Management and Disappearing Options for Alfalfa—Larry Godfrey, UC Davis and Rachael Long, UCCE
1:20 Measuring Evapotranspiration (ET) in the Field – Ali Montazar, Project Scientist, UC Davis
1:35 Using ET to schedule irrigations – How to—Daniele Zaccharia, Irrigation Specialist, UC Davis.
1:50 Sorghum Field Studies for Grain and Forage Crops—Jeff Dalberg, Kearney Ag. Center, Fresno, CA
2:05 Field Studies with New Weed Management Options—Mick Canevari, UCCE, San Joaquin County
2:25 Kura Clover, an alternative Clover for Pastures—Dan Putnam, UC Davis
2:35 Subsurface Drip Irrigation Studies on Spacing—Dan Putnam, Daniele Zaccaria, UC Davis
2:50 Deficit Irrigation Strategies for Alfalfa—James Radavich, Dan Putnam, Ali Montazar, UC Davis
3:05 Controlling Gophers in Alfalfa Fields—Roger Baldwin, UC Davis
3:20 Understanding the Fertilizer Needs of Alfalfa—Steve Orloff, UCCE Farm Advisor, Siskiyou County
3:35 Variety Performance Data for Managing Diseases, Insects, and Nematodes, UC Davis—Dan Putnam, UC Davis
3:50 Breeding Alfalfa for California—Scott Newell, Gitanshu Munjal, Charlie Brummer, UC Davis
4:15 Return to Base