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