- Author: Mark Lundy
- Author: Dinh Giang
- Author: Taylor Nelsen
- Author: Saarah Kuzay
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Due to the health concerns surrounding COVID-19, we had to cancel our annual field day that typically occurs in May at UC Davis. While there is no full replacement for seeing field trials in person, the UC small grains research and extension team has been hard at work developing extension resources that we can share digitally. Please take a moment to visit our 2020 Virtual Small Grains Field Day:
http://smallgrains.ucanr.edu/Field_Days/2020_Virtual_Field_Day/
- Author: Mark Lundy
- Author: Taylor Nelsen
- Author: Konrad Mathesius
- Author: Nicholas Clark
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Measuring soil nitrogen (N) prior to fertilizing can improve N fertilizer management. The soil nitrate quick test is a simple and low-cost test. It provides a ballpark estimate of the soil nitrate-N concentration in the rootzone. Nitrate is a highly plant-available form of nitrogen. Using the soil nitrate quick test when N fertilizer decisions are being made will help define a range of fertilizer rates appropriate for that field. This can provide several benefits. These include improved N use efficiency, lower input costs, improved grain yield or grain protein, and reduced N loss to the air or below the crop rootzone.
Over the...
- Author: Caroline Brady, Waterfowl Programs Supervisor, California Waterfowl
- Contributor: Mark Lundy
Winter grains like wheat and triticale are incredibly attractive to nesting ducks. Winter grains are seeded in the fall and grow throughout the winter; by nesting season, a dense stand of winter grains near a planted rice field looks like a great nesting location with brood-rearing habitat just a waddle away. Several studies have found ducks may favor winter planted grains over natural uplands when they're available, and winter grains in rice country can produce far higher mallard nest densities and nest survival than anything in the Prairie Pothole Region.
Unfortunately, some winter grains like wheat have been declining along with its poor market price, and the Sacramento Valley's once robust mallard population is declining...
- Author: Mark Lundy
- Author: Taylor Nelsen
- Author: Ethan McCullough
- Contributor: Sarah Light
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Results for the 2018-2019 fall planted UC Statewide Small Grain Variety Trials are now available at:
http://smallgrains.ucanr.edu/Variety/
Results can be viewed within an interactive environment that summarizes small grain varieties by crop type across multiple locations and season:
- Author: Mark Lundy
- Author: Taylor Nelsen
- Contributor: Michelle Leinfelder-Miles
- Contributor: Sarah Light
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Preliminary grain yield results for our fall-planted common wheat, triticale, durum wheat and barley trials are now available on the UC Small Grains Research and Information Center website:
http://smallgrains.ucanr.edu/Variety/Preliminary_2019_Yield_Results/
The results are preliminary and may change as...