Alternative Grain and Oil Seed Crops

1
Alternative Grain and Oil Seed Crops

• Eric Nielsen
• David Baltensperger
• University of Nebraska
• Panhandle Research and Extension Center

2
Constraints to Crop Production in Western Nebraska

• Water
• Most limiting factor for crop growth
• Large seasonal and yearly precipitation
  variability
• Irrigation may remedy partially or completely
• Short growing season
• May 25-Sept 25

3
Constraints to Crop Production (continued)

• Weather
• Hail
• Temperature
• Highs and lows
• Diurnal variation
• As much as 50oF
• Weekly variation is frequently that large

4
Nebraska Precipitation Patterns
5
What is limited irrigation?

• River Flow/canal
• Timing/Season
• No early run
• Early shut off
• Quantity
• Deep Well
• Timing
• Quantity
• Cost

6
Crop Seasons in Western Nebraska
7
Alternative Crops

• Irrigated
• Anything other than corn, beans, beets, alfalfa
  and potato
• Wheat, sunflower, other oil crops, leisure crops
  pulse crops
• Dryland
• Anything other than wheat
• Proso, forages, corn, sunflower, peas

8
Alternative Crops

• Group I
• We know how to grow
• We have an established market
• Group II
• One of the above is missing
• Group III
• Both of the above are missing

9
Alternative Crops

• Warm-Season Grass
• Sorghum, proso, dryland corn, warm-season forages
  
• Cool-Season Grass
• White wheat, oats, barley, canary grass
• Warm-Season Broadleaf
• Sunflower, chickpea
• Cool-Season Broadleaf
• Canola, brown mustard, pea, chicory

10
Alternative Crop Classes

• Oilseeds
• Brown mustard, canola, sunflower, safflower
• Cereals
• Wheat especially white wheat, sorghum, proso
• Pulses
• Chickpeas, beans, lentils, peas
• Fiber Forage
• Foxtail millet, sorghum sudangrass, corn, hemp
• Leisure
• Birdseed, turfgrass seed
• Medicinal
• Safflower, echinacea, corn

11
Why Irrigated Winter Wheat?

• Fits into crop rotations
• Provides residue cover
• Limited water crop option
• Familiar crop to grow
• Early water use period
• Yield return based on water supply
• Yield potential with limited water

12
Crop Water Use (inches)
13
Why Hard White Wheat?

• Performance
• Top performers in irrigated trials
• Excellent straw strength

14
Why Hard White Wheat?

• Satisfy domestic market demands
• Meet available export market demands
• Western NE has advantages compared to other
  regions
• Climate
• Transportation

15
Water Management inIrrigated Winter Wheat
16
Crop Water Use Curve
17
Cumulative Water Use

• Total Cumulative
• Emergence
• Beginning spring growth 4.0 4.0
• Jointing stage 4.5 8.5
• Boot stage 2.5 11.0
• Flowering stage 3.0 14.0
• Milk stage of grain 3.0 17.0
• Dough stage of grain 2.0 19.0
• Maturity 3.0 22.0

18
Pre-plant Irrigation

• Consider pre-plant irrigation if soil is dry
• More uniform seeding depth
• Avoid crusting
• Delayed emergence
• Less potential for wind erosion

19
Water Management

• Early spring
• Irrigation may be needed to prevent water stress
  and desiccation due to dry winter
• Mid season
• Need adequate water at boot stage and at heading
• Irrigate before water use exceeds system delivery
  capacity
• At peak water use, have stored soil water and
  irrigation available

20
Water Management

• Late season
• Wheat requires 3-4 in. of water during last month
  of growth
• Match water stored in soil with water applied
  through irrigation
• Winter wheat can produce adequate yields using 70
  80 of optimum water at most growth stages

21
Conclusions

• Winter wheat responds to water
• Know capability of delivery system
• Manage for the available water
• Know soil profile
• Consider hard white wheat for irrigated acres

22
Sunflower Production in Limited Irrigation
Cropping Systems in the High Plains
23
A Low Water User?

• Sunflowers are generally considered a drought
  tolerant crop
• Use between 8 and 28 inches of water
• 24 inches required for stress-free growth
• Sunflower is not a low water user!!
• Drought tolerant because of its deep root system

24
ET During Growing Season
Wheat Corn Sunflower
25
Sunflower Yield Function
26
Yield vs Evapotranspiration
27
vs Evapotranspiration
Corn 2.45 Soybean 5.00 Wheat
4.00 Sunflower 13.25
28
Add Confection/Price Line
Corn 2.45 Soybean 5.00 Wheat
4.00 Sunflower 13.25 Confection 19.00
29
Irrigated Sunflower Rotations

• Sunflowers should follow a heavily irrigated crop
  such as corn
• Winter wheat corn sunflower annual forage
  or grain sorghum
• Corn corn sunflower annual forage
• Winter wheat corn sunflower dry bean

30
(No Transcript)
31
Summary of limited water sunflower plantings
Nebraska and Wyoming1990-2005 (w/o hail)
32
Water Management

• Dryland/limited irrigation crop
• Very drought tolerant - Can produce grain with
  just 7 inches of available water to winter
  wheat
• Extensive root system allows for efficient water
  scavenging
• Typically produces 150 lbs/ac of seed per inch of
  water over 7 inches

33
Water Management

• Irrigating Sunflower
• Adequate water is needed for establishment
• Irrigations to give good emergence, at bud and
  full flower reduce yield loss relative to full
  irrigation
• Total seasonal use could be 22 or more inches
• Growth stage irrigation is preferred
• Sunflowers fit limited irrigation scenarios

34
Safflower
35
Niger Could replace 40 million in imports from
India Looks like we will be able to grow new
cultivars here and to the east
36
U.S. Biodiesel Consumption
37
(No Transcript)
38
Biodiesel compared topetroleum diesel

• Higher cetane number
• Higher lubricity
• Biodiesel can replace the sulfur as a lubricity
  additive
• 1 biodiesel can increase lubricity by 65
• Higher flash point
• Biodegradable and non-toxic in the tank
• Higher cloud point

39
What is needed for this region?

• Adapted crops and crop cultivars
• Grower know how
• Infra-structure

40
Potential Biodiesel Crops for Region

• Canola
• Winter
• Spring
• Brown Mustard
• Camelina

41
(No Transcript)
42
Brown mustardBrassica juncea
43
Camelina sativa
44
Canola
45
Where do they fit in the System?

• Cool-season crop
• Impacted by late hard freezes
• Impacted by early high temperatures in summer
• Big water use period June 15-July 25 depending on
  elevation and latitude
• Broadleaf crop
• Rotates well with grasses
• Potential fallow replacement for dryland
• Tap root with many branches
• Cautious of rotations with schlerotinia and
  nematode susceptible crops especially in
  irrigated fields

46
General Agronomics

• Very small seed
• 100,000 seed per pound
• Camelina much smaller at 1,000,000 seeds/lb
• 50 lbs/bushel
• Not very tolerant of flooding
• Slightly taller than wheat
• 2 5 depending on variety, moisture and
  fertility

47
Crop Establishment

• Requires a firm well packed seedbed
• Final tillage within a few days of planting to
  kill seedling weeds
• No-till requires good residue distribution
• Weed control is big issue
• Round-up Ready canola
• Preplant, soil incorporation herbicides
• Some postemergence grass control available

48
(No Transcript)
49
(No Transcript)
50
Seeding Rates

• 2-7 lbs of seed per acre
• For final uniform stands
• 1 plant per 2 inches with 6 inch irrigated row
  spacing
• Higher populations help compete with weeds, but
  not without cost

51
Planting

• Soil temperatures above 40F
• Typically 8-10 weeks before last hard frost
• Early planting
• Allows maturity before heat stress
• Balanced against potential loss to late frost
• Allows more re-crop options if crop fails

52
Planting Depth Drills

• 1/8 to 3/4 inch
• Needs to be into moisture
• Or planted shallow expecting a rain
• Grain Drill
• 6 to 12 inches spacing
• 6-9 inches best, especially under irrigation
• Typically use disk drill to avoid soil washing
  over small cotyledons, but hoe opener may provide
  more protection from wind erosion during
  establishment period.

53
(No Transcript)
54
Soil Fertility

• Soil Test
• N, S, P and K are important in our region
• Heavy N and S user
• 1.25 Wheat recommendation for N
• 2 Wheat recommendation for S
• Expect to use 150-175 lbs total N to reach 3,500
  lb yield
• Susceptible to in-row salt
• Ratio of 1 lb of S to 6 lb N (applied residual)

55
Insect Disease Management

• Flea Beetles can be devastating
• Use treated seeds
• Scout fields early
• Be ready to spray in a short period of time
• Most known diseases have been controlled with
  seed treatments in this region

56
Flea beetle damage
57
Irrigation Management

• During establishment is most valuable time
• A light irrigation can mean the difference
  between no stand and a perfect stand
• Next most critical time is during flowering
• Roughly 100 lbs of yield per day of flowering
• One week 700 lbs
• Up to 20 inches of total water
• Light water during hot dry weather can help with
  temperature stress, but excessively moist
  conditions can facilitate disease build-up

58
(No Transcript)
59
(No Transcript)
60
(No Transcript)
61
Harvesting

• Timing is critical
• Swath
• Most pods starting to turn color
• Harvesting too green reduces oil content
• Harvesting too dry increases shatter
• Pickup attachments need to be gentle
• Direct Combine
• Drying often required for storage because green
  material (especially weeds) increases moisture
  content

62
(No Transcript)
63
(No Transcript)
64
(No Transcript)
65
(No Transcript)
66
(No Transcript)
67
(No Transcript)
68
Advantages

• Cool season crops
• Broadleaf
• Relatively low input crop
• Especially as a fallow replacement
• Compared to other irrigated crops
• Weed control is largest cash cost
• Roundup Ready canola (tech fee)
• Brown mustard (treflan) (grass control)
• Mature in time to no-till wheat
• Mature in time to plant wheat under irrigation
• Wheat equipment

69
Biodiesel potential

• Blue Sun biodiesel currently soliciting
  membership in closed cooperative
• Through Progressive Producers
• Contact Crossroads Cooperative, Sidney, Nebraska

70
Blue Sun Blending TerminalAlamosa, Colorado
71
(No Transcript)
72
Blue Sun Biodiesel World Class Processing
Continuous flow processing meets ASTM and DIN
biodiesel specifications
73
Dryland Alternatives

• Cool-season grass
• wheat, spring wheat, oat, triticale, barley,
  etc., (1,000,000 acres)
• Warm-season grass
• sorghum, sorghum-sudan, pearl millet, foxtail
  millet, proso millet, corn (250,000 acres)
• Cool-season broadleaf
• peas, alfalfa, austrian winter peas, turnips
  (3,000 acres)
• Warm-season broadleaf
• kochia, sunflowers, amaranth (50,000 acres)

74
Why Forages

• Most crops use 30 of their total water from
  heading to grain fill.
• Hence forage production from a given crop will
  use 30 less water than growing the same crop for
  grain.

75
Summer Annual Forage Yields3 year dryland average
76
Warm Season Forages

• Foxtail millet
• Cheapest and easiest to plant
• Limited additional yield with irrigation
• Pearl millet
• Works best if grazing is an option
• Some regrowth for second harvest
• Sorghum-sudan grass hybrids
• Best silage crop other than corn
• More dry matter than foxtail
• More expensive to plant
• Corn

77
Summer Annual Forage Management

• Will produce some crop with a full profile
• Will produce more with more irrigation
• Foxtail may be an exception
• Two-cuts may produce better quality than one
• Nitrogen is limiting nutrient
• Careful can lead to high nitrates
• Nitrates accumulate in the stem raise the
  cutter bar
• Nitrates can be reduced by ensiling
• Requires large amounts for optimum growth

78
Forage Scenarios

• Hay
• Limited water
• Foxtail millet
• Potential for more water
• Pearl millet or sorghum-sudan grass
• Silage
• Sorghum-sudan grass, pearl millet or corn
• Graze
• Pearl millet

79
Cool Season Forages

• Grasses
• Oats, triticale, rye and wheat
• Legumes
• Peas, alfalfa
• Require a forage market
• Hay, silage, greenchop or grazing
• Value changes rapidly

80
Triticale, Oats, Wheat and Rye

• Pros
• Early spring growth
• Relative high yield for the season
• Respond to Nitrogen
• Respond to Irrigation
• Cons
• Nitrates can be a problem
• Hay quality is very maturity dependent
• Beards can be a problem
• High fertility cost

81
Peas for forage, the pros cons

• Pros
• Generally higher in protein
• Grow early in the season (before price decline)
• Fix their own nitrogen
• Easy to put up for hay
• Cons
• Need to inoculate
• Lower yielding
• Hard to hit proper moisture for silage
• Doesnt work as well for grazing

82
Primary Dryland Considerations

• Market
• Time of need
• Distance
• How they fit rotation
• Early forages allow for planting wheat
• Summer annualspush water regeneration prior to
  wheat planting especially full yield potential
  types

83
(No Transcript)
84
(No Transcript)
85
(No Transcript)
86
Proso and Foxtail millet
87
Proso (Panicum miliaceum)

• Widely grown
• Current Price
• Up to 15/cwt
• When acres grown exceed 600,000 acres, prices
  decline
• When less than 400,000 acres, prices spike up

88
Current uses

• Birdseed
• Livestock feed
• Poultry
• Hogs
• Cattle
• Mushroom production
• Human food
• Nut
• Porridge
• Steam breads
• Pasta

89
Steam breads

• Japanese use a glutinous type
• We spent a large amount of time identifying what
  a glutinous type was
• They are associated with very short day types
  that dont flower during our normal growing
  season
• Current US cultivars are not acceptable for this
  application

90
(No Transcript)
91
(No Transcript)
92
New materials

• White types
• Horizon, Huntsman, Earlybird,
• High Yield
• Early Maturity
• Large seed
• Good Test Weight
• Short height
• Stripper header harvestable
• Red types
• Higher yield, different shades, including
  two-tones
• Waxy types
• Pending release

93
(No Transcript)
94
(No Transcript)
95
Foxtail millet

• Breeding has been very limited until the past
  several years
• Several advanced lines are currently being
  evaluated for
• Seed yield
• Head size
• Maturity
• Seed color
• Wheat streak mosaic resistance

96
Summary

• Current situation for proso is great
• Lowest water user out there
• Price is good
• Fits our rotations well
• Caution
• Market is easily broken
• Long term research may expand market, but it is
  not there yet
• Dont forget
• Reds, Foxtail millet niches

97
What are Pulse Crops?

• Legumes for edible food
• Most common in our area is dry beans, but new
  alternatives include
• Chickpeas (Garbanzo beans)
• Peas
• Lentils
• Vegetable soybeans

98
Chickpea
99
Thank You!