Cattle should be removed from wheat pastures when the crop reaches first hollow stem (FHS, Figure 1). Grazing past this stage can severely affect wheat yields (for a full explanation, please refer to eUpdate article “Optimal time to remove cattle from wheat pastures: First hollow stem” in the Feb. 5, 2016 issue).
Figure 1. Comparison between wheat at jointing (plant on the left) and wheat at first hollow stem (plant on the right). Photo courtesy of Jeff Edwards, former Oklahoma State University Extension Wheat Specialist.
To screen for FHS during this important time in the growing season, the K-State Extension Wheat and Forages crew measures FHS on a weekly basis in 23 different commonly grown wheat varieties in Kansas. The varieties are in a September-sown replicated trial at the South Central Experiment Field near Hutchinson, in cooperation with Gary Cramer, Agronomist-in-Charge of the Field.
Ten stems are split open per variety per replication for a total of 40 stems monitored per variety. The average length of hollow stem is reported in Table 1. As of Feb. 12, all the monitored varieties have < 0.1 cm of hollow stem and therefore are far from achieving FHS, which occurs at 1.5 cm (about a half-inch). As with our report from last week, there was no separation between the growing point and the crown area in most varieties evaluated, indicating that the hollow stem did not begin to elongate at this point.
From a FHS perspective, producers grazing wheat in the south central region of Kansas do not have to worry about removing cattle from wheat pastures at this point, regardless of variety selection. Additionally, producers in this region need not to worry about early release from winter dormancy (early spring greenup) at this point. With the warm weather forecast for next week, though, it will be important to keep checking this report in the next few issues of the Agronomy eUpdate as we monitor advances in hollow stem of wheat varieties.
Table 1. Length of hollow stem measured on Feb. 9, 2016 of 23 wheat varieties sown Sept. 26, 2015 near Hutchinson. The critical FHS length for purposes of cattle removal is 1.5 cm
|
Variety |
Hollow stem length |
|
|
cm |
|
1863 |
0.05 |
|
Bentley |
0.01 |
|
Danby |
0.03 |
|
Doublestop CL Plus |
0.04 |
|
Duster |
0.03 |
|
Everest |
0.05 |
|
Gallagher |
0.03 |
|
KanMark |
0.06 |
|
LCS Chrome |
0.01 |
|
LCS Mint |
0.02 |
|
LCS Pistol |
0.04 |
|
LCS Wizard |
0.05 |
|
Overley |
0.02 |
|
Ruby Lee |
0.09 |
|
SY Flint |
0.04 |
|
SY Wolf |
0.04 |
|
T158 |
0.05 |
|
TAM 114 |
0.02 |
|
WB 4303 |
0.05 |
|
WB 4458 |
0.06 |
|
WB Cedar |
0.07 |
|
WB Grainfield |
0.04 |
|
WB Redhawk |
0.04 |
The intention of this report to is provide producers a weekly update on first hollow stem of different wheat varieties in the current growing season. Producers should use this information as a guide, but it is extremely important to monitor FHS from an ungrazed portion of each individual wheat pasture to take the decision of removing cattle from wheat pastures.
Romulo Lollato, Wheat and Forages Specialist
lollato@ksu.edu
DooHong Min, Forage Agronomist
dmin@ksu.edu
Rafael Maeoka, Assistant Scientist
maeoka@ksu.edu
Amanda de Oliveira Silva, Graduate Research Assistant
adeolive@ksu.edu
Brent Jaenisch, Graduate Research Assistant
bjaenisch5@ksu.edu
Gary Cramer, Agronomist-in-Charge, South Central Experiment Field
gcramer@ksu.edu
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