Northeast Texas wheat makes a comeback

By KRISTY HEMMINGSEN | Country World East Texas

May 24, 2001 -- According to Extension specialists, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for the wheat crop in Northeast Texas.

Sara Allen, agricultural Extension agent for Hunt County said, "It was a tough year for farmers who produce wheat for grain, because weather conditions last fall slowed the planting process, and it also made fertilization virtually impossible."

Dr. Travis Miller, Extension soil and crop sciences, said, "Those who got in early will do fine but some farmers, especially those west of the Hunt and Delta county areas, went ahead and planted soybeans."

And as recent as April, Dr. David Kee, Extension agronomist, said area farmers were beginning not to expect much because there has also been a widespread invasion of ryegrass.

But, Allen, Miller, and Kee agree the wheat crop has certainly made a comeback in the last six to eight weeks.

Kee said this year's crop should see a decent yield of 40 to 60 percent. "The recent rainfall has been a blessing, and an additional inch would be even better," he explained.

At a May 10 wheat production tour in Delta County, Allen, Kee, and Miller, along with Delta County Extension Agent Donnie Peters and Dr. Tom Isakeit, Extension plant pathologist, discussed the wheat crop condition for the area.

Attendees of the event also had the opportunity to view fungicide trials, wheat variety trials, and a demonstration of no-till wheat behind corn.

One fairly severe problem the area wheat farmers had experienced throughout last year's crop was an invasion of Stripe Rust (<I>Puccinia strifformis<I>) a fungus capable of mutating. It resembles Leaf Rust except that the pustules develop between the leaf veins as long streaks, and they are citron yellow.

"Last winter there was a lot of wheat destroyed in this area from Stripe Rust," explained Isakeit.

But for Delta and Hunt county wheat farmers this year, Stripe Rust did not pose to be the problem it had the previous year.

Miller said one problem that did appear was the presence of Septoria (<I>Necrosis<I>) on the leaves, causing a 60 to 80 percent flag leaf loss. This is a fungus which turns the leaves white.

Experimental fungicide testing for controlling Septoria was conducted by Extension specialists on a Delta County wheat field and then later evaluated to obtain results for the recent wheat event.

On April 10 when the wheat was headed out, various fungicides were applied throughout different sections of the field in order to demonstrate the effects these fungicides had on controlling the percentage of the flag leaf affected by Septoria.

Fungicides applied included BAS 5000, Quadris, and Tilt.

Then on April 30, the field was evaluated during the time the flag leaf feeds the head of the plant - when the grain is headed out.

Some sections of the field, which were not treated at all, showed the highest percentages of flag leaf affected by Septoria - at an average of about 2.5 percent.

But there was a significant difference on the plots which were treated with fungicides.

The worst Septoria infestation in the treated areas category, (which was an area treated with a combination of Tilt @ 4 oz./A + Quadris @ 4.1 oz./A), was considerably lower than those areas not treated. The result was 0.6 percent of Septoria on the flag leaves.

Yet, one of the best results of fungicide application used this same combination of product at the same rate but was applied to a different area of the field. This percentage of infestation averaged only about 0.2 percent.

The other top result which was also an average of 0.2 percent was from an application of BAS 5000 @ 9 fl. oz./A.

Therefore, the testing showed fungicides to be successful in controlling fungus. But, Miller said to remember, "Fungicides do not make yield, they protect yield."