Article taken from the FarmBusiness, written by Chris Lyddon
Project Lamport is at a site in Northamptonshire that suffers desperately from the district’s notorious black-grass. Agrovista, with the support of Bayer CropScience, is using it as a guinea pig for potential answers, with the aim of learning from the successes, and failures.
“Over the next five years we want to reduce the black-grass population and, if we can, keep growers growing combinable crops along the way,” Mark Hemmant of Agrovista told a recent briefing at the site for journalists.
Last year oilseed rape at the site failed. It was glyphosated off and then the plough went in. “We’ve still got lots and lots of black-grass,” he said. “We can’t rely on chemistry.”
The trouble is there aren’t simple answers and the problem is getting worse. “Advisers say that 1% of the wheat area is being glyphosated off because of black-grass,” Mr Hemmant reported. “We have to do something to get the black-grass population down.”
Delayed sowing bought risks and ploughing wasn’t necessarily the answer. Rothamsted put the range of effectiveness of ploughing at anything between 6% and 82%. “Ploughing year on year isn’t a solution. All you do is plough up your problem again.”
Higher seed rates weren’t necessarily the answer either, because the effects could be minor.
“Spring cropping’s probably the most effective,” Mr Hemmant suggest. “The problem on heavy soils is that it can be challenging. You want something that will dry the soil out.” You have to get the black-grass to come up so you can spray it off. “Part of the solution is to have minimum soil disturbance at drilling.
“The sexy thing is the cover crop ahead of spring wheat, but there are other things. We don’t want a species we can’t control. That’s why we went for black oats and vetch. We can control them.”
The project is set to last for five years and its success will be judged by how much they have managed to reduce the black-grass.
Jerome Vasseur of Poitiers-based plant breeder Jouffray Drillaud described how work on cover crops in France could translate into useful solutions for growers in England. “We’re breeders, all kinds of grasses,” he said. “We’re specialised in that kind of crop. We built-up competence in terms of cover crops, combinable crops you plant after harvest and leave in until spring planting.
“In France you’re not allowed to leave soil bare during the winter. You have to sow something.
“The authorities want to have some nitrogen, that would otherwise be leached into the ground and end up in the river.”
That was likely to give 30k of N a hectare. “It’s 30k of nitrogen that’s free of charge. The second reason for cover crops is the green manure effect. You raise the level of organic matter in the soil.
“We aim to colonise the ground and have some weed control. We increase the level of biomass so there is less space for weeds.”
Mr Vasseur acknowledged that in the UK the big concern was black-grass. “Agrovista has developed a strategy. You leave gaps so the black-grass can establish, then you glyphosate everything. We’re learning from Agrovista when it comes to black-grass control. By mixing different rooting systems we can obtain a very interesting effect on soil structure.
“We also aim to increase biodiversity and have some parasite cycle interruption,” he said.
“The last goal we are trying to achieve is to increase yield. There is another goal specific to the UK which is the black-grass control.”
He discussed what Jouffray Drillaud is doing to combine cover crops to the best effect. “Vetches have been interesting; legumes have interesting effects. There are over 120 subspecies of vetches – we’re working on four of them.
“We like legumes. Legumes have the ability to mineralise very fast. They have a good carbon to nitrogen ratio. The lower the ratio, the faster the mineralisation will be.”
Another important element was avena strigosa or black oats. “Avena strigosa has the ability to remain green.” It produces a lot of biomass and the seeds are very small – “You wouldn’t harvest it.”
In France they expect cover crops to be killed off by frost, but that doesn’t happen in the UK. This does have one advantage. “The farmer can choose the date at which it dies off,” Mr Vasseur said.
Project Lamport is at a site in Northamptonshire that suffers desperately from the district’s notorious black-grass. Agrovista, with the support of Bayer CropScience, is using it as a guinea pig for potential answers, with the aim of learning from the successes, and failures.
“Over the next five years we want to reduce the black-grass population and, if we can, keep growers growing combinable crops along the way,” Mark Hemmant of Agrovista told a recent briefing at the site for journalists.
Last year oilseed rape at the site failed. It was glyphosated off and then the plough went in. “We’ve still got lots and lots of black-grass,” he said. “We can’t rely on chemistry.”
The trouble is there aren’t simple answers and the problem is getting worse. “Advisers say that 1% of the wheat area is being glyphosated off because of black-grass,” Mr Hemmant reported. “We have to do something to get the black-grass population down.”
Delayed sowing bought risks and ploughing wasn’t necessarily the answer. Rothamsted put the range of effectiveness of ploughing at anything between 6% and 82%. “Ploughing year on year isn’t a solution. All you do is plough up your problem again.”
Higher seed rates weren’t necessarily the answer either, because the effects could be minor.
“Spring cropping’s probably the most effective,” Mr Hemmant suggest. “The problem on heavy soils is that it can be challenging. You want something that will dry the soil out.” You have to get the black-grass to come up so you can spray it off. “Part of the solution is to have minimum soil disturbance at drilling.
“The sexy thing is the cover crop ahead of spring wheat, but there are other things. We don’t want a species we can’t control. That’s why we went for black oats and vetch. We can control them.”
The project is set to last for five years and its success will be judged by how much they have managed to reduce the black-grass.
Jerome Vasseur of Poitiers-based plant breeder Jouffray Drillaud described how work on cover crops in France could translate into useful solutions for growers in England. “We’re breeders, all kinds of grasses,” he said. “We’re specialised in that kind of crop. We built-up competence in terms of cover crops, combinable crops you plant after harvest and leave in until spring planting.
“In France you’re not allowed to leave soil bare during the winter. You have to sow something.
“The authorities want to have some nitrogen, that would otherwise be leached into the ground and end up in the river.”
That was likely to give 30k of N a hectare. “It’s 30k of nitrogen that’s free of charge. The second reason for cover crops is the green manure effect. You raise the level of organic matter in the soil.
“We aim to colonise the ground and have some weed control. We increase the level of biomass so there is less space for weeds.”
Mr Vasseur acknowledged that in the UK the big concern was black-grass. “Agrovista has developed a strategy. You leave gaps so the black-grass can establish, then you glyphosate everything. We’re learning from Agrovista when it comes to black-grass control. By mixing different rooting systems we can obtain a very interesting effect on soil structure.
“We also aim to increase biodiversity and have some parasite cycle interruption,” he said.
“The last goal we are trying to achieve is to increase yield. There is another goal specific to the UK which is the black-grass control.”
He discussed what Jouffray Drillaud is doing to combine cover crops to the best effect. “Vetches have been interesting; legumes have interesting effects. There are over 120 subspecies of vetches – we’re working on four of them.
“We like legumes. Legumes have the ability to mineralise very fast. They have a good carbon to nitrogen ratio. The lower the ratio, the faster the mineralisation will be.”
Another important element was avena strigosa or black oats. “Avena strigosa has the ability to remain green.” It produces a lot of biomass and the seeds are very small – “You wouldn’t harvest it.”
In France they expect cover crops to be killed off by frost, but that doesn’t happen in the UK. This does have one advantage. “The farmer can choose the date at which it dies off,” Mr Vasseur said.