Controls for white mould
A Brazilian scientist visiting the University of Guelph has found white mould can be reduced by rotating certain crops and leaving crop residue on the soil surface. White mould, a disease that affects more than 350 species of plants worldwide, affects white beans, canola, soybeans, peas, tomatoes and carrots.
White mould in Brazil is a serious problem. A seed-borne fungus, it can cause sporadic losses of up to 30 percent of the country’s soybean crop.
Researcher Luiz Nasser and University of Guelph environmental biologist John Sutton have found the disease diminishes in beans grown under zero tillage in areas previously sown to upland rice in the summer. The soil is covered by a three- to five-centimetre layer of rice residue, which effectively buries the fungus.
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In a growth-room trial, Nasser controlled temperature, humidity, soil moisture and residue condition to simulate field conditions in Brazil’s soybean-growing area. That allowed him to observe the onset of white mould under typical conditions.
“We are recreating in the lab what we saw in the field,” he said.
Initial results indicate that survival of the fungus after 120 days was reduced by 64 percent when it was buried three centimetres and by 40 percent when placed on the soil surface.
“By using crop rotation and residue techniques, fungicide costs could be substantially reduced,” Nasser said. Potential savings are $4,000 (U.S.) per 100 hectares (253 acres) of soybeans irrigated by a centre pivot.
The growth-room trial is being extended to a four-year joint project between Canada and Brazil. Field and lab trials involving crop sequences (soybean-bean-wheat-corn) and soil management (zero-till, conventional tillage) will be conducted in Brazil and at Guelph’s Arkell Research Station.
– University of Guelph
Cheaper canola-meal feed
Data collected from feeding trials across Western Canada show pigs fed canola meal rations will grow and finish as well as those fed soybean meal – but at a lower cost.
Based on 1991-93 average prices, the trials showed that $1 to $2 could be saved per market hog when pigs are fed rations supplemented by canola meal. In a typical 300 sow farrow-to-finish operation that represents a saving of $6,000 to $12,000 per year.
“Pigs fed canola meal had the same dressing percentage, feed conversion and average daily gain as pigs fed solely soybean-based rations,”said Dave Hickling, director of feed technology for the Canadian International Grains Institute and co-ordinator of the trials for the Canola Council of Canada.
Based on earlier feeding trials, an assumption had been made by many hog producers that they couldn’t get their pigs to market as quickly on diets containing canola meal.
But past feeding trials didn’t balance rations to take into account canola meal is lower in digestible lysine than soybean meal.
“Formulating rations to digestible amino acids is a relatively new concept,” Hickling said.
When additional lysine is added to a canola-meal ration, giving it the same level of dietary protein and energy as a soybean-meal ration, pigs fed canola meal perform just as well as those fed soybean meal – at both the grower and finisher stage – and the feed cost is lower, Hickling said.
The feeding trials were conducted at independently-run research facilities in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
By running the same feeding trial in each of the three provinces, differences in environment, barn conditions, ingredient quality and pig genetics were factored into the study.
Ensuring that the ration is nutritionally balanced is key to achieving the type of performance shown in these trials.
Results, when averaged across all trials, show no statistical difference and only negligible numerical difference between pig performance on canola meal or soybean meal diets.
Average daily gain (during the growing and finishing phase) was 799 grams per day on the soybean diet; 798 g/day on a medium canola meal ration and 795 g/day on a high percent canola.
That translates to, at most, an extra half day of feeding to get the pigs to market.
“The bottom line is, pigs can be sent to market as quickly on canola meal as they can on soybean meal,” Hickling said.
– Canola Council of Canada
Winter cereal care
With the seeding of winter wheat and fall rye near completion, farmers should be turning their attention to two further operations, says Ken Panchuk, crop development specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture.
“Control of winter annuals should be carried out near freeze-up,” said Panchuk.
“Weed control at this time is inexpensive and very effective. It gives the crop an excellent start in the spring by eliminating competition from winter annuals such as flixweed and stinkweed, the two most troublesome weeds in winter cereals.”
Planning nitrogen fertilizer application for the spring should also be on the agenda. Early spring application yields the best results: it boosts crop yield and maintains or increases protein levels.
For more information about winter wheat and fall rye, farmers should contact their extension agrologist.
The Winter Wheat Production Manual offers more detailed information on both these operations. It is available, free, from Ducks Unlimited Canada, 5th Avenue Place, 4-17 5th Ave. N., Yorkton, Sask., S3N OY9.
– Saskatchewan Agriculture
