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Critical Period for OSR Drilling Narrows
Date added: 02/09/04 |
Miss the optimum drilling date for Winter OSR this year and you could be
sacrificing up to 0.5t/ha of yield for every week you are out, warns ProCam
technical agronomist Nick Myers.
Analysis of 5 years’ of information from ProCam’s 4cast predictive agronomy
system shows the window of opportunity for drilling Winter OSR is narrower
than many believe and the penalties for being either early or late are equally
severe.
“Across the country there seems to be a two week window, usually within
September, where drilling date has little effect on final yield but as soon as
you move either side of this the impact on yield is dramatic,” Nick Myers
explains.
Highest average yield of the last five years was 1999 where the 4cast national
average yield was 3.6t/ha. The poorest year was 2001 with 2.5t/ha.
“Of recent years, the most critical year for drilling date was actually last year
where sowing either side of the window reduced yields by a staggering
0.48t/ha per week. The average over the last 5 years is around 0.36t/ha per
week which even so represents a lot of money for a few days inaccuracy.”
The trick is, of course, recognising the critical two week period for your
particular area and this is where local on-the-ground agronomic support is
essential.
“Talk to your agronomist now and ask them when this period is for your
particular area -if they’ve never heard of the relevance of this critical two
weeks, change your agronomist – it is that important,” Nick Myers says. |
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