Leslie
Member
Here is some information about last year's YEN results -
Average YEN entrant cereal yield for 2017 was 11 t/ha with an average Harvest Index (HI) of 0.57 and biomass of 16.4 t/ha (Table 1). This was up from the previous year in 2016 but is not an increase from the first three YEN competitions. This year’s crop traits were very similar to the benchmark for the yield components of ears/m2, grains per ear and thousands of grains in a m2 with HI being higher than the benchmark and total biomass being lower.
Table 1. YEN entrant crop traits from 2013-2017 yield competitions including benchmark values (YEN measures are average values so calculated components do not fully add up).
Higher yielding cereal crops usually have a higher biomass with more than 30,000 grains/m2. High grain numbers are often, but not always, achieved with high ear numbers of 600-700 ears/m2 with the highest performing YEN entries in 2017 achieving just under 800 ears/m2. Filling these high grain numbers requires an increased canopy longevity, staying green until the end of July. Over 400 mm of water would be required to achieve the large biomasses of high yielding crops, which in most seasons will need to be supplied from greater root length deeper in the soil profile.
How did your results compare with this? What are you hoping for with this year's crop?
Average YEN entrant cereal yield for 2017 was 11 t/ha with an average Harvest Index (HI) of 0.57 and biomass of 16.4 t/ha (Table 1). This was up from the previous year in 2016 but is not an increase from the first three YEN competitions. This year’s crop traits were very similar to the benchmark for the yield components of ears/m2, grains per ear and thousands of grains in a m2 with HI being higher than the benchmark and total biomass being lower.
Table 1. YEN entrant crop traits from 2013-2017 yield competitions including benchmark values (YEN measures are average values so calculated components do not fully add up).
Higher yielding cereal crops usually have a higher biomass with more than 30,000 grains/m2. High grain numbers are often, but not always, achieved with high ear numbers of 600-700 ears/m2 with the highest performing YEN entries in 2017 achieving just under 800 ears/m2. Filling these high grain numbers requires an increased canopy longevity, staying green until the end of July. Over 400 mm of water would be required to achieve the large biomasses of high yielding crops, which in most seasons will need to be supplied from greater root length deeper in the soil profile.
How did your results compare with this? What are you hoping for with this year's crop?