May 22, 2013                                No. 2013-9

Dr. Jarrod Hardke, Dr. Bob Scott, and Dr. Yeshi Wamishe

Planting Forecast

It’s late and getting later – rainfall reports from 1.5 to 3 inches up and down the state.  I felt like we had about 80% of our rice planted by Monday (the USDA estimate came in at 75%).  State rice acreage estimates I’ve heard range anywhere from 900,000 acres to 1.2 million.  Frankly, I don’t know.  My guess is 1.1 million final acres, but that and 25 cents won’t get you a cup of coffee.  The 10-day forecast never has more than a 20% chance, so there’s still a chance to squeeze a lot of acres in before June.

Yes, we’re late – so everyone should expect lower than optimum yields.  The record yields we were all so excited about in 2012 are not a realistic expectation for 2013 and haven’t been for some time.  While I am optimistic that we will accumulate enough heat units during this growing season to make good yields, those hopes could easily be dashed by an early cool spell in the fall.  A few consecutive nights in the 50s will shut it down.  The 2009 growing season probably compares the closest to what we’re experiencing in 2013 in terms of cold, wet weather, but this season has been colder and wetter than 2009 ever dreamed of being.

Table 1 is similar to one I used earlier in the year, but it has been updated to show planting progress as of May 20^th of each year shown (and eventual state average yield).  In 2008 and 2009 we were pretty far behind at this point in the season as well and we still had solid state average yields of around 150.  While that’s certainly nothing like last year’s record average, it’s something we can do again and even do better than.

Table 1.  Yearly planting progress by May 20 and eventual state average yield.

 

Significant rainfall over the past couple of days should definitely have folks looking at their bottom line to decide whether soybeans or rice are in their best interest financially.  If certain fields are locked into planting rice, then I would strongly recommend planting a hybrid as we are pushed into June.  Hybrids have generally been observed to be better at handling variable conditions, though conventional varieties can also perform well with proper management.  Late May and June simply bring a lot of variability into final yield.  We’ve seen conventional varieties perform right alongside hybrids during these times, but hybrids seem to have yield fallouts a less often.

The bottom line – will you get enough heat units to fill out your kernels to make the yield you need to make?  The shorter the time to maturity, the better your odds are of finishing the crop before cool weather arrives.

When planting a hybrid it may be that you bump up the seeding rate a little so that the plant will tiller less.  That way you’ll have fewer late kernels on tillers to fill out as heat units begin to fade at the end of the season (but if you go too high you increase chances of lodging).

I would not recommend bumping up the seeding rate on conventional varieties.  They do not tiller to the extent of hybrids and you run the risk of increasing both lodging and disease.

Table 2 shows yields for certain cultivars at our mid-May DD50 planting date.  The hybrids XL723 and CLXL729 are on top with several varieties close behind, including Roy J and CL152.

Table 3 shows yields for cultivars at our early-June DD50 planting date.  This table tells a different story – all yields are reduced, but there is less difference between the performance of the top cultivar and the bottom cultivar.  However, the hybrids do seem to come out on top here.

Keep in mind that the “# Years” column is how many years we’ve looked at a cultivar at that planting timing.  The more observations we have, the more confidence we can have in the yield number.  We will try to expand our planting date studies in the future from 4 planting dates to 6 dates to continue improving this dataset.  By expanding to include more dates, hopefully we can get a better handle on yield decline with later planting dates.

Table 2.  Mid-May planting date performance in DD50 trials, 2006-2012.

Test	Cultivar	Avg. Yield	# Years
May	RT XL723	204.8	3
May	RT CLXL729	193.2	4
May	RoyJ	190.0	2
May	CL152	186.7	2
May	Taggart	185.0	2
May	Wells	175.7	6
May	RT CLXL745	174.9	3
May	CL111	170.2	2
May	Jupiter	167.4	5
May	CL151	164.1	3
May	Francis	143.1	2
May	Cheniere	128.0	2

 

Table 3.  Early June planting date performance in DD50 trials, 2006-2012.

Test	Cultivar	Avg. Yield	# Years
June	RT CLXL729	159.8	4
June	RT XL723	147.8	3
June	RT CLXL745	135.1	4
June	Cheniere	126.8	2
June	Wells	125.9	6
June	RoyJ	124.7	2
June	CL151	120.5	4
June	Taggart	119.0	3
June	CL152	117.5	1
June	Francis	116.6	2
June	Jupiter	113.7	5
June	CL111	98.1	3

Herbicide Issues

Rice is anywhere from pre-flood to still being planted.  There have been a number of calls about herbicide options for a quick burndown.  The typical recommendation for these situations is Gramoxone plus FirstShot or Sharpen.  If you’re not fighting a glyphosate resistance battle, it would be a mistake not to use a full shot of Roundup in these fields to control emerged vegetation.

There are already reports of Command breaking, early in some cases, maybe due to extra rainfall and heavy grass pressure.  It’s a good idea to tank-mix an additional residual like Prowl with Ricestar or propanil or Facet.  The Bolero component of RiceBeaux (propanil + Bolero) for residual may get you to flooding, add resistance management, and improve sprangletop control.  In Clearfield rice, there are reports of red rice emerging and it’s time for Newpath to be applied POST.  Last year we had a lot of Newpath drift on conventional rice.  This year is starting out windy and there is a lot of conventional rice out there.  Care should be taken not to drift Newpath onto conventional fields.  There are a lot of good premixes out there this year, shop around and you might save some money on ones that contain Facet, Strada, and other products.  Many of these have been added to the MP44.

Rice Disease Field Note

Last week we visited two water-seeded fields near Pine Bluff.  Both fields were planted the third week of March to CL142AR and both appeared solid green from a distance.  Walking into the first drained field (Pictures 1& 2), the rice was hard to see due to thick duck salad.  Rice seedlings were scarce and the stand was ~5 plants per sq. ft.  There were no noticeable seedling diseases except some small brownish burns formed likely from dew freezing on the leaves.

Pictures 1 & 2.  Field 1 overview & close-up.

We then walked to the 2^nd rice field with a shallow flood (Pictures 3 & 4).  The edge of the field had a very thin stand.  Stand counts throughout the field were 8-10 plants per sq. ft. at most.  No prominent seedling diseases were detected, but again freeze-burn spots were observed on the leaves.

Pictures 3 & 4.  Field 2 overview & close-up.

The following were the impressions of the producer, agronomists, and pathologists:

• Low seeding rate.  Seeding rate for water-seeded rice should be increased by 30% over conventional drilled dry-seeded rice.  Higher seeding rate compensates for low germination, insect injury, seedling rot, and reduced tillering;
• Possible damage by water weevil.  Leaves showed adult feeding scars;
• Frost damage.  The producer reported a temperature of 37 °F and sheets of ice on the water surface a couple of mornings;
• Seedling rot.  Water-seeded fields are more prone to this.

Recommendations:

• Re-plant the 1^st field.  The producer has already planned for it.
• Drain and dry the 2^nd field, apply the needed herbicides and nourish it with nitrogen and possibly zinc and then re-flood.  The plant density is still lower than recommended for the variety.
• Consider insecticide to prevent damage from water weevil.

Need Help with DD50 Enrollment?  Call or E-mail Me or Your Local County Extension Agent

If you prefer to enter them yourself, please visit http://dd50.uaex.edu/dd50Logon.asp.

Additional Information

Arkansas Rice Updates are published periodically to provide timely information and recommendations for rice production in Arkansas.  If you would like to be added to this email list, please send your request to jhardke@uaex.edu.

This information will also be posted to the Arkansas Row Crops where additional information from Extension specialists can be found.  Please visit the blog at http://www.arkansas-crops.com/

Acknowledgements

We sincerely appreciate the support provided by the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board for this publication.

The authors greatly appreciate the feedback and contributions of all growers, county agents, consultants, and rice industry stakeholders.