Rye Crop and Disease Management in Kentucky 2018-2019

We are proposing to conduct another year of study on hybrid rye, investigating hybrids, crop management and disease management. Background: Last season, Carrie and Chad evaluated six hybrids in a single management system and one hybrid with different management including seed rates, fungicide use and growth regulator use. Carl conducted a small fungicide trial with no formal funding. At the writing of this proposal, rye is still not harvested (and losing quality as the rains continue to bash the crop). Preliminary data suggest that rye at 1.5 million seeds per acre lodged more than rye at 750,000 seeds per acre, confirming seeding guidelines from northern Europe. Preliminary data also suggest that the growth regulator had no effect on lodging. Fungicide in the management trial did not affect pollination or Fusarium head blight incidence. Northern European guidelines suggested not applying any fungicide during flowering. Fungicide not hurting pollination is a positive development, but fungicide not affecting head blight incidence is a concern. At Lexington, we conducted an atrazine carryover trial. We applied atrazine (in the premix of Acuron) at 1.0, 0.5, and 0.25 lb pound atrazine per acre in July 2017. We included a non-treated check (no atrazine) for comparison. We planted rye in October 2017. There were no visual effects of atrazine carryover to rye for any of the treatments. Rye in the entire study (including the non-treated check) lodged severely early June. This is a concerning observation, but not does not appear to be occurring from the atrazine. However, rye in the other studies did not have nearly this level of lodging. In the hybrid trial, one hybrid severely lodged, but all others were upright prior to heavy rains on mature plants. Based on conversations with scientists from Europe, fungicide timing for Fusarium head blight appears to be extremely time sensitive. In addition, hybrid rye has much higher yield potential, but has more difficulty pollinating and is more susceptible to some diseases. We want high yield potential, but have much to learn on how to manage for high yield potential. We may need to include some lower-yielding but more durable lines in our trials. Proposed Work: For 2018-19, we are proposing to evaluate multiple hybrids and adjust our management questions to fungicide, growth regulator, planting date and/or nitrogen management. We will conduct an in-depth fungicide trial as well that will evaluate different products and likely different timings. Locations will be Princeton and Lexington. Once we have yield data from 2017-2018, we will modify our study designs for 2018-2019. We intend to coordinate our management trials with Dave Van Sanford and his graduate student to ensure that our efforts complement each other. We will install sensors for temperature near head height to monitor temperature during pollination and seed fill. We will begin collecting better data on weather and crop development to gain a better understanding of weather influence on rye yield.