Research to be highlighted at Summer Crops Field Day near Bushland

Research to be highlighted at Summer Crops Field Day near Bushland

Improvements in sorghum management featured at Sept. 2 conference

AMARILLO – “Adapting to Change” will be the theme for the Summer Crops Field Day to be held Sept. 2 at the Texas AgriLife Research and U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service research fields located east of Bushland.

The field day is sponsored by AgriLife Research, Texas AgriLife Extension Service and the USDA-Agricultural Research Service.

The program will begin with registration at 8:30 a.m. in the Kenneth B. Porter Wheat Building. The morning tours will run from 9-11:45 a.m., and will be followed by a luncheon. An afternoon tour with two different stops will take place from 1:10-2:30 p.m.

Dr. Fred Miller, MMR Genetics senior sorghum breeder and professor emeritus-Texas A&M University soil and crop sciences department, will present “Sorghum’s Foundation and Thoughts for the Future” as the keynote luncheon speech.

Morning tour stops will include:

– Corn pest management of borers, cutworms, rootworms and spider mites; Dr. Jerry Michels, AgriLife Research entomologist, and Dr. Ed Bynum, AgriLife Extension entomologist.

– Sorghum weed control trials featuring pre-emergence herbicides and Huskie; Dr. Brent Bean, AgriLife Extension agronomist, and Rex Brandon, AgriLife Research assistant.

– Wheat streak mosaic virus – how it spreads and how to control it or minimize damage; Jacob Price, AgriLife Research associate, and Chanda Henne, AgriLife Research technician.

– Growth and yield comparison between stay-green and traditional sorghum, Dr. Judy Tolk, USDA-ARS research plant physiologist.

– Grazing in a no-till wheat/sorghum/fallow rotation, Dr. Louis Baumhardt, USDA-ARS research soil scientist.

– Sorghum: automatic irrigation scheduling at deficit levels, Dr. Susan O’Shaughnessy, USDA-ARS agricultural engineer.

– Deficit irrigation and early season water use of sorghum, Dr. Robert Schwartz, USDA-ARS soil scientist.

The afternoon tour will have two stops featuring:

– New over-the-top herbicide technology for grass control in sorghum, Bean.

– Forage sorghum silage and hay trials, including bioenergy sorghum and sorghum/sudangrass grazing trial; Bean and Dr. Ted McCollum, AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist.

The program is free and will offer three continuing education units – two general and one integrated pest management – to private pesticide applicators.

For more information, contact Bean at 806-677-5600, bbean@ag.tamu.edu or O’Shaughnessy at 806-356-5770 or susan.oshaughnessy@ars.usda.gov .

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