Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 9:30 AM
234-3

No-till Wheat Comparisons in Northwest Kansas County Variety Trials.

Brian Olson, Kansas State Univ., Northwest Kansas Research A, 105 Experiment Farm Rd, Colby, KS 67701 and Jeanne Falk, Kansas State Univ., Northwest Kansas Research A, 105 Experiment Farm Rd, Colby, KS 67701.

Over the past few years, there has been a movement by western Kansas farmers to evaluate no-till wheat production. A couple of reasons for this are the increased cost for diesel and the reduction in price for glyphosate. In the fall of 2003, side-by-side comparisons of wheat varieties planted in both a no-till and conventional-till system was initiated in Northwest Kansas.  Farmer cooperators were located in the area and plots were marked for both no-till and conventional-till in the early-summer prior to wheat planting. Six varieties: Jagger, Jagalene, Stanton, Cutter, 2137, and T-81 were planted at 95 kg/ha across all sites. Soil temperature and soil moisture were recorded at four sites in 2005 and 2006.  Sites were then harvested and yield was recorded. No tillage by variety interaction was observed. Therefore, there was no difference in how a particular variety responded to a tillage system.  If the variety was high yielding in conventional-till, it was also high yielding in no-till.