Zoong TeMang1, ThinzarSoe Myint1, Ms Mariana Pares Andreucci1, Professor Derrick Moot1
1Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand
Biography:
MSc. in forage and animal science at the University of Sao Paulo, PhD in crop physiology and agronomy at Lincoln University, post doc at CSIRO Toowoomba working on wheat physiology and modelling, post doc at Agresearch working on pasture modelling. Now a lecturer on crop physiology with research on cereals physiology, grain and seed production, mixed cropping systems and modelling at Lincoln University, in New Zealand.
Abstract:
Wheat high yields are pursuit all over the world to improve profitability, efficiency and resilience of grain production in crop and mixed cropping farms. The analysis of yield components provides targets to identify management adaptation to achieve desired number of heads/m2 to improve number of grains/m2. However, the lack of description of yield components targets for grain yields above 10 t/ha complicates management decision making to lift yields at this level of production. To describe number of heads and grains/m2, number of grains/heads and grain size of high yield crops, wheat cultivars ‘Kerrin’, ‘Graham’, ‘Voltron’ and ‘Sorrial’ were sown on the 27th of March, 19th of April and 18th of May of 2023 in Lincoln, New Zealand. Two extra cultivars, ‘Stockade’ and ‘Cesario’, were added on the last sowing date. The results show that number of grains/m2 is still king when it comes to explaining yields. However, cultivars have different strategies to reach at least 21000 grains/m2, which was needed to produce a yield of 11.5 t/ha. By acknowledging specific strategies that cultivars have to reach higher numbers of grain/m2 and setting yield components targets coherent with potential yields, blank management decisions that lead to inefficient use of resources, and possibly hinder yield, could be avoided.