Field / Site: The average grain yield for the Cereal YEN 2017 competition was 11 t/ha for absolute field yield % 2 14.

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1 Entrant s Report Harvest 2017 Field / Site: YEN User ID: MET Office area: Crop: YEN Field ID: Sponsor: Variety: The 2017 YEN competition saw completed entries from 167 fields and 4 trial plots. The average grain yield for the Cereal YEN 2017 competition was 11 t/ha for absolute field yield. Rank Grain yield (t/ha) Rank Grain yield (% potential) % % % Your entry 1 ADAS2017

2 CONTENTS Our detailed analysis of your result is provided in the following pages, including comparisons with other YEN entries and with benchmarks from the AHDB Growth Guide. We hope that this helps you to identify aspects of your growing conditions that offer possible routes to further yield enhancement on your land. Our approach in this report is to consider the potential of the season, then the development of your crop, the basic resources (light-energy, water & nutrients) available to your crop, and then its success in capturing these and using them to form grain. Lastly we use grain analysis to provide a post-mortem on your crop s nutrition. Contents CONTENTS... 2 POTENTIAL GRAIN YIELDS... 3 Potential yields... 3 CROP DEVELOPMENT... 4 Overview... 4 Crop Development... 5 Variety choice... 6 RESOURCES & THEIR CAPTURE... 7 Season overview... 7 Site overview... 7 Soil analysis... 8 Water capture... 9 Energy capture... 9 YIELD ANALYSIS Yield formation Grain formation & size CROP NUTRITION POST MORTEM SUMMARY THE YIELD ENHANCEMENT NETWORK YEN SPONSORS CONTACTS ADAS2017

3 POTENTIAL GRAIN YIELDS The YEN exists to help enhance your yields. The key to high yields in YEN has been good crop growth. So the key to enhancing yields is to know what is limiting growth light-energy or water and then to target better green canopies or better rooting accordingly. To set potential yields we assume a theoretically perfect variety grown with inspired husbandry on your land, achieving either: (i) 60% capture of light-energy through this season (including some in August), and its conversion to 1.4 tonnes of biomass per terajoule or (ii) Capture all the available water held in the soil to 1.5 m depth (or to rock if less) plus all rainfall from April to July, and conversion of each 18 mm into a tonne of biomass per hectare. Taking the lesser of these two biomass amounts, we assume that a maximum of 60% can be used to form grain (this is the harvest index ). The maps below show potential grain yields for medium soils in 2017 compared to the long-term average. Potentials in arable areas were most commonly light (rather than water) limited this year. They ranged from 18 t/ha upwards so, on deep soils, high yields were theoretically possible everywhere. 1 Potential yields (soils holding 210 mm water) LTA We used weather data from the Met Office and assumed deep soils with no irrigation. Note we do not have full met. data for the Republic of Ireland, Denmark or the Netherlands. The LTA potential yields in this report are averages of individual potential yields each year from 1981 to ADAS2017

4 Overview CROP DEVELOPMENT Warm weather continued for almost the whole season, causing crop development to be ahead of normal at all stages. Cereal establishment was generally good in 2016, thanks to the mild, though dry, autumn. The dry autumn reduced and delayed germination of blackgrass and other grass weeds but surviving plants were large, so infested patches caused similar competition to normal. Wild oats were more numerous, possibly weather-induced, causing higher competition than normal. Soil moisture deficits (SMDs) developed through autumn almost everywhere, but winter rainfall was sufficient to wet-up all soils and cause some drainage by the end of February everywhere so, as long as crops established well and developed a reasonable root system in the autumn, they did not suffer a serious check in their canopy development in the spring. The lack of rain in April and the first half of May raised concerns about how this year s crops would perform, and certainly nutrient uptake was delayed in many circumstances. Dry weather generally means fewer clouds, and most places had more solar radiation than normal in March, April & May. June was wetter than average in the north and July was wet in the far south. However, solar radiation was generally around average for the important summer months of May to July, being brightest in the south east. Disease levels were generally low, with concerns arising only from a little mildew, and from Septoria on some early sown crops in the west. Temperatures of >30 o C between 17 th and 21 st June may have caused damage to grain set in some areas, particularly where they coincided with flowering (although it s likely that flowering was largely completed before the high temperatures occurred). Some heavy rainfall and high winds in June led to lodging in several areas, with one or two entrants abandoning their crops due to severe lodging. Despite the warm May and June causing early maturity, rains during August and September delayed harvest in some areas, so average harvest date was only slightly earlier than usual. Overall, 2017 was average for cereal yield potential, with most regions estimated to have a potentials of around 20 t/ha, usually within 0.2 t/ha of their long term average. Actual yields achieved by the larger number of YEN entrants in 2017 averaged around 11 t/ha, higher than last year, but lower than in National average yields were above average at 8.5 t/ha. 4 ADAS2017

5 YEN Bar charts What do they mean? This year we are using bar-charts to help you compare your value with everyone else s and with benchmark and critical values, if available, as follows: The whiskers show the range of YEN values in 2017 (e.g. grain yields ranged from 5 to 16 t/ha) and the box shows the middle half of YEN values, with a line for the mid-value. The orange line shows the value for this entry, and the red line is a limit beyond which yield may be adversely affected; crops with values beyond these merit further investigation. Blue dashed lines indicate benchmark values from the AHDB Wheat Growth Guide they relate to a feed wheat with slow development yielding 11 t/ha. Bar-and-whiskercharts exclude data on non-wheat crops (barley, oats & rye). Crop Development 5 ADAS2017

6 Variety choice The chart above shows the varieties entered into Cereal YEN ADAS2017

7 RESOURCES & THEIR CAPTURE Season overview The adjacent graphs describe the monthly temp-eratures, total solar radiation (thus light-energy) and rainfall for your area in compared to your local long term average (LTA) and the average for the UK arable area ( ). The example graphs provided here are for morecs square 139 (Cambridge). In general it was a warm year. Autumn was warm and dry, winter was warm but with normal rainfall, spring was warm and bright, with a very dry April, and summer was warm, with a few hot days in mid-june, but otherwise fairly close to average. Rainfall over-winter exceeded soil water storage capacity everywhere so all soils were full before spring. Soilheld water plus summer rainfall was generally sufficient to meet the average water demands of cereal crops; June was wet in the north and July was wet in the south. Site overview Farm descriptions of topsoil and subsoil stone content, texture and depth allow us to estimate soil water holding capacity and, along with summer rainfall, to estimate the water available to each crop (bar charts below); this is critical in estimating potential yields. Topsoil analyses provided through NRM s soil health service tell us texture, organic matter, OM activity and nutrient status. These are summarised in the following bar charts and indicate any possible nutritional limitations to yield. Topsoil textures (determined by laser diffraction) generally agreed well with farm-defined topsoil textures. Organic matter levels of YEN fields were almost all satisfactory. A few sites showed low values for soil ph, P, K or Mg. These merit further checks, initially through grain analysis (see pages 14-15). 7 ADAS2017

8 Soil analysis 8 ADAS2017

9 Water capture The soil water holding capacity quoted here assumes roots could access all soil water to 1.5 m (or rock, if shallower). If sufficient roots didn t reach this depth, soil-available water would be accordingly less. Whilst we cannot yet measure water captured by YEN crops individually, by assuming your crop s conversion of water to total biomass was normal (5 t/ha/100mm), we have made crude estimates below of the likely success of your crop s root system in extracting water. A high yielding crop, growing say 20 t/ha of biomass (so yielding 12 t/ha grain at 51% harvest index), would need to capture ~400 mm water from soil plus summer rains. At most sites this year crops needed to capture well over half of soil held water, and sometimes much more. Energy capture Met data are expressed in terms of total solar radiation, of which photosynthetically active radiation (or light-energy ) forms a very consistent part (about half), so the bar-charts below just show the total solar radiation available, as affected by weather conditions in Solar radiation has been divided into periods that roughly equate to the three key phases of crop development: Foundation when tillers and main root axes are formed, Construction when yield-forming leaves, ears (=chaff) and stems are formed, including soluble stem reserves, and Production when grains are filled, both with new assimilates and reserves redistributed from stems. 9 ADAS2017

10 Whilst we cannot yet measure light capture by YEN crops individually, by assuming your crop s conversion of light-energy was normal (1.2 t/tj), we have made a crude estimate above of the likely success of your crop s canopy in capturing total light-energy for the 12 months of this season. Yield formation YIELD ANALYSIS The whole-crop sample that YEN entrants provided were all analysed for their components and results are shown in the following charts, assuming that each sample was representative of the whole area from which grain yield was determined. Total biomass production indicates the success with which a crop captured its key resources, light-energy and water, and the harvest index (the proportion of total biomass that was harvestable) indicates how this biomass was apportioned to grain. Since grain growth happens last, harvest index also indicates how late growth related to early growth. Your grain yield (expressed as t/ha and % of potential) is shown below along with biomass and harvest index, in relation to all other YEN entries and to the AHDB Benchmark of 11.0 t/ha. 10 ADAS2017

11 Whole crop yield analysis can also tell us about the history of your crop because different components are determined sequentially. So comparing components of yield for your crop in the following charts with those of other YEN entrants should help to indicate the stage(s) through the season at which your crop deviated from normal (represented by the AHDB Benchmarks, blue lines). Grain formation & size We use your combine-harvested grain sample to provide the analysis of grain size and grain filling on the next page. Grain filling depends mainly on photosynthesis after flowering, so on canopy health and longevity, but sugars stored in the stem can also provide 2-4 t/ha of assimilates for grain growth and most of the protein from senescing leaves is also redistributed to form grain protein (benchmark 1.09 t/ha). If grain number per m 2 is low (see above), or if conditions during early grain-fill are limiting, final grain filling, hence yield, may be constrained even if later conditions are good this is sometimes described as sink limitation. We try to use analysis of grain volume and grain density to deduce whether crops were sink limited. 11 ADAS2017

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13 CROP NUTRITION POST MORTEM Diagram showing the structure of a wheat grain; most nutrients other than N and S are held in the bran (e.g. K, Mg), or germ (e.g. P). The YEN is initiating use of grain analysis to provide a general postmortem on cereal crop nutrition. NRM analysed nutrients in 184 grain samples from the YEN in 2017, as well as analysing 150 soil samples with their soil health package (page 9). N and S are primarily used to form endosperm proteins. These, and the mineral nutrients in grain (contained mainly in the bran or germ), may usefully be taken to reflect the nutritional history and status of the crop through its life. The literature suggests critical concentrations in grain for a few nutrients, but for all nutrients it is possible to relate their individual levels to both all other nutrients in the sample, and all other YEN samples, hence indicating which nutrients were most limiting. The grain protein level can be compared to that reported in the AHDB Recommended Lists for the same variety. If the observed protein level is significantly more or less than the RL value (page 7), we attribute this to the level of crop nitrogen nutrition being more or less than optimal. Reliable low limits (critical levels) in grain are only available for N, S and now P. However, from the following bar-charts, you should be able to identify the nutrient(s) most likely to have limited your crop by comparing with the mid-level in all the other YEN samples. 13 ADAS2017

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15 SUMMARY The competition: Congratulations and thank you for providing the information necessary to complete this report; the collective efforts of all YEN contributors maximise the value of the results that can be reported and the deductions that can be made. We have been very pleased to have more participants this year than ever; this helps everyone make more robust and confident comparisons. The winning grain yields in 2017 were 15.3 t/ha (a field yield in Lincolnshire) and 15.7 t/ha (a trial yield in Oxfordshire), better than in any previous YEN season other than The best yields expressed as % of potential were greater than ever before in 2017, the best being 83% (compared with around 80% in 2015). Once again, in this continuously warm season, YEN entrants from the north tended to do well, if their harvest was not hampered by rain that is. Also, in these cooler regions, green canopies were maintained through July and sometimes into August. We find generally that the impact of prolonging canopy life is much greater than the impact of increasing canopy size (through high shoot numbers). To maximise yields we tend to think that slower developing varieties and those with large stem storage will be best at buffering the effects of the dull grain-filling conditions. Stem storage is quite heritable so it may be worth asking breeders if they can provide more information on stem reserves. Clearly there is an element of luck in achieving high yields at a particular site in any particular year. Most crop management decisions must be taken to maximise grain yield in the majority of years, but they cannot be expected to maximise yield every year. However, we are encouraged that some farms are consistently achieving high yields. YEN results over all five years continue to show that high yields tend to be most closely associated with high total crop biomass, even though this was not such a strong effect in the two most recent years. This indicates the importance of striving for better light and water capture. High biomass is usually associated with good shoot numbers and prolonged growth, so the crop needs to get off to a really good start as well as the canopy lasting for a long time. The yield components that best explain the generally average yields of 2017 were moderately low ear numbers, low biomass growth, and the small grains. Protein levels tended to be high in 2017 so it is unlikely that many crops were primarily limited by nitrogen supplies. 15 ADAS2017

16 THE YIELD ENHANCEMENT NETWORK Short review of Oilseed YEN 2017 We estimate 2017 to be an average year for oilseed yield potential, with most regions estimated to have a gross output yield potential of around 12 t/ha, usually within 0.1 t/ha of their long term average. Average YEN entrant gross output yields were around 5.2 t/ha, though a few entries achieved over 6 t/ha. Update on Wheat Quality Competition Early in 2017 we announced a new YEN Wheat Quality Award sponsored by nabim, open to all Group 1 wheat entries to the Cereal YEN. A shortlist of high quality eligible grains has now been made, and are currently undergoing further analysis. The winners will be announced at the AHDB Milling Wheat Conference on 1 March 2018 at the Hallmark Hotel, Bar Hill near Cambridge. AHDB events Several AHDB Monitor Farms entered the YEN competition for 2017 and the series of YEN-related events organised by AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds will be continuing through The full programme for 2018 will be listed on the YEN & AHDB websites. The Farming Forum The Farming Forum is a new YEN sponsor, providing an interactive online forum promoting discussion on agricultural topics. From 2018 there will be a dedicated space on the TFF platform to allow open discussion about YEN. The platform will be free to all users, and provides a great opportunity to discuss innovations for improving light and water capture to enhance yields. YEN SPONSORS The YEN was initiated by industry and is entirely industry funded. We are most grateful to all our sponsors. They not only provide funding but they are fundamentally involved in management of the YEN and in supporting individual farms in making their YEN entries. The YEN would not exist without them! See page 18 for all their logos. Visit for sponsors details, news updates and to register for Please send any comments, observations or queries to the contacts below. CONTACTS Mark Ramsden Mark.Ramden@adas.co.uk Christina Clarke Christina.Clarke@adas.co.uk Roger Sylvester-Bradley Roger.Sylvester-Bradley@adas.co.uk Daniel Kindred Daniel.Kindred@adas.co.uk Or yen@adas.co.uk for general 16 ADAS2017

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