Farmers could spread the risk of growing feedstock crops for anaerobic digestion by drilling hybrid barley this autumn, says a plant breeder.
Wholecrop hybrid barley offers a flexible buffer crop to supplement maize in AD plants – grown either in addition to or instead of wholecrop rye, says Syngenta area business manager Henrietta Wells.
“In years when maize silage stocks are tight – which is potentially the case this season after many maize crops had a poor start – then more wholecrop hybrid barley can be included as a feedstock to supplement the maize,” says Ms Wells.
Flexibility
“But in seasons where maize silage is plentiful, a big benefit of hybrid barley is the flexibility to harvest it later as mature grain, rather than as wholecrop – with barley grain being relatively easy to sell compared with rye grain.”
Syngenta hybrid barley has shown strong suppression of several key grass weed species. Another benefit with wholecrop hybrid barley can be its earlier harvest than rye and certainly than forage maize, she notes.
“An early harvested crop is useful on multiple counts,” says Ms Wells. Feedstock is available sooner than a later crop, it spreads the harvest workload and it allows a longer window for field cultivations and planting the following crop.
“If you harvest early enough, there’s also the potential to get wholecrop hybrid barley in before blackgrass seed has shed – reducing the amount of amount of weed seed returned to the soil.
Wholecrop is often harvested at 35% dry matter. Hybrid rye might produce a slightly higher gas yield per tonne but hybrid barley is a high-yielding crop and the agronomics of growing barley can be more familiar to growers.
“The high-yielding Hyvido hybrid barley, SY Kingsbarn, is a good option for wholecrop for anaerobic digestion – or possibly SY Nephin with its robust disease resistance if you’re looking for something easier to manage.”
