14 LIKE GRAIN VOLUMES, straw yield potential continues to increase as plant breeders improve on and develop new cereal varieties. But while generally good news for producers selling straw or using it in their livestock business, there are no quick rules for assessing whether a given variety can produce significantly more straw. The Ontario Cereals Crop Committee (OCCC) began including straw yield data in crop plot assessments in 2018 to help rectify this knowledge gap. LITTLE CORRELATION BETWEEN YIELD AND HEIGHT “There are some people that grow varieties for the straw, but largely there’s no breeder out there that’s breeding specifically for straw yield. Lodging is far more critical than straw yield,” says Peter Johnson, an agronomist with RealAgriculture.com and an OCCC committee member involved in the organization’s cereal research projects. Johnson describes higher straw yields as a side benefit to yield and standabilityCereal straw yield potential ONTARIO CEREALS CROP COMMITTEE RESEARCH Matt McIntosh focused breeding programs. Perhaps counterintuitively, though, there is very little correlation between straw volumes and variety height. For example, a tall spring wheat variety like AAC Scotia produces only average straw yields despite growing to 121 centimetres. The correlation between straw and grain yield is similarly lacklustre. “This is why we ended up taking down straw yields in these cereal trials. For those that want straw, it’s a big issue. They need to know.” Research SOURCE: ONTARIO DATA 2003 - 2019 JOHNSON, FALK, KENDALL, FOLLINGS. Nutrient value $/lb Max Avg Min N 1.3 28.6 18.2 10.8 P 1.3 9.9 4.4 1.3 K 0.8 35.5 19.2 7.0 S 0.7 6.0 3.5 1.8 Total $/t 80 45.3 20.9 Cents/pound 3.6 2.1 0.9 Nutrient Removal (lb/t) Max Avg Min N 22.0 14.0 10.8 P 7.6 3.4 1.0 K 44.4 24.0 8.8 S 8.6 5.0 2.6
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