Every day counts!

How to ensure optimum growing conditions?

A matter of timing

Timing is essential for quickly growing spring sown crops such as spring barley. While crop development is driven by temperature, crop growth is dependent on light and its conversion into biomass. The longer the vegetation period, the higher yield and brewing quality.

Early sowing is therefore a key success factor for malting barley. Sowing ahead of season is at risk of frost while grains are germinating and plants are less resistant. Also, proper seedbed preparation is often impossible in the very early season. On the other hand, late sowing reduces tillering and must be compensated by higher sowing density. In addition, late sowing shortens the period of vegetative growth as a prerequisite for a high yield potential.

Setting plant population

Cold and humid weather stimulates tillering and increases shoot density. Generally, a high shoot number also gives a large root mass which offers the plant improved nutrient uptake and more resilience against drought. The number of shoots produced, and more importantly the number of productive tillers, have a direct impact on the number of ears and thus yield.

Achieving the correct shoot population is important as the yield of barley is closely correlated with the number of ears per m². On average, a population rate of 300-350 plants/m2 producing 700-1000 ears/m2 are considered reasonable targets

Early nutrient needs

Nitrogen

Good nitrogen supply is most critical for root growth, leaf and tiller development. Applications made early ensure a large canopy, containing high levels of stem carbohydrates and nitrogen that are translocated to the developing grain during maturation.

This matters in particular if planting is postponed due to weather or in areas with a risk of drought. Ammonium nitrate stimulates tillering and root growth more than ammonium or urea (figure 1).

Sulfur

Sulfur application is of increasing importance as aerial depositions from industrial sites have diminished. Where sulfur is deficient, it has been shown to impair enzyme activity during malting. Coarse textured soils are most likely to lack sulfur. Sulfur is best applied as sulfate in combination with nitrogen or with a compound NPK formulation.

Phosphorus and Potash

Phosphorus is critical in the first six weeks of establishment for both root and tiller development. Phosphorus ensures energy supply for all metabolic processes and helps achieving good grain size. Potash helps regulating transpiration and water balance. It improves drought resilience and helps avoid premature leaf senescence during grain filling.

Phosphorus and potash are best applied together with nitrogen as a compound NPK fertilizer directly into the seedbed. Results from field trials reveal a 9% yield increase on average of 5 varieties as a response to compound NPK compared to straight CAN (figure 5).

Figure 5: Malting barley yields obtained with NPK starter fertilization are consistently higher than those obtained with CAN fertilization. Results from field trials in Germany for different varieties and identical Nitrogen application rates of 100 kg/ha.