Tangible benefits from hybrid rye

Richard Bailey of Farmacy plc provides agronomy advice for Heygate Farms’ combinable crops, including winter wheat, winter barley, spring barley, oilseed rape and rye.

“We are always looking to extend rotations where possible, but the lighter, less productive soils which characterise parts of Norfolk are not so well suited to wheat production, particularly second wheats, so viable options have been limited,” Richard states.

“Interest in rye has taken off during the last few years, partly on the back of increasing demand from AD plants, but more recently for grain rye. Many of my clients have asked about the possibility of growing the crop, but the main drawback has been the lack of open market demand, without which it is not a viable option. With interest from the pig sector increasing, that is beginning to change.

“Heygate Farms have grown rye for many years because it fits in well rotationally. Until two years ago, they produced 120ha of Admiral, a conventional variety, on contract to Crisps Malt, but last year hosted a split-field trial comparing it with two hybrids, KWS Eterno and KWS Edmondo. Although these were only slightly shorter, the plants were far more robust, which is important in a crop that can grow to almost two metres high. Managing it can be a challenge, but a significant benefit is that the crop produces a high volume of straw which can be sold to generate additional income.

“Extremes of weather made last year incredibly challenging, particularly on lighter soils. Establishing crops was not difficult, but the extremely dry spring limited their potential significantly. Being incredibly resistant to dry conditions hybrid rye was far less affected than winter barley, but the straw was 20cm to 30cm shorter than it would normally have been. Nevertheless, the trial proved beyond any doubt that hybrid rye was the way forward, so this season all of Heygate Farms rye is KWS Trebiano.”

A multi-purpose F1 hybrid rye which can be used for AD, or to produce grain, KWS Trebiano offers a leading harvest index (grains/ear) with excellent Hagberg (HFN) and sample quality. An excellent option for pig finishing or sow rations, it delivers high grain and straw yields combined with low growing costs. The variety is also used in the food industry by manufacturers of products such as flour, breakfast cereals, and for distilling or malt.

“The development of new varieties of hybrid rye and markets for the grain are exciting and extremely welcome developments for growers seeking a viable cropping alternative which will help make light-land rotations more agronomically and financially resilient to changing weather patterns,” states Peter Riley.

A well-known and highly regarded arable agronomist, Peter works primarily in Suffolk and Norfolk advising clients of Farmacy plc, which provides independent agronomy services to growers across 300,000ha in the East Midlands, East Anglia and Cotswolds. He is also Chairman of the AHDB Recommended List for barley, oats, and other cereals, including rye.

“The Recommended List team which I chair is fully aware of the increasing interest in hybrid rye, not only from growers but also end-users such as pig producers, feed compounders, food manufacturers and distillers. To reflect that and help growers throughout the UK to better understand how individual varieties perform under different conditions, the RL team has added one additional rye research trial this year, sited in the North of England.

“Cereal hybrids have great potential for the future and you only have to look at the performance of some hybrid barleys, particularly in low rainfall areas such as East Anglia, to see the benefits,” Peter states. “Although there is still a decent market for spring and winter malting barley, only so much can be grown because of limited demand, and there is no question that a viable alternative to winter feed barley is required for lighter land situations.

“Over the last five years the area of rye which I look after has more than doubled and in the last two years an increasing number of my clients have shown interest in growing the crop. Until recently, the market potential was very restricted and being able to grow it depended on what contracts were available, either from AD plants, which tend to use an 80 per cent maize, 20 per cent wholecrop rye mix as their feedstock, or for grain under the Ryvita contract. The requirement of those markets was limited and has plateaued, with little potential for growth.

“Having another cropping option on the dry sandy loam and loamy sand soils which are common in my area, and where growing oilseed rape or producing consistent yields of wheat and barley is becoming increasingly difficult, is a very welcomed development.

“During the last two seasons we have experienced very changeable weather, with extremely wet winters and dry, hot conditions in spring and summer. Though these are less than ideal, hybrid rye has achieved some amazing results, even on poor soils. However, the key to the crop’s future is to develop markets for the grain and give more growers access to open market contracts.

“Winter hybrid rye provides a range of benefits,” states Kieran Walsh, Independent Regional Agronomist for Velcourt Advisory Services in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire & Dorset.

“Over the last few years, one of my clients has put a lot of time and effort into working with local markets and end producers. This has led us to integrate several different crops into the rotation, one being winter hybrid rye. Introducing it into the cropping mix has led to numerous benefits and combinations of different systems approaches with regards to inputs and agronomy.

“Winter hybrid rye is well suited to the client’s soils, which are free draining and, being in an area where annual rainfall is under 700mm, can easily drought out during late spring. This area also suffers from blackgrass, so the thought of drilling in mid-September, which is the optimum sowing date for rye, can be a little worrying. However, good early establishment using a robust seed rate of around 225 /m2 leads to very thick, well tillered bands of rye come January.

“The crop’s extensive tillering limits the amount of blackgrass present within the sowing band, without resorting to stacking residual herbicide options as we might have to do with wheat. Sowing in bands also allows us to inter-row hoe, which dramatically reduces herbicide usage by 70.1% compared to wheat.

“Winter rye now represents 12% of the winter cereal area on this client’s farm, so mid-September sowing spreads the autumn workload and subsequently allows the drilling team to focus on the wheats.

“Drought can be a serious issue on the brash soils. Both barley and wheats can suffer from extremes of yield, but although it is not completely risk free, rye can tolerate more extreme peaks of drought and it is not affected so badly.

“On a farm which grows a range of other winter crop, comprising winter oilseed rape, beans, barley, and wheat, together with spring barley, triticale and linseed, another factor in rye’s favour is that it does not require so much fungicide. The fact that in rye we have reduced our fungicide use by 77% leaves the sprayer more time to focus on the other crops.

“Two aspects of growing rye that do need to be monitored are the growth habit and slug pressure. The crop’s vigorous development in the spring has meant that the use of PGR has increased by 96%, representing an extra outlay of £6.78/ha compared to wheat. Slugs enjoy a good feeding season on rye seed, so we have seen some increases in the use of ferric phosphate, which can differ from 0% - 28%.

“For us, a key advantage of growing rye is that it requires less nitrogen and we have seen a reduction of 44.7% compared to wheat, or an average of 29.5% less nitrogen across all crops. Utilising CO2 calculators to compare the CO2 emissions of wheat and rye, we have calculated that growing rye has reduced CO2 output by 53kg per tonne.”