Revealed: Secret of success for late drilled second wheat

Growers drilling second wheats into the end of 2024 should consider the variety carefully and manage it well to get the best from the crop.

Good early crop management is vital alongside varietal selection to avoid potential disease problems and yield losses at harvest, explains Jim Knight of Frontier Agriculture.

While later drilling can help with blackgrass management and reduce some of the threat of take-all, the more challenging conditions puts particular demands on germination and establishment, he says

“Sowing later when soils are colder and the take-all fungus is less active can reduce the risk of the disease spreading, but the warmer and wetter winters we now seem to be experiencing mean other factors also need to be considered.

“Unchecked, the take-all pathogen can easily infect second and consecutive wheats and produce real problems the following spring, particularly if conditions are wet, with significant yield losses possible.”

But there is a lot of growers can do to reduce the risk of these losses, including cultivations, seed treatments, appropriate varietal choice and early crop nutrition, he advises.

“For a start, a good, well-consolidated seedbed is important and this gives crops the best chance of developing strong roots before winter, thereby increasing resilience to weather, weeds, pests and diseases.

“Don’t forget, take-all is often associated with light, alkaline soils or soils with poor drainage and fertility so pay particular attention when drilling into these conditions.

“Damaged roots as a result of take-all can compromise nitrogen uptake, so planning an early application of nitrogen can help mitigate against this.

“Biomass is often lower in second wheats due to the later drilling, so selecting a variety that puts down roots quickly with good root-mass development and has strong tillering potential is beneficial, he says.

“Eyespot resistance is a particularly useful trait, as is good resistance to brown rust, septoria and yellow rust.

“We’ve found the Group 4 hard wheat Champion, from DSV, has proven to be a particularly effective late driller as well as having many of the properties that make for a good second wheat too.”

Resilience key

Sarah Hawthorne of DSV also highlights the variety Oxford alongside Champion, with both varieties the result of the company’s western-based breeding programme which factors in high disease pressure from the start, resulting in exceptional resilience and vigour.

“Second wheats need that ‘get up and go’ both in the winter and the spring, combined with really strong disease resistance and this is often a good indication of their overall stamina and resistance,” she explains.

“Champion currently holds the Guinness world record for the highest wheat yield at 17.96t/ha, which underlines its outstanding combination of robust disease resistance and high yield potential.

“It’s one of the few varieties to genuinely have overcome the ‘yield/resistance’ trade-off and is one of the highest yielding wheats on the 2024/25 RL when grown as a second cereal.

“It’s a versatile performer on heavy and light soils and great later driller too, with its powerful growth habit giving it one the highest scores for this on the RL together with a latest safe sowing date of mid-February.

“There’s only 1% difference between its early and late drilling yields – 106% of controls in the RL compared to 107% – plus it has scores of 7.9 for Septoria resistance, 8 for yellow rust.”

Oxford shares many of Champion’s attributes, making it a strong second wheat contender too, says Ms Hawthorne.

“Latest recommended sowing date is end of January and you’ve got minimal yield loss when drilled after Nov 1st compared with earlier, plus you’ve got similar septoria and yellow rust resistance.

“Like Champion, Oxford also has good eyespot resistance which is important in a second wheat. In terms of fungicidal control of take-all, Latitude (silthiofam) seed treatment remains the most effective method.”

Take-all control

ADAS plant pathologist Chloe Francis says replicated field trials have proven the effectiveness of Latitude in reducing take-all infection.

“It’s at its most damaging on light, sandy soils and can cause yield losses of up to 50% in winter wheat. The mild, wet winter of 2023 and spring of 2024 promoted the spread of take-all with even some first wheats showing signs of infection.

“Picking the right variety can certainly reduce the impact of take-all on the crop with recent trials conducted by ADAS showing yield responses to Latitude seed treatment, across four varieties, ranging from 0.9t/ha to 1.9t/ha.”