Volume 20 Issue 1 January 2010

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF CROP QUEST AGRONOMIC SERVICES, INC.

How do you know when weeds are resistant to a particular family of herbicides?

NEW DISCOVERY INCREASES THE IMPORTANCE OF HERBICIDE RESISTANCE MANAGEMENT

Poor timing of herbicide application, nozzles clogging, operator error in application, even a bounce or two here and there with the spray rig all are among hundreds of viable reasons weeds survive herbicide application. Herbicide resistance starts with one plant. Through random chance, that numbers in millions-to-one odds, a gene is turned the wrong way or a crease forms in the gene wall and a plant becomes tolerant to a herbicide. That plant produces seed and new weeds. Herbicides kill off the competition and the herbicide tolerant weed is left with an ideal environment to grow. Its not an overnight occurrence, but in a matter of three or four growing seasons, that one solitary resistant weed can turn a productive, profitable field into a nightmare for a grower. The first key to managing herbicide resistance is recognition. Roundup, or glyphosate, resistance is the biggest name in the herbicide resistance game, but its far from the only material plagued with resistance problems. In southern Illinois, pigweeds and water hemp are resistant to four distinct herbicide modes of action: ALS-inhibitors, glyphosate, PPO-inhibitors and triazines. In Missouri we only have triple-stacked weeds, states Kevin Bradley, University of Missouri Weed Scientist. He adds that the occurrence of resistance to glyphosate, PPO-inhibitor, and ALS-inhibitor herbicides in one weed is still rare throughout the Plains. However, the implications are dire for farmers, if this level of resistance spreads rapidly through corn/soybean-producing areas of the country. According to Bradley the biggest economic threat to growers is dealing with glyphosate resistant pigweed. Crop Quest Agronomists are seeing an increase in possible glyphosate resis-

tance in two of the common pigweed species, Palmer amaranth and water hemp, across the High Plains. Phil Westra, a weed scientist at Colorado State University says the outlook for herbicide resistant pigweed is not good. He has uncovered a fourth mechanism for glyphosate resistance that could further challenge growers to develop good resistance avoidance programs. Up to now scientists have worked with herbicide resistance development from three technical perspectives: is mutation for a certain enzyme in a gene. This is the classic mechanism for ALS-inhibitors and sulfonylureas.

u Altered target site in which there

v Altered translocation pattern in

w Metabolism in which an enzyme

which the plant sends the herbicide to areas of the plant where it cant hurt the plant. This is a typical method of development for horseweed resistance to glyphosate. in the plant breaks down the herbicide. This has not been documented in the U.S., but is common in other parts of the world.

Westras research team has found a new mechanism in which the plant dramatically increases the number of copies of a gene critical for glyphosate to work. The glyphosate molecules attach to the protein produced by these genes and essentially prevent the weed from being affected by the glyphosate. A typical plant will have two copies of the gene. In a glyphosate-resistant plant we have

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Crop Quest Perspectives

Opportunity to Enhance Soil Fertility

What a difference a year can make. Last By: Jim Gleason year, we were looking at Regional Vice President sky high fertilizer prices, and St. John, Kan. availability was on everyones mind. Cropping plans were made based on getting by with the lowest amount of fertilizer. In a lot of cases, the decision was made to limit the amount of phosphate and potassium fertilizer and allow the crop to use some of the residual soil fertility. This was a good decision for the economic situation we were facing. Today, we have fertilizer prices that are one-third of last years. This provides an opportunity to not only return to normal fertility practices but also to catch up on fields that were limited in the past. Phosphate and potash are two nutrients that can be built up in the soil by applying more than the amount needed by the crop. The soil can hold these nutrients in reserve for future use. Nitrogen is a mobile nutrient

and cant be stockpiled in the soil for the future as losses will occur through leeching. The decision of how much fertilizer to apply is both an agronomic and economic one. A soil test is the best way to determine the fertility level of the field. Armed with the information from the soil test, a plan can be made for the amount and type of fertilizer to apply. The economics of the recommendation can then be weighed. To determine the final amount of fertilizer to apply, you will need to decide if you want to fertilize for the next crop only or to build up the nutrient levels for the future. The method of application should also be considered. Banding of fertilizer, either on the surface or injected in the soil, limits the surface area of soil contact and keeps it available for the crop. Because the fertilizer is not being tied up in the soil as easily, banding is often thought to be a more efficient way to apply the fertilizer. This efficiency can be used to our advantage to stretch our fertilizer dollars by reducing the amount of fertilizer to be applied in tough times. However, if banding a lower amount of fertilizer than the crop is removing for a number of years, the soil fertility level will decline. Many factors must be considered when developing a fertilizer recommendation. Soil sampling is the first step, and your Crop Quest agronomist will assist you in developing the best fertilizer plan for your operation.

PREPARING SEED BEDS IN WET SOILS

Over a good portion of our trade area, we have dealt with wet soil conditions during the fall and early winter months. Harvest delays were very frustrating to By: Dwight Koops all of us. These wet soils have left many Regional Vice President fields with serious harvest track probUlysses, Kan. lems. Fall fertilizing has been delayed or is non existent. Once we get a chance to get back into these fields, the tillage window is going to get pretty short. This could affect what tillage operations can be done prior to planting. It may also affect our fertilizer program, and what products are applied. Strip tillage has become very popular the last few years, and anhydrous ammonia is a popular nitrogen choice for this operation. If the anhydrous is applied too close to planting, we can see salt injury to the crop. You might need to consider substituting anhydrous for a liquid nitrogen fertilizer. There is also a tendency to deep rip ground that has been compacted by harvest equipment. Deep ripping works quite well in drier soils where we see good fracturing of the compacted layer. On the other hand, deep ripping wet soils can be counter productive. We can actually seal the ground off worse by trying to rip wet soils. If ripping is delayed until spring, we lose the benefit of the freeze/thaw effect. Fall ripping allows time for cold temperatures to freeze and thaw the large clods, which mellows the ground further. It does take soil moisture for this effect to occur. Since we already have wet soils, we should benefit from this freezing and thawing effect even without ripping. It will be important to evaluate the ground prior to ripping to make sure we will achieve the desired results. It is also important to distinguish between packed equipment tracks and a true compaction layer. There may be a need to just smooth out the tracks with less aggressive equipment instead of automatically assuming that the field needs to be deep ripped. Crop Quest Agronomists can help you decide what type of tillage needs to be done this spring. For many fields, we may have to break the normal pattern of no tilling or minimum tilling a field for a year to get the field back into shape. For most of us, we are always glad to see abundant precipitation. We just need to adjust to the conditions. It also bodes well for the prospects of starting the new year in good shape, and having a good crop in the coming year!

Crop Quest Perspectives

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When customers hire a Crop Quest agronomist, they know they are hiring much more than just a crop scout. Because we consult in such a dynamic industry, a broad understanding of the many factors that may contribute to our customers success By: Ron OHanlon is imperative. Our agronomists continue President to go through a variety of professional deMember, National Alliance of Independent Crop velopment initiatives to ensure they have Consultants, CPCC-I the most current agricultural information Certified available when making recommendations. Topics for Professional Development continue to become more diverse as new technology is adapted and more research is conducted. It is our job to share this information directly with you - our customers. Therefore, we attempt to write interesting, thought-provoking and relevant articles in this newsletter. The previous edition of the Crop Quest Perspectives had an article on the Erratic Nature of Climate Change featuring Jerry Hatfield, one of our Full Staff Meetings keynote speakers. Because of this article, we recently had a client call in saying he wasnt happy about Crop Quest promoting global warming. To clarify this misunderstanding, the article was not promoting global warming as it was not even mentioned. I realize some people jump to concluding global warming when they see phrases like climate change, but climate change happens whether we

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are warming, cooling, or just in a short weather cycle. The whole purpose of this article was to point out the facts. We are seeing more erratic weather conditions, and this calls for different management practices. Jerry Hatfield has a lot of experience and data regarding climate change and the impact it can have on cropping conditions. As agronomists, we need to understand the changes that are occurring and the impact they may have on cropping systems. Being aware of how these climatic changes can affect insect cycles, diseases, and plant tolerance to drought or wet conditions will aid us in making the best recommendations possible for our customers. Awareness will help alert us to changes that need to be made to lessen the impact of these erratic changes on a farmers crop. I am less concerned with if we are in a global warming cycle, a global cooling cycle or whatever cycle makes the next headline. I really doubt that man has much of an effect on such a long-term cycle; the climatic scientists cant even agree on that topic. Crop production is what our agronomists are concerned about and anything that may have an impact on yield is important for us to understand. If you have suggestions or topics you would like to see covered in this newsletter, please feel free to submit your ideas to our headquarter office at 620-225-2233 or via email at cqoffice@cropquest.com. You can also find us on Facebook. Thank you for your business; you are appreciated!

found up to 160 copies of the gene that produces the enzyme to which glyphosate attaches, Westra explains. The pigweed plant pumps out these gene copies, which in effect dilutes glyphosate to the point of being ineffective in controlling these weed pests. When glyphosate is sprayed on one of these resistant plants, some of the molecules are tied up, but plenty more are around and not affected by the herbicide, Westra explains. This occurrence of gene amplification as a herbicide resistance mechanism in a naturally occurring weed population is particularly significant because it could threaten the sustainable use of glyphosate-resistant crop technology, Westra contends. The molecular trait in pigweed is passed along via pollen. Pollen can easily move 300 to 400 feet in a cropping season. Westra says this explains why growers usually see a pigweed or two sticking up in a field one year and the next year have an oval-shaped clump of

New Discovery ... Continued from Page 1

weeds that may be 20 to 30 feet across. This type of mechanism for spread of Palmer amaranth is not good news for farmers, but it is critical in understanding how herbicide resistance spreads and accentuates the need to avoid the problem by alternating herbicides with different modes of action. If a high percentage of pigweed, either Palmer amaranth or its close cousin water hemp proves to have tolerance to glyphosate via the gene amplification mechanism discovered by the Colorado State University researchers, the options for growers become more limited. And, the need for a herbicide resistance plan for each crop becomes more critical. A side effect of the new discovery is the development of a highly accurate, fast test method for glyphosate resistance. Though not commercially available, USDA Researcher Dale Shaner has developed an assay test that can be done on leaf samples and provides a definitive answer to whether a plant is glyphosate resistant in a couple of days. As for now the best test for glyphosate resistance is to have as many eyes as possible looking for plants that are not controlled by the herbicide. Having a crop consultant, armed with a cropping history of the field and the knowledge of what resistant plants look like in the field is likely the best scenario for detecting glyphosate resistance. Putting together a workable, both from a production and an economic perspective, herbicide resistance plan is a good insurance policy against what is sure to continue to be a serious production problem for farmers.
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Crop Quest Perspectives

Crop Quest Advances Their Precision Ag Capabilities With Additional Veris Unit

Crop Quest has purchased an additional Veris soil mapping unit to aid customers in mapping soils and with variable rate application recommendations. The Veris unit is another precision ag tool for producers to use to increase profitability on their farms. It fits the objectives and goals of all precision ag products as it may: agronomically by growing a better crop Help Help economically by decreasing input costs & increasing profits Help environmentally by putting the right inputs in the right place(s) The Veris unit maps electrical conductivity (EC) in a soil, which is closely associated with soil texture and productivity. As it moves across a field, it will send a current and read from soil depths of 12 inches and 36 inches. The map produced is loosely defined as a soil texture map or a productivity map of the soils within a field. There are many applications for this kind of information; it is excellent information to determine soil sampling zones or in conjunction with grid sampling. At the same time that this unit is mapping EC, this new Veris unit has an additional feature, a pH Manager, to map the variability of pH in a field (approximate depth of readings is 3). This will likely have more uses in areas of low pH and dry land fields. Information from the pH Manager can be used in conjunction with grid soil sampling information or used to help develop a zone sampling program. Maps and recommendations can be generated within hours of collecting the data. The information may also be downloaded to an applicator for variable rate application of lime materials. The unit also has the capability to do elevation mapping (at the same time as EC & pH or separately with a 4 wheeler) with RTK GPS. Any producer that has variable rate application equipment or works with applicators that have this type of equipment will be able to utilize the Veris technology. The unit may be used to collect data in both non-planted and early growing crop fields. Since the equipments disc are running in the ground while data is being collected, there is little damage to small crops. If collecting pH readings, this should be done in non-planted fields. Rob Meyer, senior agronomist in Colwich, Kan., will lead the use of this Veris unit. He will be assisted by John Hecht, Special Projects Manager, and the Crop Quest Precision Ag Team. The Veris unit that is currently in Southeastern Oklahoma is being used full time, so this new addition will allow Veris technology throughout our Crop Quest territory, states Meyer. We have purchased a pickup and trailer to haul this unit as well as a tractor to pull the unit through the field. Meyer feels that the new unit with the pH Manager should have an immediate impact in areas where pH drops into the 4.0 - 5.5 range. Soil sampling and grid sampling are tools that weve used in the past to collect data and make decisions, but with this new tool, we should be able to collect 25-30 times as many data points as a 2.5 acre grid would allow. The pH Manager is taking a reading every 20-30 seconds as the unit is running through the field. The grid samples are still important, but more data points mean more information and better recommendations, Meyer emphasizes. The unit will be able to cover 250 acres per day with the pH Manager running and should be able to cover more ground per day if only Veris information is being collected. Winter weather will keep the unit out of the field, since it will not reflect accurate readings in frozen ground or on very saturated soils. Meyer adds, There have been enough questions and interest by producers and staff in other areas that we decided to provide this service company-wide. For more information, contact your Crop Quest Agronomist or Rob Meyer at 316-613-1647 or rmeyer@cropquest.com.
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Crop Quest is an employee-owned company dedicated to providing the highest quality agricultural services for each customer. The quest of our network of professionals is to practice integrity and innovation to ensure our services are economically and environmentally sound.

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Crop Quest Agronomic Services, Inc. Main Office: Phone 620.225.2233 Fax 620.225.3199 Internet: www.cropquest.com cqoffice@cropquest.com

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Crop Quest Board of Directors

President: Director: Director: Director: Director: Director: Ron OHanlon Jim Gleason Dwight Koops Cort Minor Chris McInteer Rob Benyshek