Field Day shows technologies for irrigated wheat in the Cerrado

Approximately 240 participants in the Field Day on Irrigated Wheat held on a rural property located in the Federal District Managed Settlement Program (PAD-DF), were able to learn about the main technologies in cultivars and crop management in Central Brazil. The event was promoted by Embrapa and the DF Agricultural Cooperative (Coopa-DF).

“This was a colder year and we achieved different (productivity) averages. We are here to see what the culture can offer, not just in terms of grain, but in a successive cycle of crops such as soybeans and beans”, said the president of Coopa-DF, Leomar Cenci. The general head of Embrapa Cerrados (Planaltina, DF), Cláudio Karia, highlighted the importance of working in partnership and the satisfaction of bringing technologies and knowledge to the productive sector. Karia recalled that the Safra-Brasília Expedition, a joint action between Seagri-DF, Emater-DF and Embrapa, detected, in 2016, challenges in grain production in the DF. “We compiled the data and this resulted in a list of needs. This year, we are developing actions to seek technological innovations so that we can face these bottlenecks,” he said.
The importance of Coopa-DF in the development of the DF was highlighted by the president of Emater-DF, José Guilherme Leal. “You are building history with an event like this, enabling the discussion of technology advances for the region, which plays a very important role not only in the Federal District, but for all tropical agriculture in the Central-West”, he pointed out. Leal explained that due to what was raised by the Safra-Brasília Expedition, the institutions are seeking to address the topics that the producers highlighted as issues that could be worked on in terms of technological advances.

Cultivars

At the first technical station, researcher Júlio Albrecht, from Embrapa Cerrados, spoke about the characteristics of the wheat cultivars BRS 394, BRS 264, BRS 254 and BRS 404, developed for the Cerrado. “Producers are opting for wheat because it is a plant that suppresses soil diseases, which breaks the pest cycle. It also leaves a good straw on the soil and they have seen higher yields in soybeans and beans, successors to wheat,” he explained.
Launched in 2015, BRS 394 is an irrigated bread wheat cultivar that has also been used in the off-season, in a rainfed system, by producers who had problems with leafhoppers, fusarium and nematodes in corn in succession to soybean crops. Albrecht highlighted the high productivity (at least 120 sc/ha in the irrigated system and expectation of 60 sc/ha in the off-season), in addition to its precocity (115 days), moderate resistance to lodging and resistance to threshing, greater tolerance to blast and exceptional industrial quality, with high gluten strength and stability and an average flour yield of 62,5%.
BRS 264 is still the most cultivated irrigated material in the Cerrado (80% of the wheat area) because it is highly productive (average of 120 sc/ha) and super early – the 15-day shorter cycle allows for water and energy savings. “This year, the best PAD-DF crops are harvesting around 133 sc/ha in the irrigated area and 60 sc/ha in the rainfed. The material is very responsive to (management) technologies. Due to its precocity, it also manages to do very well in the off-season, especially if planted in the first half of March”, explained the researcher. Furthermore, the cultivar can produce bread even with gluten strength lower than that required by mills and yields 10% more flour compared to the average of other materials.
Despite being less productive (average of 100 sc/ha) and having a later cycle than the other cultivars, BRS 254, recommended for the irrigated system, continues on the market due to its excellent industrial quality, being classified as improving wheat. “This year she surprised us. Producers obtained an average of 115 sc/ha due to the favorable climate and an adjustment in seed density”, noted Albrecht, adding that due to the high stability and gluten strength, mills in Paraná seek to cultivate it when there are crop problems in that region.
Finally, the upland wheat cultivar BRS 404, launched in 2015, has been used in the off-season, being more tolerant to drought and more tolerant to blast than other upland materials. Classified as bread wheat, it has a high productivity average for the dryland system (60 sc/ha), forms good straw, breaks the cycle of pathogens such as fusarium and has high gluten strength.

Crop management
Researchers Jorge Chagas, from Embrapa Trigo (Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul) and Ângelo Sussel (Embrapa Cerrados) presented, in the second season, technical information regarding wheat management in the Cerrado and the integrated management of crop diseases in the Cerrado. Chagas spoke about the advantages of line sowing in relation to broadcast sowing; the sowing time, the recommended planting window and materials for late sowing; recommendations regarding sowing density according to the cultivar to avoid lodging; maintenance and nitrogen fertilization; instructions on the application of the growth regulator; and irrigation management, indicating the use of the Irrigation Monitoring software, developed by Embrapa Cerrados.
The researcher also highlighted advantages of BRS 404 upland wheat and specific management recommendations for the cultivar. “It is an alternative to the late cultivation of the off-season, in the month of March”, he commented.
Ângelo Sussel recalled that integrated disease management works for any crop. He pointed out the principles that must be observed: crop rotation; the elimination of plants with inoculum; the search for resistant cultivars available on the market; the use of healthy and certified seeds; seed treatment to prevent diseases and protect the plant during the tillering period; the planting time, important to avoid the incidence of blast; adequate seeding density to avoid lodging and foliar diseases; balanced nutrition for better defense response to diseases; weekly disease monitoring, from planting to heading; and the management of fungicides, with the rotation of chemical groups and application at the correct time.
He also cited the main wheat diseases in the Cerrado (powdery mildew, leaf spots, rust and blast), as well as the essential measures to prevent them. “It is important to rotate the chemical group and not just the molecules. If the fungus is already resistant to one molecule, it will be resistant to another in the same group. Pay attention to the other chemical groups so that different races of the fungus do not appear (in the crop)”, he commented.

Companies
The third and fourth stations were presented by representatives of Coopa-DF partner companies. João Victor Pagnussatti, from Alltech Crop Science, and Marlon Alves, from FMC, presented the companies' product portfolios for the management of diseases and pests in wheat and seed treatment.
The cooperative's technical manager, Cláudio Malinski, highlighted the importance of wheat in the production system. According to Malinski, crops in the region this year should have an average productivity of around 7,5 thousand kg/ha (125 sc/ha), and the cultivation of wheat in the off-season (end of February and March) should bring more benefits than sorghum and corn for having greater liquidity and quality, which makes the crop highly competitive.
“We can become self-sufficient in wheat with more resistant and productive cultivars,” said Malinski. “The materials must have high productivity, as it will be increasingly expensive to produce irrigated wheat due to the cost of electricity”, added Deodato Junior, commercial supervisor at the company Biotrigo.
Otoniel Resende, from Penergetic, presented a two-meter-deep trench exposing the soil profile full of roots. He drew attention to the importance of the biological and physical components of the soil, since the chemical attributes have already been mastered. “We have to rethink the chemical part of the soil and consider the activity of microorganisms. There is a need for (chemical) fertilization, but it must be more rational, seeking physical and biological criteria to bring life,” he said.