NY: Cornell Researchers Show Off Hemp Trials

Ron Strider

Well-Known Member
Cornell plant breeding expert Don Viands loves to show off new things.

This year, it's trials of industrial hemp.

Viands was one of the presenters at a seed growers field day on July 6 at a Cornell research farm in Ithaca.

"You can see that already this has mushroomed into being something pretty big," Viands said of the hemp trials.

In 2015, New York state became the 19th state in the country to legalize industrial hemp trials for research.

Hemp differs from marijuana in a number of ways, one of which is the level of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. For industrial hemp, THC levels must be less than 0.3 percent, which is far below levels that induce psychoactive effects.

Industrial hemp has many uses and hemp products generated nearly $600 million in U.S. sales in 2015. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said that he wants New York state to be a big grower of the crop to bolster the local economy.

"The governor is wanting about 12,000 acres to be grown in the state, but currently there isn't enough seed," Viands said.

There are three types of hemp: the varieties grown for fiber, those grown for grain and a third type grown for chemicals, mainly for the pharmaceutical industry.

Viands said it took a very long time to get approval from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency for him and his team to get work started on the hemp trials at the Ithaca site. The result was that they weren't able to get much in the way of results last year as it was September before they could plant.

SUNY Cobleskill student Emilia Yoffie is working on the industrial hemp project. She told attendees that excessive rains delayed planting of the crop this spring.

Yoffie said they are evaluating 17 hemp varieties representing grain, fiber and mixed usage types.

As there are no chemicals labeled for hemp production, they are planted and cultivated as an organic crop.

Yoffie said weeds were being out-competed by the hemp at the Ithaca site, but this wasn't the case at other sites.

"The hemp plants are not doing so well where the ground is wet and the weeds are taking over," she said.

She said the fiber varieties had poorer germination than the other varieties. The grain varieties are around 4 feet tall, much shorter than the fiber varieties that grow to about 10 feet.

"As we know that the seed will shatter, harvesting time is going to be critical," Yoffie said, adding that they are planning to harvest when 75 percent of the crop is mature.

Under special license, industrial hemp is being grown on a few farms in the state. Researchers will be scouting for diseases and insects during this crop production cycle.

Plant breeding and genetics professor Mark Sorrells talked about the difference in weather this year compared to 2016, and how this had contributed to a lot more diseases in grain crops.

Plant pathologist Gary Bergstrom said that "in wheat, stripe rust is starting to show up, and even last year with a drought we were seeing pockets of it." Stripe rust can be potentially destructive. The fact that it has been detected early in the season in western New York leads researchers to believe that it can overwinter in the state.

A new foliar disease of wheat, Alternaria leaf spot, was found in New York in summer 2015. Symptoms are distinct from other foliar diseases of wheat and lesions resemble those of scald on barley.

Bergstrom said they still don't know the potential of the disease but that growers should be aware of symptoms as it can be confused with herbicide damage. Photographs and information can be found at Alternaria leaf spot of wheat in New York | What's Cropping Up? Blog.

With this season's high humidity, Bergstrom said he is concerned about Fusarium head blight.

"We had no problems last year, but I think it will be kind of a mixed picture this year," he said, adding that if growers see pink color on the heads, they may want to get a preharvest test done and be prepared to do additional cleaning.

Bergstrom said Fusarium head blight is probably the most serious disease for producers in the state.

"It is a challenge to keep below the cut off of 1ppm DON in this region; it would be good to use both varietal resistance and fungicides, but there isn't much resistance available in the current varieties. This is something we're working on," he said.

Sorrells said that the only soft white winter wheat grown in the state is Medina. Phil Atkins, manager of the New York Seed Improvement Program, said seed is available.

Historically, New York state has grown primarily soft white winter wheat varieties, but that has changed and now most of the acreage is in soft red winter wheat. Sorrells said the variety Otsego, which was the program's first release, is being replaced by Erie.

"The Pioneer varieties out yield everything, but unfortunately they are susceptible to soil viruses," Sorrells said.

Cornell researchers are working with researchers in Ohio to identify more suitable varieties for New York and are also trialing some varieties from Virginia.

Winter malting barley can be rather iffy to grow due to the sometimes harsh winters in the state. Sorrells said growers need to farm both winter and spring varieties to hedge their bets.

Researchers have identified SY Tepee and KWS Scala as two varieties with good winter survival and good malting qualities.

"We have others coming along," Sorrells said.

Rust and mildew are both issues with winter malting barley, and spot blotch is another potential problem, according to Bergstrom.

Another major issue with malting barley is the lack of uniform maturity within a variety. Bergstrom said this can lead to problems in storage as there can be a range in grain moisture. Going into storage, Bergstrom recommens grain be dried with a lot of air and not heat.

Sorrells said his program continues to evaluate rye varieties and that hybrid ryes are still out-yielding the best synthetic varieties by as much as 30 percent.

"I would encourage producers to try them," he said.

When it comes to spring oats, Atkins said Corral is the best variety available.

"The South Dakota lines yield well in our trials but have a bit of a lodging problem. An entry from Minnesota, MN09255, looks promising," Atkins said.

Bergstrom said that there has been a resurgence in crown rust in spring oats.

"We do have varietal resistance and it varies a lot with variety," he said.

Barley yellow dwarf has already been detected in fields. Bergstrom said he was surprised to see the virus in Corral as this was a variety thought to have some resistance.

Bergstrom said many farmers will likely see yield loss in oats due to disease. Most fungicides labeled for wheat can be used for oats, he said, but he's concerned about the economics as it may be too late to use them as the optimal growth stage of the crop has passed, and most products are protectants.

Graduate student Daniel Sweeney told attendees about some of his work on spring malting barley.

"We haven't found anything that really fits New York growing conditions although AAC Synergy and KWS Tinka are quite good," Sweeney said. "The problem with AAC Synergy is that it sprouts. We want a non-sprouting AAC Synergy."

Sweeney is collaborating with a malting laboratory at Hartwick College in Oneonta.

"We have some very good connections with malters and growers, but we need more brewers involved," he said.

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