OATS

Oats are a flexible crop which can be grown for milling or animal feed. Oats can also act as a break crop for take all. When growing for animal feed it can be combined or used to make whole crop silage.

Establishment

Seed beds should be fine, moist, and well drained with a target soil pH of 6.5, however oats can tolerate pH as low as 5.8. Establishment will range from 55-70% in poor seed beds up to 80-95% in good conditions.

Nutrition

Apply phosphorus and potassium in the seed bed as per soil analysis. Spring oats have a nitrogen requirement of 125kg/ha (100 units/acre) and winter oats will require 180kg/ha (145 units/ acre). Oats have a requirement for manganese and will benefit from application of foliar manganese.

Disease control

The major diseases to watch out for in oats are mildew and crown rust.

Yields

Target yields for spring oats should be 6.2-7.4t/ha (2.5-3t/acre) and 7.4-8.7t/ha (3-3.5t/acre) for winter oats.

Cereals

Spring Oats

WPB Isabel

• High treated and untreated yields.

• Good resistance to lodging.

• Excellent kernel content.

Husky

• Very good treated yields.

• Short stiff straw with good resistance to lodging.

• Moderately resistant to mildew and susceptible to crown rust.

Winter Oats

Mascani

• Moderate treated yields.

• Average straw length.

• Excellent milling quality.