Writer: Rod Santa Ana, III, (210) 968-5581, r-santaana@tamu.edu
Contact: John Norman, (210) 968-5581
WESLACO — New varieties of cotton, corn, and grain sorghum will be on display in Weslaco on July 16 for growers interested in switching to newer versions of their old standbys.
The annual Row Crops Field Day at the Texas A&M Agricultural Research and Extension Center at Weslaco will begin with registration at 8 a.m. at their annex farm, one mile north of Expressway 83 on Mile 2 West.
“This is our biggest field day of the year,” said cotton entomologist John Norman, one of the event’s organizers.
“It gives growers the opportunity to view new technology that perhaps they haven’t seen yet,” he said. “They’ll be able to evaluate and compare old and new varieties in all three crops if they feel they want to make the transition to newer varieties.”
Earlier maturing cotton varieties with higher quality fibers, midge- resistant sorghum varieties, and tropical hybrid lines of corn resistant to aflatoxin all will be on display and will be discussed by Texas A&M researchers who have spent years improving them.
As the harvest of the Valley’s half million acres of grain sorghum gets under way, another hot topic at this year’s half-day event will be ergot, an airborne fungal disease that showed up in Valley sorghum fields this year.
“We’re going to discuss the several methods of ergot control we’re currently researching,” said Norman.
“We’ll also be looking at sorghum varieties that are more resistant to midge, a tiny gnat-like insect that can devastate sorghum fields in a matter of days,” he said.
“Aflatoxin in corn has been a major problem that has decreased Valley acreage to only 70,000 acres this year. But we’ll be showing off some tropical corn lines that have shown tremendous resistance.”
Harvest of the Valley’s 170,000 acres of cotton, the area’s largest cash crop, is late to mature this year, thanks to heavy spring rains that delayed planting.
Cotton growers who haven’t yet defoliated can evaluate for themselves the effectiveness of various defoliants, applied one week before the field day.
“We won’t have any experimental defoliants out there,” said Norman. “Visitors will be able to compare the different rates and combinations we used of various commercially available defoliants.”
Other topics will include drip irrigation and water management, changes in crop insurance rules, weed management, and whitefly management in cotton.
Visitors will be transported from field to field aboard a canopy- covered tram, refreshments will be provided, and two continuing education credits (CEU’s) will be awarded. Admission is free and the public is invited to attend.
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