Rye Production and Management

Variety Information Seeding Fertilizer Weeds | Insects | Diseases Harvest Storage

Manitoba produced 21.5 percent of the Canadian rye crop in 2000. The average yield in 2000 was a record 40.0 bushels per acre, well above the10-year average of 34.0 bushels per acre. Rye is used for baking and flavouring as well as for livestock feed.

Select fields with good drainage, sandy loam to heavy clay soil textures. Avoid fields that had cereal crops and forages grasses in the previous year to reduce disease pressure and optimize yields.

Variety Information

Performance Testing

• Current Manitoba Variety Trial Locator (MCVET & others)
• Seed Manitoba Variety Selection & Growers Guide
• Manitoba Crop Variety Selector- McPIQ (database)

Variety performance, acreage, seeding date and crop rotation affects on yield.

• Manitoba Management Plus Program by Manitoba Crop Insurance Corporation

 

Seeding

Treatments
To prevent seed and seedling rots/blight and smuts, seed should be treated with a fungicide.

Dates
Fall rye - August 25 to September 25
Spring rye - May 1 to May 30

Rates
0.75 to 1.5 bu/acre to achieve a plant population of 24 plants/ft ² . High rates of seeding should be used with large seed size, poor germination, weed competition and poor seed bed conditions.

To achieve a plant population of 24 plants/ft², see How to calculate optimum seeding rates using plant population.

Seeding Depth
1 to 2 inches. Do not plant rye deeper than necessary to ensure contact with moist soil. Deeper seeding may result in decreased emergence and weak plants, causing severe winter kill in fall-seeded varieties.

Additional Information:A Fall Rye Seeding Primer

Fertility

General

For specific recommendations, have your soil tested. If soil analyses are not available, a general recommendation is as follows:

 

Weeds

Rye, particularly fall rye, is a competitive crop that can choke out many weeds. Depending on the relative time of emergence with weeds and the weed density, herbicides may not be necessary, which increases net returns.

Control of winter annual weeds such as stinkweed, shepherd’s purse, flixweed and narrow leaved hawk’s beard is particularly important in fall rye. Best control of winter annual weeds with herbicides is achieved in the fall after the weeds have germinated and immediately before freeze-up. They may also be treated the following spring, but must be sprayed before the weeds bolt which occurs in late April or early May.

Weeds that cannot be cleaned out of rye and therefore are considered foreign matter causing downgrading are: cow cockle, ragweed, tartary buckwheat, vetch, wild oats, cereal grains, non-cereal domestic grains such as peas, corn, domestic buckwheat, lentils.

Refer to the Guide to Field Crop Protection

Insects

Grasshoppers, aphids, cutworms and armyworms can damage rye.

Refer to the Guide to Field Crop Protection
 

Plant Diseases

Seed Rot and Seedling Blights

Rye seed should be treated with a suitable fungicide to reduce seed rot, seedling blights and smut.

Ergot
Rotate with a non-susceptible crop for one year to reduce incidence. Cultivate fields following harvest to bury ergot bodies to a depth of at least two inches, and mow grass headlands and roadsides before heading to reduce spread. If the seed source is known to contain ergot bodies, storage for more than one year will reduce their viability to almost zero. Levels of ergot bodies in the harvested grain above 0.1 per cent may be toxic in livestock feed.

Refer to the Guide to Field Crop Protection
 

Harvest

Swathing
Fall rye should be swathed at the milk stage (45 per cent moisture content), or shattering may become a problem during swathing and combining. Straight combing is not recommended, since shattering will be a problem and will result in volunteer growth in the succeeding crop.

Combining
Rye kernels with a moisture content of 14 per cent can be safely combined without the need for drying. Rye threshes very easily. Care should be taken to adjust the concave setting and/or cylinder speed to minimize cracking under dry threshing conditions.

Storage

Moulds and mites tend to be inactive when storage moisture is below 13 per cent. If storage temperatures are below 8°C, 3°C and -8°C, insects, moulds and mites, respectively, are inactive.

These and other Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives publications are available from your local extension office.

• Grain Drying and Storage of Damp Grain

• Prevention and control of insects and mites in farm stored grain

For further information, contact your GO representative.