Arkansas Rice Update 3-29-24

by Jarrod Hardke, Rice Extension Agronomist - March 29, 2024

Arkansas Rice Update 2024-01

March 29, 2024

Jarrod Hardke, Trent Roberts, and Bob Scott

“Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.”

Survey Says

The Prospective Plantings report is in.  Check out the tables later in the report for full details across states.

For Arkansas, my expectation is that we’ll end up with 1.4-1.5 million total acres.  The decline in medium-grain acres combined with the long-grain seed situation puts a cap on my total possible expectation.  While anything is possible, it seems difficult to climb north of 1.5 million total acres (1.4 million long-grain).

Fall of 2023 and certain windows in late winter / early spring 2024 have a great deal of ground ready for planting.  Some rice planting began in the central and northern areas of the state beginning last week (~March 20) while the southern area can’t miss a rain.  The unfortunate comment at this time is that the current overall forecast for April is wetter than normal (Fig. 1).

It appears we’ll need to be geared up for whatever window we’re given to take off planting.  Right now, there are conflicting expectations for next week, but local forecasts and the NOAA precipitation outlook (Fig. 2) are showing declining rain totals for Monday-Tuesday.  If we escape that event, hold onto your hat, next week’s rice planting progress is going to get wild.

Fig. 1.  Monthly precipitation outlook for April 2024.

Fig. 2.  NOAA 7-day precipitation forecast.

2024 Rice Management Guide now available

The 2024 Rice Management Guide publication is made possible by the rice growers of Arkansas through the Arkansas Rice Check-Off administered by the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board and support from the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.  It contains the most requested production recommendations for rice in a single, easy-to-reference PDF.  It is now available for download, and copies are now available at local county Extension offices.

Nitrogen Starter / Early Post-Emergence Fertilizer

Jarrod Hardke and Trent Roberts

Everyone is looking for an edge this growing season, and several questions regarding early season (starter) nitrogen (N) applications have come up.  Whether we’re talking ammonium sulfate (AMS), diammonium phosphate (DAP), poultry litter, or liquid N forms, here are some thoughts.

1. Poultry litter is a little different animal so let’s get it out of the way first. If litter is applied and incorporated at planting, there will still be some N available to rice.  We recommend counting 25% of the litter’s N (on an as-is basis) toward your preflood N rate.  If litter is surface-applied and not incorporated, N loss via ammonia volatilization and surface runoff is more of a concern and less N would be available.

2. In general, do not apply starter N fertilizers at planting. Rice plants live off of the seed until around the 2-leaf growth stage.  Preplant, at-planting, and early post-emergent (1-2 leaf) applications of N can be unavailable or lost before rice has a large enough root system to take up any of the applied N.

3. If applying an early post-emergence fertilizer, the 2-3 leaf stage is the earliest you should consider making this application. By this time the plant has more of a root system and is beginning to rely on the soil N rather than the seed for its nutrient demands.

4. On silt loam soils, when applying early post-emergence N at 2-3 leaf or beyond, there should be no expectation of a growth or yield response, and any yield response is unlikely to cover the cost of fertilizer and application ($35 or 5.2 bu at $6.75 rice).

5. On clay soils, we can expect to see a growth increase of possibly 1-2 inches in plant height compared to no early N applied. While a yield increase is still not expected, greater plant size may help with flooding fields earlier and saving on herbicide applications while also harvesting earlier.  The better the growing conditions, the less likely a positive growth response will occur when applying early post-emergence N to rice.

6. If rice is progressing slowly or injured, it may be worth considering an early post-emergence N application on a field-specific basis. However, in most cases, the rainfall/flush incorporating the fertilizer is most beneficial rather than the actual fertilizer itself.

7. If you decide to apply early post-emergence N at 2-3 leaf rice or later, do not count any of the N toward your preflood N rate. We could possibly count 5-10 lbs N but the actual number is highly variable so it is best to not count it towards the preflood N rate.

8. There have been some questions about using a liquid N form to go out with herbicide at planting. The same arguments apply as above – it’s too early to be useful and prone to loss.

Make starter/early post-emergence N decisions on a field-specific basis and keep in mind that environmental conditions will affect what, if any, response is observed from them.

Results of 2022-2023 Planting Date Studies

Jarrod Hardke

Below in Figures 3 and 4 are results of planting date studies averaged across 2022 and 2023 for the RREC at Stuttgart and the NERREC at Harrisburg.  Other cultivars that have been included (and full 2023 results) can be found in the results of the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials publication.

One thing that continues to stand out for the study at RREC is that yields are generally highest planted early (into mid or late April) and begin to decline after we hit early May.  At NERREC, the past two years things have looked a little different, with very early not being that great while all of April looked optimal with a decline in early May before a steep drop after that.

With the acres we need to cover, getting started on the early side continues to look good, but if we can end up with most of our rice planted in April we’re going to be in great shape.  The goal is to get rice in by the first week of May if possible.

Figure 3.  Average grain yield by planting date for selected cultivars at the Rice Research and Extension Center, Stuttgart, 2022-2023.

Figure 4.  Average grain yield by planting date for selected cultivars at the Northeast Rice Research and Extension Center, Harrisburg, 2022-2023.

Herbicide Plant-Back Restrictions

Jarrod Hardke and Bob Scott

As we gear up for a hopefully nearing planting window, some fields have been sprayed with burndown applications somewhat recently.  A few notable plant-back intervals to rice for our burndown herbicides are included in Table 1.  For additional information see MP519 Row Crop Plant-Back Intervals for Common Herbicides.

One herbicide not listed here, but that has been mentioned repeatedly at winter meetings, is Dual (s-metolachlor) – if it was applied in the fall it is not safe to plant rice on that field this spring.

Table 1.  Notable burn-down herbicides with plant-back intervals to rice.

¹ Plant-back days are rate dependent, days presented are for lowest labeled rate.

Always read and follow label directions.

Thoughts on Prospective Plantings Report

Jarrod Hardke

In late November and early December, we seemed destined for a slight decline in Arkansas to around 1.3 million acres.  Since then, prices of competing crops rapidly declined and changed the game.  Since January it has looked as though we would plant similar acres or more compared to last year’s 1.4+ million acres.  So, the total acreage (Table 2) number puts us right in that neighborhood.  From a national standpoint, some are slightly increasing while others and slightly decreasing resulting in not much change.

More on Arkansas though:  long-grain acres are showing a dramatic increase (Table 3) while medium-grain acres are showing a dramatic decrease (Table 4).  It was thought long-grain could go higher but seed shortages seem to be holding it back.  Medium-grain, however, may still be projected a little high in this estimate but with the long-grain seed shortage some are looking to medium-grain seed as a way to get more rice acres in.

Overall, at this point in time, the acreage projection is right in the wheelhouse for Arkansas though a little higher number toward 1.5 million total acres was where I was leaning.  Spring weather will tell the story on what actually gets planted of course.

Table 2. U.S. Rice Planted Acreage, 2023 and March 2024 Prospective Plantings.

Source:  USDA NASS.

Table 3. U.S. Long-Grain Planted Acreage, 2023 and March 2024 Prospective Plantings.

Source:  USDA NASS.

Table 4. U.S. Medium-Grain Planted Acreage, 2023 and March 2024 Prospective Plantings.

Source:  USDA NASS.

Use the Arkansas Rice Advisor Internet App!

The Arkansas Rice Advisor site https://riceadvisor.uada.edu functions like an app on your mobile device.  There you can readily access the DD50 program, rice seeding rate calculator, drill calibration, fertilizer and N rate calculators, publications, and more.

Additional Information

Arkansas Rice Updates are published periodically to provide timely information and recommendations for rice production in Arkansas.  If you would like to be added to this email list, please send your request to rice@uada.edu.

This information will also be posted to the Arkansas Row Crops blog (http://www.arkansas-crops.com/) where additional information from Extension specialists can be found.

More information on rice production, including access to all publications and reports, can be found at http://www.uaex.uada.edu/rice.

Acknowledgements

We sincerely appreciate the support for this publication provided by the rice farmers of Arkansas and administered by the Arkansas Rice Research and Promotion Board.

The authors greatly appreciate the feedback and contributions of all growers, county agents, consultants, and rice industry stakeholders.