Recovering from Hail

Non-Peer ReviewedHailstorms can be responsible for significant economic loss to the agricultural sector in Alberta. Foliar applications of certain fungicides and nutrient blends have been advocated to promote recovery and yield of hail-damaged crops. Proper understanding of different crop- and hail-related factors is required for an accurate assessment of hail damage to crops, and for evaluations of hail-recovery product claims. This study was undertaken at three locations in Alberta during three growing seasons (2016-18) to determine the effect(s) of two levels of simulated hail severity at three different crop developmental stages including early vegetative, middle vegetative and reproductive stages. Plant growth, yield and grain quality parameters of wheat, field pea and dry bean crops were measured. Simulated hail damage led to reductions in crop height, biomass, canopy cover, grain yield and kernel weight of all three crops. Timing of simulated hail was a critical factor influencing the extent of crop damage with early damage to vegetative stages having less effect on yield compared to damage at later reproductive stages. This trend was especially evident in wheat which did not show significant reduction in yield from the damage at early tillering stages but had significant yield loss with damage at flowering. Foliar applications of fungicides and nutrient blends did not significantly improve crop recovery, grain yield or kernel weight for any of the crops in this study, and thus, their use for the recovery of hail-affected wheat, field pea and dry bean was not supported by the results of this study. Link to Video Presentation: https://youtu.be/vgUDIufNwP