08 February, 2006

Ukraine: Winter barley suffers from winterkill

Winterkill rates for the Ukraine's winter barley and wheat crops are expected to be greater than normal because of colder than normal January weather, but still below the disastrous 2002-03 season.

Winter crop damage varies significantly depending on weather conditions, and largely depends on minimum temperatures, depth of protective snow cover, crops' soil moisture and other factors, notes the U.S. agricultural attache for the country.

The most typical are freezing, suffocation under the ice crust (these two reasons are often combined into one -- "winter kill"), rodent damage, spring dryness, etc. Rye is the most cold resistant winter crop followed by wheat. Barley and rapeseed have the lowest resistance to low temperatures.

Because winter wheat is Ukraine's major crop (accounted for nearly 30% of total area planted in 2005), this crop suffers the highest production losses amongst others. For instance, wheat accounted for 80% of all winter crop losses in the disastrous 2002-03 and 70% in 2003-04 when winterkill was low.

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