ITLUS meeting in Oak Park
The spring workshop of the Irish Tillage and Land Use society (ITLUS) took place in Teagasc Oak Park recently. ITLUS president and Teagasc technologist, Deirdre Doyle welcomed tillage growers, agronomists and industry personnel who attended the meeting.
She said: "As Honorary president of ITLUS for 2023, I feel very privileged to hold the position, and I’m honoured to be the first female president in the society. ITLUS is an organisation that strives to promote the tillage sector and, throughout this year, we will be providing information on a range of different topics that are of particular interest to farmers and industry at the time. We will be trying to communicate information out to members through our calendar of events, in an easily accessible way.”
Last week's spring workshop attracted a great turnout, with plenty of people willing to travel to listen to the different speakers. The first three presentations at the event were: Dr. Richie Hackett, Teagasc, who discussed alternatives to using CAN fertiliser for 2023; Shane O’Connell from Brandon Bioscience spoke about innovations that could be applied to try increase nitrogen use efficiency in crop production; while Coleman Purcell, Dairygold, discussed the value of using Irish grown beans in animal feed rations.
There were two outdoor sessions at the Crops Research Centre, where Dr. Louise McNamara, Teagasc entomologist, and Teagasc Walsh Scholar Jack Perry showed the crowd two types of aphid suction towers and yellow traps. This research and the information gathered is being used to assist grain growers with managing Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus ( BYDV).
At the second outdoor session, John Mahon, Teagasc, showed a weed screen trial and went through a range of different herbicide programmes to demonstrate the control of a wide range of grass weeds.
Photo caption LtoR: Richie Hackett, Crop Agronomy Researcher, Teagasc; Louise McNamara, Entomology Researcher, Teagasc; Deirdre Doyle, Agronomy Technologist, Teagasc and ITLUS President; Coleman Purcell, Dairygold; Shane O’Connell, Brandon Bioscience; and John Mahon, Teagasc.