At its best, researchers say, only about 30 percent of total crop acreage is ratoon crop. However, Turner believes, with improved yield consistency, the percent of ratooned acreage could go to more than 60 percent. At the heart of the study are stored carbohydrates, the sugars and starches that the plant uses to fill the grain. The amount of stored carbohydrates at the time of the first harvest is related to the number of ratoon, or second crop, tillers. In their attempt to figure out what might impact the ratoon harvest, Jund and Turner tested the theory over a total of 16 treatments with four replications of each treatment.
Early indications point to a possible correlation with cutting height.
Jund noted the first year of the test,1998, produced low ratoon yields, but the researchers believe that it was the higher than normal temperatures of that year and the resultant high disease pressure that caused low ratoon yield. The positive results from reduced cutting height are similar to those found by Dr. Garry McCauley at the Experiment Station's Eagle Lake site. Some researchers believe that under adverse climatic conditions such as cloudy weather near crop heading time, the plant draws on stored carbohydrates to help fill out the grain and develop ratoon tillers. The same might be true, therefore, if the ratoon tillers are not reached by sunlight to aid in photosynthesis, carbohydrates may limit ratoon grain filling. Jund said that ratoon crops are widely variable.