by Dipak Santra, UNL Department of Agronomy and Horticulture
Lincoln, Neb. —Trials for the Winter Peas included 16 varieties and were planted in the fall of 2022. The winter pea trials at Perkins County were excellent, considering the dry fall and being planted into dry soil. The peas went into winter without significant stands. Volunteering wheat from the preceding crop hindered a good stand in the spring. Rainy weather meant the volunteer wheat could not be sprayed on time. Not much winter kill was observed. The trails in Cheyenne County failed with dry soils and poor stands in the spring.
The Spring Pea variety trials planted in the fall of 2023 included 12 varieties. Overall, this year’s spring pea variety testing result was excellent compared to the last 2-3 years’ extremely poor yield due to drought and high temperature. This year’s weather was ideal, with lots of rain and mild temperatures throughout the growing season. Results were recorded for both Cheyenne and Perkins County, but Box Butte peas failed because of hail.
The trails included winter and spring peas from ProGene, and Meridian Seeds, with winter peas from Seed Ranch and spring peas from Valesco Genetics.
Perkins County Winter and Spring pea seed protein data will be posted at a later date.
For the 2022-23 results of the winter and spring pea variety trails, visit https://cropwatch.unl.edu/varietytest/othercrops. For more information and/or questions, Dipak Santra can be reached via email dsantra2@unl.edu.