Gaps between farmer and attainable yields across rainfed sunflower growing regions of Argentina

HALL, A.; FEOLI, C.E.; INGARAMO, J.; BALZARINI, M.

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2013 vol. 143 p. 119 - 119

e computed three estimators of attainable yield for each of between 5 and 8 rainfed sunflower-growing regions of Argentina using between 5 and 9 years of data over the 2000?2007 interval. The estimators were based on comparative yield trial (CYT) data for commercial hybrids, on individual commercial field (ICF) data, and on reporting district (RD) yield information. Contrasts between these estimators led us to prefer the attainable (CYT) yield estimator over the other two. Attainable (CYT) yields ranged from 2.21 to 2.83 t ha−1 across regions. Yield gaps between mean farmer (RD data) and attainable (CYT) yields were computed using best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE) values for both variables obtained using mixed linear models. These gaps were statistically significant (p≤0.05) for all 8 regions and ranged from 0.37 to 1.18 t ha−1 across regions, for a country average of 0.75 t ha−1, equivalent to 41% of the mean country yield of 1.85 t h