• The first leaf should not be used to diagnose manganese deficiency in barley as it has a higher concentration than the youngest expanded blade.
• Visual symptoms of manganese deficiency begin on the youngest leaves but necrosis develops slowly.
• There was no difference in manganese concentration between the youngest expanded blade on the main stem or tillers so either could be used.
• Chlorophyll a fluorescence was strongly correlated with manganese concentration and a useful tool for identifying manganese deficiency in barley.

• High levels of herbicide resistance are present in annual ryegrass in South Australia and Victoria.
• Trifluralin resistance is high in South Australia, but lower elsewhere.
• There is no cross resistance to the new pre-emergent herbicides Boxer Gold and Bay 191.

• High levels of herbicide resistance are present in annual ryegrass in SA and Victoria.
• Trifluralin resistance is high in SA, but lower elsewhere.
• There is no cross resistance to the new per-emergent herbicides Boxer Gold and BAY-191.
• Trifluralin must be conserved because the new pre-emergenet herbicides are not selective in canola.

• Zinc deficiency caused production losses in cereals of up to 25% and in medic of up to 300% in biomass.
• Critical level for zinc deficiency in wheat was established as 18 mg/kg in YEBs at late tillering.
• Zinc deficiency in crops can be corrected with foliar sprays, zinc coated fertilisers or zinc applied to the soil and thoroughly incorporated by tillage. Fertilisers which are a mix of NP granules and zinc granules are poorly effective.
• Zinc applied to the soil will provide residual benefits for 3-10 years, the longer persistence in sandier mallee soils.
• 70% of cereal crops in the SA mallee were zinc deficient in the early 1990s.
• An application of 2 kg zinc/ha to the soil (as an incorporated soil spray or zinc coated fertiliser) will correct zinc deficiency in broadacre crops and pastures.

• Twenty replicated factorial experiments conducted 1970-1971.
• Copper, manganese, zinc, iron, boron and molybdenum applied as foliar sprays at various times.
• Vegetative growth was less affected by copper deficiency than grain yield.
• There was a response to copper at 14 of the 20 sites.
• Response to other trace elements were much less frequent.
• Copper deficiency occurred on a wide range of soils.
• Responses to zinc and manganese applications were confined to calcareous soils.
• Copper concentration in the tops was poorly correlated with yield but a critical concentration of 2.5 ppm was apparent from grain analysis.
• The relationship between grain copper and copper responsiveness was not influenced by soil type.

The 2017 season was significantly colder than average with about 500 hours below zero.

While stubble management may influence in-canopy temperatures, the differences between management practices were minimal during 2017.

Differences in frost damage of grains were significant between treatments at both the Coreen and Yarrawonga sites, with the burnt treatment showing the greatest frost damage at Coreen, while the no-till stubble retained (NTSR) treatments showed the greatest damage at Yarrawonga.

Stubble management per se did not influence frost damage in wheat during 2017, with frost damage not necessarily related to in-canopy temperatures.

Stubble management practices can influence the rate of crop development and may lead to changes in flowering time. This change in rate of development can influence crop susceptibility to frost at different times throughout the growing season.

 

• Despite apparently adequate levels of nitrogen in the soil profile, a significant yield response was still recorded where sulphur was supplied along with nitrogen protected by a nitrification inhibitor - Entec Granam.
• Marginal S levels may have become deficient during the course of the trial due to leaching of sulfur.

• There were adequate levels of nitrogen in the soil profile which limited response to any applied fertiliser.
• There were significant yield increases from enhanced efficiency products such as Entec at sowing.

• The application of 40kg/ha at sowing resulted in significant yield responses from all products over the control where only starter fertiliser was applied.
• Fertilisers banded at sowing generally resulted in higher yields and grain N recovery than top dress applications, while the inverse was true for grain protein levels.
• Low grain protein levels (<10.5%) for all treatments and application timings generally indiates that yield was not optimised due to the limited nitrogen supply.
• There were no significant responses found from the use of inhibitors in this trial.

• There were good dry matter responses to starter fertilisers at either 16 or 32 kg/ha of P although only certain treatments gave a significant dry matter inrease when raising P rate from 16 to 32 kg/ha. The best dry matter response was from Gree Top which supplied all the nutrients lacking in the soil test report.
• Potassium seed burn was not apparent possibly due to the relatively wet conditions.
• Both DAP and Gree Top grew over 70 kg DM/ha/kg P at the lower rate of 80 kg/ha, which supplied 16 kg/ha of P.
• Only Green Top, Croplift and Superfect+Mo increased yields with increasing rate of application indicating they supplied the lacking nutrient required to make use of the extra P available.

• There were adequate levels of phosphorus in the soil profile, but we still saw a response to phosphorus fertiliser.
• There were some differences within different products at the 12 kg P rate - with sulfur enhances products delivering a better outcome.
• Other additive to phosphorus fertilisers delivered no additional benefits.

• Although soil measures of zinc availability indicated sufficiency, zinc deficiency was severe in the untreated plots.
• Yield responses to foliar zinc of up to 86% were observed in sensitive cultivars.
• Some cultivars were not responsive to applied zinc and did not show any symptoms of zinc deficiency.
• Appropriate early treatment with foliar sprays eliminates zinc deficiency.
• Where soils are shown to be zinc deficient soil applications may be warranted but interactions with phosphorus need to be understood.

• Zinc diffusion was assessed for three fertilizers in three soils of varying pH.
• The fertilizer (zincSO4-coated monoammonium phosphate, MAP; zincSO4-coated diammonium phosphate, DAP; or zincSO4 alone) was applied in the centre of a Petri dish filled with soil.
• The zinc diffusion zone was visualized at various incubation times (1, 7 and 18 days) by exposing a CaCO3-impregnated filter paper on the soil surface and colouring the zinc captured on the filter paper using dithizone.
• The extent of diffusion was also assessed through concentric sampling and chemical analysis of soil sections.
• The visualization results agreed with the chemical analyses and demonstrated the effects of soil properties and fertilizer formulation on zinc diffusion.
• Combining zinc with P fertilizer restricted its diffusion, particularly with DAP fertilizer or in high pH soils.
• Solubility considerations indicated that this was due to the formation of zinc phosphate minerals.

• Digital photos collected up to GS31 and processed for green ground cover provided a good measure of crop biomass and N uptake.
• Images collected after GS31 had poorer relationships with crop growth.

• Canola and juncea can successfully be direct-harvested without windrowing or using pre-harvest chemicals.
• Windrowing can help the crop ripen more evenly, allowing better management of the harvest windrow, especially if damaging weather is forcast.
• Although expensive, Reglone and Desikote Max may help to offset yield losses experienced with crop variability.

• Time of sowing is more important than seeding system.
• Depth control on disc seeding systems can affect crop establishment.
• In this trial the knife-point press wheel seeding system out yielded the single disc seeding system.

• Both the grazed disc and grazed tyne treatments yield the same.
• In contrast to one of the initial years where the tyne treatments saw greater Patterson’s Curse density, there have not been any further or continual patterns of weeds within the site.
• Disc seeder saw limitations in ungrazed stubble, when stubble lodged along with soft wet soil. Solutions will include reducing stubble harvest height, to lower risk of post-harvest lodging, however even spread across header width will be essential.
• Addition of “residue managers” to brush material aside from path of disc openers would reduce level of poor establishment and ensure discs continue to roll and cut.
• Poor establishment means that it is behind on tiller density and ultimately head density. This is the basis of building yield potential and water use efficiency. Focus on maximum and consistent establishment to efficiently use nutrient and moisture resources.
• Tyne seeder is more “forgiving” in troublesome conditions, as there are fewer variables to manage.
• To date, total yields are virtually level, signifying there is no silver bullet to seeding machine or stubble management.
• To manage the variables which pose risk to any such system will be the key to limit downfalls (as seen this year with the ungrazed disc) and maximise profitability. This is the silver bullet!

Please refer to attached trial report for discussion of results.

• The trial at Dalwallinu suffered from low soil temperature after sowing.
• Disease was not a larege problem at this trial as the level of inoculum would have been very low.
• Bird damage accounts for some of the large standard deviaitons in the Genesis 90.

• Baudin produced a statistically higher yield than Gairdner under all treatment regimes.
• The dry growing season lead to a very low disease presence in the plots.
• Under non-experimental cropping situations, foliar fungicide sprays would not have been applied in the absence of disease; however, in this trial the cost of foliar applications were not returned through improved yield.

The new Dun type field varieties Parafield and Kaspa (PSL4) had a significantly higher yield compared to Dundale at the Woomelang trial site (Dundale 1.3t/ha, Parafield 1.9t/ha, Kaspa 2.1 t/ha). The increased standability of Kaspa also makes harvesting much easier. In the 2001 season there were no benefits from a fungicide spray program on yield.

• A combination of old and new technology is being used to detect and analyse airborne fungal spore patterns affecting cereal and pulse grain crops.
• Intense spore showers were detected for blackspot of field pea and NFNB of barley, but negligible for YLS of wheat, at the experimental site at Hart during the 2013 season.
• Spore dispersal patterns of blackspot of field pea fitted with Blackspot Manager predictions.

Drought conditions throughout the Mallee and Wimmera last year (2002) resulted in poor growth in most pulse crops, with many crops failing. It is very tempting to re-sow paddocks to the same crop or another pulse in 2003. However, there are several disease management issues growers should be aware of before deciding to replant on pulses.

• Combined results from the sowing date and disease management trials indicated PBA Blitz and PBA Greenfield were more severely affected by ascochyta blight than previously observed relative to other varieties. This has resulted in a drop in their disease ratings relative to other varieties.

The main messages from the trial work undertaken in 2005 for disease management in 2006 are discussed.

• The 'Full' treatment was significantly better yielding than the other treatments.
• The 'Full' treatment was more profitable than other treatments for wheat.

Taking account of fungicide costs (both application and product) revealed that untreated Teesdale generated the equal highest margins (Table 6-16). With both Mitre and Kellalac the most cost effective treatments were two applications of fungicide based on a GS32 Bayleton followed by Opus, however as stand alone treatments the flag leaf spray of Opus was substantially more cost effective than either Jockey or Impact. The application of Bayleton at GS32 followed by GS39 Opus was slightly more cost effective than the Impact followed by Opus. Impact had an edge over Jockey in this trial in terms of green leaf retention, yield and margin.

• Wider row spacings resulted in less visual symptoms of ascochyta blight and higher grain yields.
• This was particularly notable in the susceptible genoptype, Howzat.

• Disease pressure was low in the trials and no major effects of agronomic treatment were noted.

• New varieties are likely to offer significant yield improvement in southern Victoria, along with improvements in disease resistance.

• No significant disease was noted in trials this year so grain yields were unaffected by disease management treatments.
• However the trials did clearly highlight the yield advantage of AF05069, AF05073 and AF05095 compared with Farah.

• New varieties are available for southern Victoria, offering a range of grain types and forage options, associated with excellent yield potential. Disease had little impact on yields in 2014. PBA Pearl was the highest yielding variety producing, 2.3t/ha and estimated profit of $500/ha.

• Chlorothalonil (Bravo), pyraclostrobin (Cabrio) and azoxystrobin plus chlorothalonil (Amistar
  Opti) showed increased yield compared to the nil treatment, however further improvement is
  possible as the response from fortnightly chlorothalonil sprays was even greater.

• Disease was not significant in 2014. AF05095-1 continued to show increased susceptibility to brackling compared other varieties.

• Due to extreme weather events there was no major effect of disease management in 2014.

• The kabuli chickpeas, both smaller and larger seed types were much more profitable than desi’s at Rupanyup in 2012. Disease had no significant effect on yield, although symptom scores highlighted potential risks with a new line CIC0717.

• Phytophthora medicaginis (Pm) inoculum concentrations decline to low levels (within 6−12 months) of a diseased crop and the distribution becomes more uneven.
• Within 6−12 months, survival populations of Pm (oospores) can be below detectable levels based on both soil DNA and isolate baiting methods.
• These inoculum decline factors limit the ability of PreDicta B to identify paddocks that have a significant disease risk.
• The Pm test is useful for in-crop disease diagnosis when the pathogen is active and inoculum decline has not taken place.
   

• Early break to the season triggers a very early canola sowing time (22 March) in a time of sowing trial at Minnipa.
• Disappointing yields and no stand out varieties in time of sowing 1 (TOS1) at Minnipa missing the full potential for early sowing due to shattering and mice damage.
• Exceptional yields in TOS2 Clearfield trial at Minnipa where Hyola 571 CL, Pioneer 44Y84 CL and Pioneer 43C80 CL all exceeded 2.5 t/ha.
• ATR Stingray, CB Junee HT and ATR Snapper are the highest yielding TOS2 TT lines at Minnipa.
• Hybrids Hyola 571 CL, Pioneer 45Y82 CL and Pioneer 44Y84 CL shine in the Clearfield trial at Witera yielding above 2 t/ha.
• ATR Cobbler, ATR Stingray and Tanami are the best performing TT lines at Witera.
• Oil content in canola is above 42% across all trials.

• Axe and Gladius produced the highest gross income at Franklin Harbour.
• Correll and Yitpi produced the highest gross income at Mt Cooper.
• Pugsley and Yitpi produced the highest gross income at Elliston.
• Flagship and Capstan produced the highest gross income of barley at Mt Cooper.

Trojan wheat shows its class, outperforming all other varieties apart from Phantom and Wyalkatchem at Port Kenny. Fathom, LaTrobe and Compass barley pushed towards the 5 t/ha at Port Kenny in 2014.

Mace, Phantom and Wyalkatchem out-yielded all other varieties at Elliston.

Corack was the top performing wheat variety at Wharminda.

Corack, Mace, Emu Rock and Scout were the top four yielding varieties at Franklin Harbour.

Top five highest yielding wheat varieties at Port Kenny in 2013 were Scout, Cobra, Corack, Mace and Wyalkatchem. Compass, Fathom and Skipper barely varieties performed well at Port Kenny.

There were no differences in yield between varieties in this trial however Cobra, CL Justica and Espada performed the best at Franklin Harbour in the 2013 season.

Yitpi and Mace performed well in the Witera wheat trial. The highest yields were recorded in Hindmarsh, Fathom (WI4483) and Skipper in the Witera barley trial.

• Mace, Yitpi and Wyalkatchem were the top three performing wheat varieties at Port Kenny in 2015.
• The top barley varieties yielded nearly 3 t/ha in a well below average rainfall season at Port Kenny.

• Franklin Harbour had an outstanding trial average of 3.35 t/ha.

• Mace was a standout in a tough year at Elliston, yielding 0.93 t/ha.

The Wharminda trial average was 3.50 t/ha.

• Guardian and Mace top yielding varieties at Franklin Harbour.
• Espada and RAC 1671 top the yields at Mt Cooper.
• Hindmarsh barley stands out; yielding 4.76 t/ha at Mt Cooper.
• Estoc, Scout and Espada top yielding varieties at Elliston.

• Guardian and Mace top yielding varieties at Franklin Harbour.
• Espada and RAC 1671 top the yields at Mt Cooper.
• Hindmarsh barley stands out; yielding 4.76 t/ha at Mt Cooper.
• Estoc, Scout and Espada top yielding varieties at Elliston.

Diuron appears to be safe when applied pre-sowing of lupins at label rates, as there was no difference in yield between the Simazine alone and Diuron alone treatments.

 

• The completion of the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline will introduce long term changes to wildlife populations on farms across the region.
• Surveys undertaken by BCG have shown that the wildlife values on farms are higher where there is open water available and where native vegetation is present.
• Installing a wildlife water point on a farm can be an efficient and cost-effective way of enhancing wildlife values in the Wimmera and Mallee within a piped water delivery system.

During the first year (2004/05) sites were selected, the monitoring program established, baseline data collected and the experimental (trial) water troughs installed. The second year (2005/06) will see further data collected, analysis of results and an extensive communication program implemented.

Please see the attached trial report for results.

Gairdner is still a very difficult variety to beat in terms of yield and quality. Waite Institute line W13586 yielded significantly higher than Gairdner at Gnarwarre and Streatham. Malting quality testing will continue in 2003 for VB0021, VB9926, WB236 and WB238. Baudin, the newly released variety from Department of Agriculture in WA, will not be available in the eastern States until 2004. Baudin  is more suseptible to disease than Gairdner and did not yield any higher than Gairdner in the 2002 season. It's application in Victoria appears to be limited. 

For results please see the attached trial report.

For results please see the attached trial report.

For results please see the attached trial report.

No varieties or lines produced higher grain yields than the standard, Rainbow at Streatham. Castle and Chariton yielded particularly low at Streatham compared to Rainbow. Unremarkable yields by Hyola60 are worth noting given the variety has yielded very high compared to other varieties in the past 2 years. The application of Jockey to Rainbow and Sapphire did not affect those variety's grain yields. 

• All released varieties except Mortlock gave similar grain yields. Similarity between varieties could be attributed to the lack of disease pressure. Mortlock yielded significantly lower at both sites as was expected given the variety's long term yield average. 
• For further findings please see the attached trial report.

For results please see the attached trial report.

For results please see the attached trial report.

• Based upon the data from the 2002 season one released variety cannot be recommended above any other as having superior yields. All released varieties gave similar yields. 
• For further findings please see the attached trial report.

For results please see the attached trial report.

Beacon, Grace and Hyden all yielded at least as well as Pinnacle. Which of those four varieties produced the highest yields depended upon the site. At Gnarwarre, all four varieties produced similar yields. Beacon yielded significantly higher than Pinnacle at Hamilton. Grace and Hyden yielded significantly higher than Pinnacle at Streatham. 10006 was a consistently high yielding line

For results please see the attached trial report.

• The varieties behaved differently depending upon location. It is difficult to find released varieties that performed better than Kellalac at all three sites. Best bets for the whole of South-west based on 2002 results is Declic and Kellalac. This is is line with best bets from long term averages. 
• For further findings please see the attached trial report.

• The highest yielding plots were the ‘Medium’ input which was 150kg urea at tillering and 100kg/ha urea at stem elongation.
• The High input plots were the lowest yielding.
• Protein levels were directly related to nitrogen at stem elongation.
• Nitrogen response is varied depending on timing of application so make decisions wisely!

This comparative study focused on the role of livestock in whole farm performance and has shown:

• the Wimmera and Mallee farming systems that achived the highest profits typically operated with approximately 75% cropping and 25% non-cropped, with some livestock
• livestock income is less volatile than crop income;
• farms with livestock use fewer herbicides, livestock being effective as a tool to delay the developmet of herbicide resistance in crops;
• labour costs are higher when runinng livestock
• livestock do not substantially decrease from total farm operating expenses;
• the most profitable farms are not making their profit from thier livestock enterprise.

• Fluid fertilisers performed better (increased early growth and grain yield) with the addition of low rates of micronutrients.
• Foliar micronutrients were more economic than granular.

• Results from experimentation undertaken in southern NSW in 2011 and 2012, have demonstrated that crop sequences which include a brassica or legume break crops can be as profitable as, and in many instances more profitable than, continuous wheat.
• Canola was consistently the most profitable break crop option. However, the rotational benefits of canola were usually restricted to just the first subsequent wheat crop whereas additional wheat yields can occur for two years after a legume.
• Growing pulses for grain maximises profit, particularly in favourable seasons, but compromises grass weed control and (depending upon species) reduces N available to subsequent crops compared to brown manuring.
• Growing pulses for hay was found to be profitable across a range of season types, achieves excellent grass weed control and provides greater N inputs and higher carry-over of soil water than when the same crop is grown for grain.
• Growing pules for brown manure loses money in the year they are grown, but achieves excellent grass weed control, high N inputs, residual carry-over of soil water, provides more ground cover, and requires less labour than when grown for hay or grain.

Fertiliser decisions are economic decisions based on the relative prices of fertiliser and grain – at higher grain prices, investments even in higher cost fertilisers can still be attractive. Do your sums and calculate the best option.

• Zinc is an essential nutrient to crops on alkaline soils in hte Mallee and Wimmera zinc deficiencies are common.
• The regular (once every three to four years) use of a fertiliser with a zinc additive overcomes most of these dificiencies.
• Some crops such as faba beans may require more zinc.

• Winter habit canola was successfully sown in spring 2011, grazed over summer and harvested for grain in 2012.
• Grazing over summer increased grain yield compared to no grazing. Ungrazed yield was 1.9 t/ha, grazed was 2.7 t/ha. Taurus sown at the conventional time (April) yielded 2.3t/ha. 
• Number of grazings had a small effect on yield. Grazing twice produced the best result, yielding 0.1t/ha more than grazing once and 0.2t/ha more than grazing three times. Although there was a yield penalty by grazing 3 times compared to two times, the third grazing supplied an additional 1t/ha of high quality feed at the beginning of May.
• Heavy grazing reduced yield compared to light grazing irrespective of the number of times it was grazed. However the reduction in yield was small and the heavy grazing produced 4t/ha of feed compared to 1.4 t/ha when lightly grazed. 
• Applying nitrogen over summer has no yield benefits except for multiple (3) heavy grazings. In this case yield went from 2.0 t/ha to 2.7 t/ha

• The monitoring undertaken showed no evidence for significant reduction of soil borne disease by ripping and cultivation.
• The spatial variability of soil borne diseases dictates that careful site selection, small plots, multiple replications and intensive sampling is required to obtain meaningful results.

• Grinding the limesand does make it more effective (ie increases pH more rapidly) and increases pH at a greater
• soil depth compared with using the same rate unground.
• However, we can get the same result from simply applying higher rates of unground product. Ultimately it comes back to cost effectiveness.
• To make it worthwhile applying ground product (and overcoming some application difficulties, ie the stuff blowing away!) we will need to get grinding costs down to less than the cost of about 2t of lime or about $14/t.

• Grinding the limesand does make it more effective (i.e. increases pH more rapidly) and increases pH at a greater soil depth compared with using the same rate unground
• However, unground lime applied at a higher application rate can have just as much of an effect on soil pH as ground limesand applied at lower rates
• Ultimately it comes back to cost-effectiveness. To make it worthwhile applying ground product (and overcoming some application difficulties i.e. the stuff blowing away!) we will need to get grinding costs down to less than the cost of about 2 t of lime.

Glyphosat, Trifluralin and diflufenican residues, plus glyphosate metabolite AMPA are frequently detected at agronomically significant levels at the start of the winter cropping season.

The risk to soil biological processes is generally minor when herbicides are used at label rates and sufficient time is given for them to dissipate before re application.

Further research is needed to define critical thresholds for glyphosate, trifluralin and diflufenican and AMPA and the potential impacxts to soil function and crop production.

Growers should continue to be encouraged to employ land management practises that increase SOC in Western Australia’s cropping soils. Increasing soil C benefits crop production, and has the potential to decrease N and other fertiliser needs. Although increasing SOC increased soil N2O emissions (and inhibited CH4 uptake) in the present study, these losses were relatively low.

The greatest risk of N2O emissions from a sandy soil in the Western Australian grain belt occurred in response to summer-autumn rainfall events, and more so with increasing SOC. This observation is consistent with previous observations for semi-arid soils where a large proportion of annual N2O emissions occurred between crop growing seasons, when the soil was fallow, and in response to soil wetting following summer and autumn rainfall. Approaches to decreasing N2O emissions following summer rainfall events is limited to decreasing N2O emissions from nitrification (e.g., liming, nitrification), and increasing soil N immobilisation and plant N update during summer and autumn.

Nitrogen supply (via mineralisation) prior to seeding varied depending on soil type and summer rainfall, and needs to be included when determining annual N fertiliser requirements. Optimising N fertiliser input will increase farm profitability and decrease the risk of N2O emissions arising from under-utilised N fertiliser.

The proportion of N fertiliser applied that was lost as N2O from a sandy soil in the Western Australian grain belt ranged from 0.08 to 0.12%. This finding, plus past research in the Western Australian grain belt, supports further lowering current Australia’s emission factor (0.3%) for calculating N2O emissions from the application of N fertiliser to non-irrigated, cropped soils in Australia’s semi-arid regions.

• Crop production is often a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions including nitrous oxide (N2O).
• Increasing organic carbon (C) in the surface soil increased N2O emissions from a cropped soil in the Western Australian grainbelt, however, losses were low by international standards.
• Greatest N2O emissions occurred in response to summer-autumn rainfall events.

 

• Canola yield was increased and oil % marginally decreased with increasing N rate applied.
• The highest yield (4.2 t/ha) was achieved at the highest N rate (160 kgN/ha).
• With adequate starting soil N (67 kgN/ha) and good spring rain, N application timing made little difference.
• 30% N fertiliser recovery in grain remains a good ‘rule of thumb’ for canola N budgeting.
• Easy N® application shows promise for topping up N at early flower.
   

• Changing the pre-plant N fertiliser from the non-irrigated side of the plant bed to the irrigated side of the plant bed did not affect soil mineral nitrogen (N), plant growth or cotton lint yield.
• The pattern of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions after the first irrigation event differed according to N fertiliser placement treatment, but the total amount of N2O released was the same.
• Pre-plant N fertiliser placement did affect N2O emitted after the second irrigation (with water-run N), with more lost from the irrigated, non-fertilised side of the hill.
• The cumulative N2O losses summed over all the measurement events showed no treatment differences resulting from pre-plant N fertiliser location, indicating that there is no agronomic or environmental benefit to changing N fertiliser location.
   

• Changing the pre-plant nitrogen (N) fertiliser location from beside the non-irrigated furrow to beside the irrigated furrow increased nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, primarily from the fertiliser band location.
• Irrigating every single furrow instead of every second furrow did not significantly change N2O emissions.
• Altering irrigation furrows in relation to pre-plant N fertiliser did not significantly affect mineral N in the surface soil, nor did it affect any measure of crop production.
• These results do not support changing from the current irrigation and N fertiliser placement system in use.
   

• The results of this demonstration indicate that by reducing fertiliser granule size, while maintaining the amount of fertiliser applied, can be beneficial to crop yield.
• It is assumed that this benefit is derived from better spatial arrangement of the fertiliser allowing crop roots better access to the nutrients.
• Crops with fibrous root systems (cereals and pulses) are better able to exploit this than those with tap roots (canola).

• The results of this demonstration indicate that by reducing fertiliser granule size, while maintaining the amount of fertiliser applied, can be beneficial to crop yield.
• It is assumed that this benefit is derived from better spatial arrangement of the fertiliser allowing crop roots better access to the nutrients.
• Crops with fibrous root systems (cereals and pulses) are better able to exploit this than those with tap roots (canola).

• The results of this demonstration indicate that by reducing fertiliser granule size, while maintaining the amount of fertiliser applied, can be beneficial to crop yield.
• It is assumed that this benefit is derived from better spatial arrangement of the fertiliser allowing crop roots better access to the nutrients.
• Crops with fibrous root systems (cereals and pulses) are better able to exploit this than those with tap roots (canola).

• Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions at the Gunnedah site were approximately three times higher than at the Emerald site, probably because of the heavier clay soil at Gunnedah.
• High and highly variable N2O emissions occurred at both sites during the week following the first irrigation event after the pre-planting nitrogen (N) application. There was no significant effect from the amount of N applied at pre-planting on these first emissions, nor overall at Gunnedah. At Emerald, overall N2O losses were greater from the split N treatment.
• N2O emissions were low–negligible following the subsequent 4–5 irrigation events, except where N was water-run, which caused small and temporary increases in N2O.
• The greatest N2O emission came from the soil above the pre-plant N fertiliser bands. More was emitted from the non-irrigated side of the plant bed, even when both sides of the bed had been fertilised (Emerald).
• Cotton lint yield was not affected by N timing treatment, however, plant biomass was smaller and more N-concentrated from the split N treatment at Gunnedah.
• The 2015–16 weather conditions did not favour either N-timing treatment agronomically or environmentally, but different rainfall patterns in other years may be more influential.
   

• Stubble height did not affect fallow efficiency at Weethallee following the 2013 or 2014 harvests.
• Stubble height during the 2014 fallow did not impact on 2015 crop yields.
• Leaving higher stubbles may reduce harvest cost but may also cause issues during fallow sprays and sowing. Individual producers need to target a stubble height that best suits their equipment and techniquies.

• Stubble management can influence in-canopy temperatures.
• The in-canopy temperature of long stubble was colder than short stubble.
• All trial sites experienced fewer temperature extremes during 2016 than in previous years of this trial.
• There were no measured frosts during flowering in 2016. Further research is needed to determine the physiological significance of the observed temperature differences.

When UAN was used as a carrier at 60L/ha (with added water at 20L/ha to make the total spray volume up to 80L/ha) there was a significant increase in efficacy on ryegrass control.