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The results of this study suggests:

• Whilst the streaming of UAN modestly reduced annual ryegrass N percentage in the tissue, no difference in annual ryegrass biomass or seed production was evident.
• Nitrogen placement did not affect Wheat biomass accumulation (NDVI results), however modest differences in Canopy closure percentage existed. UAN rate and timing however had a greater effect on wheat biomass (NDVI results and wheat biomass cut) and percent canopy closure.
• UAN rate, UAN timing (plus interaction of UAN timing and placement) were found to have significantly affected Radiation interception of the crop in the absence of weeds.
• Nitrogen placement affected the yield and protein content of the grain produced.

The results of this study suggest:

• Increasing the canola seeding rate of both OP and Hybrid varieties increased the crops potential competitiveness by increasing early biomass (NDVI) and % radiation interception.
• Increasing canola row spacing increased the crops light interception.
• At Cunderdin, the greatest decrease in ARG establishment in response to canola seeding rate occurred where both OP and Hybrid canola varieties were sown at wider (50cm) row spacing’s.
• The Mingenew site had a significantly higher weed density, reducing the trials competitive effect on ARG density, biomass, and seed production. Sites with lower weed seed banks will be identified in 2019.

At the Mingenew site, canola yield was higher in open pollinated variety (Bonito). At Cunderdin, no effects were identified.

The results of this study suggest:

• Crop emergence was affected by pollination type (greater in open pollinated var. Bonito), increased seeding rates and increased row-spacing, with variety and row-spacing interaction.
• Weed densities were affected by the interaction between variety and row-spacing only.
• Wild radish seed production was reduced by increased seeding rate.
• In general, canola yield was increased by increasing seeding rate and row-spacing in both weedy and weed free situations.

The results of this study suggests:

• Crop emergence was affected by pollination type (greater in open pollinated var. Bonito), increased seeding rates and increased seed size at both the Cunderdin and Mingenew sites, with seed size and seeding rate interactions at Mingenew.
• Weed densities were reduced by seed size and seeding rates at Cunderdin. No significant decreases were identifies at Mingenew due to the high weed densities.
• Ryegrass biomass was reduced by Pollination type (reduced in the open pollinated var. Bonito), increased seed size at both the Cunderdin and Mingenew sites. Seeding rate was found to reduce ryegrass biomass at the Cunderdin site.
• Canola yield was increased by increasing seeding rate and seed size in both weedy and weed free situations at the Cunderdin and Mingenew sites.

Match the maturity of a variety with sowing date to maximise biomass accumulation, flowering during the optimum time and maximise grain yield potential: – “If sowing early, sow long, or don’t sow wheat at all”.

• There is an opportunity cost and yield penalty of sowing short-mid season varieties too early (early to late April) in the central and southern production zones, similar to sowing mid-long season varieties too late.
• If sowing mid-April in the northern, eastern and southern wheatbelt without frost risk sow mid-long season varieties. If sowing in late May sow short-mid season wheats.
• If sowing in areas of frost risk in the northern, eastern and southern wheatbelt, don’t sow wheat in April, in early May sow mid-long season varieties in areas of low to moderate frost risk and sow areas of severe frost risk in late May to mid-long varieties.
• Highest yields at all sites have typically been achieved by mid-long maturing varieties sown from late April onwards, and short-mid maturing varieties sown in mid-May. At moderate to severe frost prone sites and with disease pressure, however, delaying sowing of mid-long maturities into mid-May, and the use of winter/long wheats when sowing in early to late April, is essential to minimise frost and disease risk.

• Low potash treatments were easily observed in the lupin rotation (2018). They had less vigour and plant biomass and yielded significantly less than the other treatments.
• The low potash treatments were also low yielding in the 2017 wheat phase.

• Four field trials in 2018 assessed the influence of plant density, nitrogen timing and grazing on yield and quality of three long maturing wheat varieties sown early April in Western Australia.
• Based on yield, Forrest and Longsword wheat varieties are more suitable for the early sowing opportunities in April than growing a mid winter (ie EGA Wedgetail) earlier.
• If there are establishment issues sowing in early April, there is generally no penalty if establishment is down to 50 plants/m². Some varietal specific responses were observed although these responses were also driven by nitrogen timing.
• For early April sown crops, delaying nitrogen application until stem elongation improved yields at Esperance, Katanning and Yuna.
• Grazing did reduce yields by up to 0.9t/ha depending on environment and variety choice, but could be achieved with minimal yield loss for some varieties and environments.

• Water repellence resulted in low plant numbers on the control plots. Ripping with inclusion plates substantially increased crop establishment which were further increased by spading, with the greatest plant density on spaded plots with lucerne pellets added.
• Physical intervention increased wheat yields on a deep water repellent sand. The controls using best practice agronomy on unmodified sands, yielded 0.5 t/ha. Ripping with inclusion plates to 30 cm doubled yield, ripping deeper to 41 cm delivered an additional 0.4 t/ha and spading to 30 cm delivered a further yield increase of 0.5 t/ha, or 1.4 t/ha better than the control.
• The addition of 5 t/ha of lucerne pellets or high rates of fertiliser increased wheat yields when incorporated by ripping to 41 cm or spading, and delivered the highest yields of 3.1 t/ha.

1. Removing subsurface soil compaction can provide benefits over many years.
2. Deep ripping provides the opportunity to address other soil constraints such as sub surface acidity

• Deep ripping provided a 260kg/ha yield increase in barley in 2016,
• Deeper ripping and the use of inclusion plates did not improve barley yield at this site,

• Assessing yield responses on different soil types will guide where future deep ripping work is carried out, with priority given to those soils with the greatest yield increases.

The next step is to engage a Carbon Farming service provider, to work with the proponents to prepare a submission to register both a revegetation project and a natural regeneration project with the Emissions Reduciton Fund.

• Field pea, vetch, faba bean and lentil had 3-125% higher biomass yield and 51-110% higher grain yield than chickpea and canola at Minnipa, 2018.
• Current high demand and grain prices for faba bean meant they were the most profitable break crop species.
• Low grain yield of canola (0.43 t/ha) and chickpea (0.39 t/ha) resulted in these crop species not being profitable as grain crops.
• Field pea and vetch, in particular, have multiple alternative end-use options in dry seasonal conditions that can be utilised to recover crop input costs.

• Overall yield from May 17 sowing was impressive for this AgZone, at 1.6 t/ha.
• Delayed sowing by 34 days, to June 20, led to 1042 kg/ha less yield – 30 kg/ha/day.
• Short season hybrids could extend the safe sowing window later in this environment.
• Difficulty establishing canola in hot conditions could limit how far the sowing window can be brought forward.
• To take advantage of early autumn rains in this environment larger seeded broadleaf species that can be sown deeper should be tested.

• Yield were impressive; 1.9t/ha from April 26 and 2.2t/ha from May 17.
• Mid-season maturity varieties showed the greatest plasticity in plant development across sowing dates and may be a good option over a wide sowing/establishment period.
• Short season hybrids may enable the sowing window to be extended later with reduced risk.
• Long season varieties yielded poorly from these sowing dates.

• Yields were relatively stable across sowing times ranging from 2.2 to 3.1 t/ha.
• Early and mid-season hybrid varieties out-yielded the open pollinated varieties of the same season length.
• These hybrids combine early flowering, high biomass and in some cases a long flowering period.
• In general varieties had substantial plasticity and growers may be able to use a few varieties across a wide range of emergence dates; this is important if pre-ordering hybrid seed and/or dry sowing.

• Selecting mid-fast hybrid varieties with flexible phenology in the Wimmera is a good risk management option, which also has yield potential when seasonal conditions are favourable.
• Fast hybrids have performed well but avoid the temptation to plant these early if an early break eventuates.
• Selecting slow developing varieties comes with added risk of requiring a germinating rain in the first week of April or earlier.
• The best return on investment in nitrogen comes with application to hybrids that flower at the optimum time for the environment.

• Chickpeas are not traditionally grown in the Victorian HRZ. Plots were not harvestable due to unfavourable weather during reproductive stages at this exposed site.
• Many pods were white and did not produce grain, as a result of cold conditions and frost.  
   

• Although it was a dry year, the results highlighted significantly less ascochyta blight infection in Genesis 090, which is rated MS as compared to PBA Striker which is rated S.
• There was also significantly higher infection in the variety PBA Striker when Bixafen + Prothioconazole or Tebuconazole + Azoxystrobin were used after the first signs of infection compared to when they were used as a preventative spray. 

• Both varieties had similar grain yields (Genesis 090: 0.28 t/ha, PBA Striker: 0.26 t/ha) and no significantly different effect of fungicide treatment (see Table 3 in attached trial report summary). There was no evidence of an interaction between the fungicide and the variety.

• Despite a dry year with low grain yields, ascochyta blight was observed in all varieties, with stem breakages visible.
• However, there was significant variation between varieties and some newer breeding lines including CICA1454 ranked equal or better than Genesis 090 (see Table 2 in attached report).  
• Although there were significant differences between varieties with ascochyta blight infection, this did not equate to differences in grain yield.
• There was only a significant difference between fungicide treatments (see Table 3 in attached report). 

• Despite a dry year with low grain yields, ascochyta blight was observed in all varieties, with stem breakages visible. There was a significant interaction between variety and fungicide treatment. This showed some newer breeding lines including CICA1352, CICA1454, CICA1156 ranked equal or better than Almaz and Genesis 090 (see Table 2 in attached Trial report).
• Grain yields varied significantly, with a significant variety and treatment affect observed. Grain yield losses up to 36% were observed in the untreated (nil) plots (see Table 3 in attached Trial report). This also highlighted CICA1156, CICA1552, ‘C1’, and CICA1652 which ranked higher for yield than the highest named variety Almaz. In a pairwise analysis only CICA1652 was significantly higher than Almaz. 

• Significantly more ascochyta blight infection and lower grain yields were observed in PBA Striker (rated S) than Genesis090 (MS). Captan and Propiconazole treatments were also less effective in controlling ascochyta blight than the tebuconazole + Azoxystrobin and Bixafen + Prothioconazole, but both the Captan and Propiconazole treatments had less disease than the untreated plots. This did not equate to significantly different grain yields due to the dry season with low grain yields overall. 

• The treatments resulted in highly significant differences in nodulation assessments.  The best treatments included peat applied to the seed or Tagteam or Nodulator granules applied in the seed furrow.  No inoculation or applying the product Alosca in furrow produced very few nodules.  
• Grain yield was very low (<150 kg/ha) due to the dry season and poor establishment, therefore data has not been reported. 

• There is a benefit in inoculating chickpeas where there are limited rhizobia present in the soil. Granular inoculants present an opportunity to potentially improve nodulation under dry sowing conditions and assist with sowing logistics, with no reduction in nodulation or grain yield. It is important to understand how your seeding system may impact on efficacy of inoculants, including liquid placement, seed dressings and seed box. 

• Treatments which included Nodulaid peat and Nodulator or TagTeam granular at twice the recommended rate produced the greater number and highest weight of nodules.  Nodulator and TagTeam granular applied at recommended rates and the EasyRhiz liquid treatment produced similar outcomes for both variables.  The application of Alosca at both label and twice label rate produced very few nodules and therefore total nodule weight was the lowest of all commercial products evaluated.  There were no nodules produced in the nil treatments which confirms there was not a background population of chickpea rhizobia in the soil and highlights the importance of inoculating pulses such as chickpea.
• For further results and interpretation see attached trial report summary.

• Grain yield was very low and variable in 2018 due to low soil pH at the site and water logging in part of the trial. The removal of phosphorus from the fertiliser significantly reduced plant biomass and showed a trend towards reduced grain yield. However, results should be treated with caution due to high variability in the trial.   

• Grain yields were generally low in 2018 due to dry seasonal conditions and frost events during the vegetative and reproductive stages. There was no yield response to the soil nutrition treatments on both soil types. All the treatments except all nutrient minus phosphorus resulted in significantly higher biomass than the nil on the swale.
• The dry growing season conditions may have reduced movement and uptake of the applied macro and micro-nutrients by the crop. Hence, results should be treated with caution.

• NDVI indicated that on the heavier soil types (bay 1- 4), the All – trace elements treatment had the highest growth and this was significant in bays 1,3 and 4.  On the sander soils in bays 6 to 10 there appeared to be a response to the addition of nitrogen with the All – N and Nil treatments having the lowest NDVI values.
• Biomass data was collected from bays 3, 5 and 9. There was a response to nutrients in bay 3 with the all nutrients treatment having the highest biomass and no nutrients treatment the lowest.  The All-N treatment also had low biomass in bay 1.  There were no significant differences for biomass in the sandier soil types however productivity from these bays was very low.   

• Autumn-sown chickpea had grain yields of up to 1.3t/ha c.f. with 0.2t/ha for spring sowing. Neelam was the highest yielding variety autumn sown.  

•  In contrast to long term trial results, the chickpea varieties and breeding lines did not have yield benefits from earlier sowing in 2018.  Several frost events during the flowering and podding phase caused significant flower and pod abortion, particularly in the earlier sown treatments which were further advanced in the reproductive phase. However, it is worth noting that grain yields were impacted by dry seasonal conditions and mice damage earlier in the season and hence, results should be interpreted with caution.
• All varieties and breeding lines had significant ascochyta blight (AB) infection in the early sown and irrigated treatment. Among the varieties and breeding lines, CICA1454 and CICA1352 showed significantly less AB symptoms than others, while PBA Striker and ‘C2’ had the most severe symptoms.  

• In contrast to long term trial results, the chickpea varieties and breeding lines did not have yield benefit from earlier sowing in 2018. Several frost events during flowering and podding caused significant flower and pod abortion, particularly in the earlier sown treatments which were further advanced in the reproductive phase. Hence, growers should consider long-term data and additional information when making varietal or agronomic decisions. Early sowing and irrigating with 20 mm of water increased establishment, early growth and flowering, and risk of frost damage. The performance of varieties and breeding lines were similar except ‘C1’and ‘C2’ which had lower biomass and grain yield than others.

•  Due to extremely dry seasonal conditions and temperature events, grain yields were very low in 2018. The commercial varieties Kaniva, Genesis090, PBA Striker and Sonali yielded better than most breeding lines. Among the breeding lines, ‘CT1’ and ‘CT2’ had grain yields equivalent to Genesis090 and PBA Striker. 
   

• Multiple machinery pass trafficking decreased crop yields for at least four years on a Loxton deep sand.
• Single pass machinery trafficking did not result in yield decreases at Loxton and rarely at any of the other trafficking soil types in this project.
• Most soils in the south-eastern Australian Low rainfall zone are not likely to remediate from compaction naturally.

• All the legumes sown - peas, lupins, sub clover and faba beans - were equal in terms of their nitrogen-fixing capabilities, reflecting the importance of having well nodulated legumes.
• The average amount of N fixed by the legumes was calculated at approx. 86kg/ha.
• In year 2, this residual N gave rise to a approx. 1 t/ha canola yield advantage.
• In yera 3, no differences in residual nitrogen from legumes were measured.
• Linseed extracted more moisture, from a greater depth, than the faba beans in the same year and all subsequent crops - canola and oats.
• The linseed was able to dry the soil profile in a decile 10 year (812mm rainfall). This is a potential solution for farmers wanting to dry out their soil profile.
• Two years after growing linseed, soil moisture levels were even.

• Yield increases from deep ripping ranged from 220 to 750 kg/ha.
• Deep ripping demonstrations provide a tool to assess possible yield gains across various soil types.
• Replicated trials are needed to validate the yield increases seen at this demonstration site.

Deep ripping provided a 446 kg/ha wheat yield increase in 2017.

• This trial aims to investigate opportunities for symbiotic improvement.
• Inoculation will be critical to the establishment of new legume species, where they have not previously been grown. The extent to which inoculation can still improve medic nodulation is being investigated.
• There was no response to medic inoculation in the 2018 trial, even when the inoculation rate was doubled.
• Trigonella was better nodulated and produced greater root weights than the medics.
• These results cannot be fully interpreted until the N-fixation data becomes available.
• Medic breeding lines with improved N-fixation capacity are being developed as part of the Dryland Legume Pasture Systems project and will be tested in 2019.

• This is a component of a new five year Rural Research and Development for Profit funded project supported by GRDC, MLA and AWI; and involving Murdoch University, CSIRO, SARDI, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development; Charles Sturt University and grower groups.
• This trial aims to assess a diverse range of annual pasture legumes in order to determine whether there are more productive and persistent options for the drier areas (<400 mm) of the mixed farming zone of southern Australia.
• Several new legume species established well under very difficult conditions, but in general were not as productive as the medics or vetch. 
• In the 2018 growing season, Caliph barrel medic was the best adapted pasture legume species to the conditions at Minnipa.
• Astragalus was the best adapted alternative legume species, although it was poorly nodulated.
• Zulu arrowleaf clover also performed well, however its peak dry matter production and flowering time may be too late for SA conditions.

• Novel legume species and genotypes have the potential to reduce feed gaps and provide other farming systems and livestock benefits in low to medium rainfall regions of southern Australia.
• The five-year large scale grazing systems trial established at Minnipa in 2018 is the main livestock field site for the national Dryland Legume Pasture Systems project. Five annual legume species are being tested.
• The priority for this trial in 2018 was to optimise seed set given the poor seasonal conditions, and therefore no grazing was undertaken in the establishment year, but instead will commence with sufficient pasture growth in 2019 to determine the best legume option for livestock production. 

Wheat plant density was significantly affected by the planting arrangement (P=0.027) and the herbicide treatment (P<0.001). The Ribbon seeder system had the highest wheat density (196 plants/m²) as compared to the knife-point system (180 plants/m²) and the Zero row spacing (177 plants/m²). Wheat plant density in the inter-row space in the Zero row spacing treatment was reduced by Treflan + Avadex and Boxer Gold. Annual ryegrass plant density was only affected by the herbicide treatments (P<0.001). Pre-emergent herbicide activity was much lower than expected (24-29% efficacy) and is likely to be due to extremely dry soil conditions at the site (decile 1 growing season). Similarly, the reduction in ryegrass spike density by the herbicides relative to the untreated control was low and ranged from 6 to 24%. There was no significant reduction in ryegrass seed production by the herbicide treatment, which was surprising because Sakura and Boxer Gold did reduce ryegrass spike density. Ryegrass was able to produce 18-20,000 seeds/m² in different herbicide treatments, which highlights the poor efficacy of pre-emergent herbicide in dry conditions. Herbicide treatments had a significant effect on wheat grain yield with Sakura producing the highest yield (2.31 t/ha), closely followed by Boxer Gold (2.13 t/ha). Sakura and Boxer Gold treatments increased wheat grain yield by 29% and 19% compared to the untreated control, respectively.  These results show that ryegrass was quite competitive against wheat under the dry conditions experienced in 2018. The treatment of Sakura ($40/ha) increased wheat yield by 0.5 t/ha compared to the untreated control, which would have improved the gross margin by $150/ha.

The herbicide treatment had a significant effect on ARG density (P<0.001) in this field trial at Minnipa. Favourable rain events in June were highly suitable for the activity of both pre-emergent herbicides investigated in this trial. Averaged across the row spacing and SBU treatments, Boxer Gold and Sakura + Avadex reduced ARG plant density by 88% and 90%, respectively. The density of ARG spikes was significantly influenced by the herbicide treatment.  Boxer Gold reduced ARG spike density by 74% compared to the untreated control, whereas Sakura + Avadex caused 85% reduction in ARG spike density. The density of ARG spikes in Sakura + Avadex were significantly lower than in the Boxer Gold treatment. ARG seed production was also significantly affected by the herbicide treatment (P<0.001) but not by wheat row spacing (P=0.272) or seed boot design (P=0.994). ARG produced 5740 seeds/m² in the untreated control, which was reduced by 74% by Boxer Gold and 86% by the mixture of Sakura + Avadex. Presence of ARG at 190 plants/m² in the untreated control, reduced wheat grain yield by 11% compared to Boxer Gold or 8% compared to Sakura + Avadex. However, it was still profitable to control ARG with effective herbicide treatments. Based on cash grain price of Australian Premium Wheat (APW) of $400/t in 2018, Boxer Gold would be expected to increase the gross margin by $68/ha as compared $12/ha increase for Sakura + Avadex.

Barley grain yield as significantly influenced by the time of sowing (P=0.025), seed rate (P<0.001) and the herbicide treatment (P<0.001). The delay of 4 weeks between the two sowing dates caused 22% (0.69 t/ha) reduction in grain yield or 25 kg/ha/day. Averaged over the two sowing dates and three seed rates, Boxer Gold treatment (2.996 t/ha) produced significantly greater barley grain yield than Treflan (2.634 t/ha) and the control (2.648 t/ha). Barley sown early (TOS 1) at high seed rate and sprayed with Boxer Gold produced 3.6 t/ha grain yield as compared to later sown crop (TOS 2) at low seed rate but treated with the same herbicide which produced 2.4 t/ha.

General application of Sakura + Avadex over the whole trial site provided good control of ARG. As a result, follow-up application of Boxer Gold @ 1.5 L/ha or 2 L/ha at GS 11 (1-leaf stage) did not significantly reduce ARG plant density.  Post-emergence application of Boxer Gold at 1.5 or 2 L/ha after pre-emergence Sakura + Avadex extended the period of weed control, which reduced spike density of ARG (P=0.02). At both sowing times, increase in wheat plant density from 100 to 200 plants/m² reduced ARG spike density by 44%. Delayed sowing at this site reduced the competitive ability of wheat against ARG. Averaged across the seed rates and herbicide treatments, ARG produced 234 spikes/m² in TOS 2 as compared to 75 spikes/m² in TOS 1 (68% reduction in TOS 1). Additional post-emergence application of Boxer Gold significantly increased wheat grain yield (P=0.008) compared to the baseline treatment of Sakura + Avadex. Wheat yield increased by 9% or 0.4 t/ha with the additional post-emergence treatment of Boxer Gold as compared to Sakura + Avadex treatment alone. Wheat grain yield was also significantly affected by wheat seed rate (P<0.001). Wheat grain yield increased from 4.6 t/ha at the density of 100 plants/m² to the maximum of 5.48 t/ha at the seed rate of 200 plants/m². This yield gain of 0.9 t/ha clearly indicates that early sowing, wheat density of 200 plants/m² and effective use of herbicides can have a large influence on the profitability of wheat in the HRZ.

Wheat grain yield at Minnipa was significantly influenced by the time of sowing (P=0.002), seed rate (P<0.001), herbicide treatment (P<0.001) and the interaction between the time of sowing and herbicide treatments (P<0.001). Averaged across the seed rates and herbicide treatments, wheat produced grain yield of 1.67 t/ha in TOS 1 as compared to 1.06 t/ha in TOS 2. There were large benefits of delayed sowing on weed control. However, these benefits came at a significant cost in wheat grain yield.

Barley plant density was significantly influenced by the time of sowing (P=0.025) and crop seed rate (P=0.002).  Averaged across the seed rates and herbicide treatments, the first time of sowing (TOS 1) had barley density of 125 plants/m² compared to 82 plants/m² in TOS 2, which was related to dry soil conditions after sowing in TOS 2. Brome grass plant density was significantly affected by the time of sowing (P=0.018) and the herbicide treatments (P<0.001).  The 4-week delay in sowing between TOS 1 and TOS 2, allowed greater emergence of brome grass seedlings before the sowing of the TOS 2.  Consequently, barley sown at TOS 2 had 48% lower brome grass infestation (107.9 plants/m²) than in TOS 1 (207 plants/m²). As expected, herbicide treatments had a significant (P<0.001) effect on brome grass density. When averaged across the sowing time and seed rates, the treatment of Treflan + Avadex was only moderately effective and reduced brome grass density by 36% (173 plants/m²) relative to the untreated control (271 plants/m²). In contrast, the same pre-emergent treatment (Treflan + Avadex) followed by Intervix reduced brome grass density by 90% (28 plants/m²). When averaged across seed rates and herbicide treatments, the time of sowing barley had a significant effect on its grain yield (P=0.011). TOS 1 produced 940 kg/ha greater barley grain yield than TOS 2. The post-emergence application of Intervix to the crop treated with Treflan + Avadex further increased barley grain yield by 872 kg/ha. These results are consistent with the trends in brome grass density and panicle production. The untreated control plots produced 40% lower grain yield than the Intervix treatment, which completely controlled brome grass. These results highlight the strong competitive ability of brome grass in cereals.

The average seedbank of ARG at the site was 3932 ± 270 seeds/m². ARG plant density was significantly influenced by the time of sowing (P<0.001), herbicide treatment (P<0.001) and the interaction between the time of sowing and herbicide (P<0.001). The delay in seeding from TOS 1 to TOS 2 (16 weeks) caused a large reduction in ARG plant density. This was particularly evident in the untreated control in which ARG density decreased from 825 plants/m² in TOS 1 to 31 plants/m² in TOS 2 (96% reduction). This large reduction in ARG density due to delayed sowing is most likely related to an effective knockdown herbicide treatment after most ARG had emerged before TOS 2. Herbicide treatments reduced ARG plant density significantly in TOS 1, however herbicide effect on ARG plant density in TOS 2 was non-significant, possibly due to a much lower ARG density. While the delay in sowing significantly reduced ARG plant density (P<0.001), it did not significantly reduce ARG seed spikes (P=0.495). This result indicates that despite low ARG plant numbers in TOS 2, faba beans failed to compete effectively with ARG and suppress its growth. As a result, even at a relatively low density ARG was able to produce a large amount of seed for future infestations. Faba bean grain yield at Frances was significantly influenced by the time of sowing (P=0.033), seed rate (P<0.003), and herbicide treatment (P<0.001). Averaged across the seed rates and herbicide treatments, faba beans produced grain yield of 1.34 t/ha in TOS 1 as compared to 1.81 t/ha in TOS 2. Superior faba bean grain yield in TOS 2 In 2018 at Frances is most likely due to the reduction in ARG plant density.

• Sowing early (April 26) produced the highest grain yields in 2018.
• In a drier than average year there was a yield benefit from very high sowing rates on narrow row spacings, with significant gains from 21 to 31 plants/m2, and from 31 to 45 plants/m2.
• 2018 was a low disease year and there was no disease penalty from higher sowing rates. Yield benefits from higher plant densities should be weighed against higher disease risks in wetter years. 

• There was low disease pressure in 2018 and there was no difference in grain yield between the nil control and various fungicide programs.