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Conserving soil moisture, does stubble or a fallow help on a red loam?

2012
CC BY 4.0

Research organisation
Funding source
Liebe Group
<abbr title='Grains Research and Development Corporation'>GRDC</abbr>

Trial details

Researcher(s) Nadine Hollamby (Liebe Group)
Yvette Oliver (CSIRO)
Year(s) 2012
Contributor Liebe Group
Trial location(s) East Wubin, WA
Conserving soil moisture, does stubble or a fallow help on a red loam? locations
Aims

To determine if various farm management techniques improve the storage of out-of-season rainfall and whether this leads to improvements in crop growth and/or yield.

Key messages
  • Overall imposing a fallow allowed for a small amount of extra water to be stored in the soil and a small amount of extra nitrogen. As a result there was a small yield gain of 0.2 t/ha in 2012. 
  • In this trial the fallow treatment was planted then sprayed out in August to replicate what is known as an ‘opportunistic’ fallow compared to a ‘strategic’ fallow where no crop is planted for 18 months. 18 month fallows would have different results to the ones reported here.
  • Other benefits of fallow that were not recorded in this trial but could have contributed to the yield gain are improved weed control, disease breaks and opportunity for early sowing. 
Lead research organisation N/A
Host research organisation N/A
Trial funding source GRDC LIE00006
Related program N/A
Acknowledgments

GRDC for funding the trial and Keith Carter & Co for hosting the trial.
Other trial partners Not specified
Download the trial report to view additional trial information

Method

Crop type Cereal (Grain): Barley
Treatment type(s)
  • Stubble : Management
Trial type Demonstration
Trial design Unreplicated

East Wubin 2012

Sow rate or Target density 44 kg/ha
Sow date 5 May 2012
Harvest date Unknown
Plot size 15m x 300m
Plot replication Not specified
Fertiliser

5/5/12: 70 kg/ha Agstar Extra, 65 L/ha Flexi-N banded
Herbicide

15/2/12: 1.2 L/ha Roundup, 0.5 L/ha Ester 800, 0.2 L/ha Garlon, 0.03 L/ha Atrazine

7/5/12: 1.8 L/ha Trifluralin, 150 g/ha Metribuzin, 0.5 L/ha Sprayseed

3/7/12: 0.6 L/ha Intervix
Download the trial report to view additional method/treatment information

Download results

Trial results Table 1

# Treatment 1
Hectolitre weight (kg/hL) Protein (%) Grain yield (t/ha) Nearest neighbour control (%)
1 █ Continous crop with standing stubble 63 12.7 2 100
2 █ Continous crop with standing stubble 65 12.8 1.9 100
3 █ Fallow 67 12.6 2.1 109
4 █ Flattened stubble 65 13 2 104
5 █ Old fallow 65 13.5 2.1 105

Grain yield t/ha

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Hectolitre weight kg/hL

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Nearest neighbour control %

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Protein %

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Observed trial site soil information
Trial site soil testing
Site Depth Type pH EC P K N A OC CAT
East Wubin, WA 0 - 10cm Red loamy duplex 4.80
East Wubin, WA 10 - 30cm Red loamy duplex
Soil conditions
Trial site Soil texture
East Wubin, WA Red loamy duplex
Derived trial site soil information
Australian Soil Classification Source: ASRIS
Trial site Soil order
East Wubin, WA Kandosol
Soil Moisture Source: BOM/ANU
Average amount of water stored in the soil profile during the year, estimated by the OzWALD model-data fusion system.
Year East Wubin WA
2012
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Climate

East Wubin WA 2012

Observed climate information

Rainfall trial gsr (mm) 126mm

Derived climate information

East Wubin WA

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Some data on this site is sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology

SILO weather estimates sourced from https://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/silo/
Jeffrey, S.J., Carter, J.O., Moodie, K.B. and Beswick, A.R. (2001). Using spatial interpolation to construct a comprehensive archive of Australian climate data , Environmental Modelling and Software, Vol 16/4, pp 309-330. DOI: 10.1016/S1364-8152(01)00008-1.

Trial report and links

2012 trial report



Trial last modified: 18-01-2023 16:03pm AEST