| Researcher(s) |
Erin Cahill (agVivo) Stephen Davies (DAFWA) Ryan Guthrie (DAFWA) Rowan Maddern (CSBP) |
|---|---|
| Year(s) | 2014 |
| Contributor | West Midlands Group |
| Trial location(s) |
Dandaragan, WA
|
To further investigate rotary spading and other soil amelioration techniques on the yellow sand-plain soils west of Moora.
One way ploughing slightly improved establishment, head numbers, biomass production and yield but is not a viable long term solution for the severe non wetting on this soil type.
Deep ripping and spading improved head numbers by over 60% and biomass production by 87% compared to the control.
Grain yields were improved by over a 1 t/ha and gross margin by about $200/ha when treatment costs were amortized over 5 years in the combined ripping and spading treatments.
| Lead research organisation | N/A |
|---|---|
| Host research organisation |
West Midlands Group |
| Trial funding source | DAFWA |
| Related program | N/A |
| Acknowledgments |
Many thanks to: Tony and Judy Snell for giving up a portion of their paddock for the trial. Dave Gartner and Aglime Australia for supplying the lime. Paul and David Hayes the spading on the trial. Brian Cahill for ploughing on the trial. Stephen Davies (DAFWA) for his penetrometer and harvest index data Ryan Guthrie and Rowan Maddern CSBP for pegging topdressing and harvesting the trial. |
| Other trial partners | Not specified |
| Crop type | Cereal (Grain): Wheat |
|---|---|
| Treatment type(s) |
|
| Trial type | Demonstration |
| Trial design | Unreplicated |
| Sow rate or Target density | 100kg/ha |
|---|---|
| Sowing machinery |
Ploughing conducted (Chamberlain one-way plough) |
| Sow date | 5 June 2011 |
| Harvest date | Not specified |
| Plot size | 11m x 30m |
| Plot replication | Not specified |
| Fertiliser |
At seeding: K Till Trace @ 80 kg/ha Post: NS 41 @ 60kg/ha (5 July); NS 41 @ 60 kg/ha (1 August) |
| Herbicide |
Pre: Logran @ 30g/ha, trifluralin @ 1.8L/ha, sprayseed @ 1L/ha, alpha-cypermethrin @ 100ml/ha Post: Folicur @ 200ml/ha, Tigrex @ 750 ml/ha, alpha-cypermethrin @ 125 ml/ha; Folicur @ 200 ml/ha and Trojan @ 12 ml/ha at flag leaf. |
| Soil amelioration |
21 March Topdressed with Superphosphate and Super CuZnMo treatments (immediately following 23mm of rain) 27 March Lime treatments applied 19 April Deep ripping (Western Ripper) conducted 30 May Rotary Spading (Hayes machine) conducted (29mm rain the evening before) 5 June Ploughing conducted (Chamberlain one-way plough). Rolling conducted (rubber tyred roller) immediately prior to sowing |
| Rainfall trial gsr (mm) | 334mm |
|---|
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.
