To report on faba bean time of sowing x plant density x row spacing at Tarlee, Mid North, SA.

• Winter and early spring seasonal conditions favoured faba bean production in 2009, and yields were more than double those in 2008.
• Yield was generally maximised at the early sowing date and at the narrow row spacing.
• Farah was the highest or equal highest yielding variety at both sowing dates in 2009.
• The taller varieties Farah and 974* showed the largest reduction in yield when row spacing
  was doubled from 9” to 18”.
• Chocolate spot levels were high in 2009, and accounted for 32% yield loss across varieties
  in untreated plots. Agronomic techniques that delayed canopy closure (ie later sowing, lower
  plant densities and wider row spacings) were important in reducing disease severity.
• Nura had higher disease levels and lower grain yield than Fiesta across all treatments in
  2009, but a triple chocolate spot spray strategy was effective in reducing yield loss by 25%
  in both varieties.
• Decreasing plant density was the most significant factor influencing disease levels after
  delayed sowing, and resulted in lower disease levels across all varieties, and increasing row
  spacing reduced disease infection in early sown Fiord only.
• Increasing row spacing reduced chocolate spot infection, but only in the susceptible variety
  Fiord when sown early.