This project will demonstrate to growers the most profitable tyned seeding system for improved cereal crop establishment on medium to heavy textured soils in the eastern wheatbelt. This will be achieved by establishing a trial site to assess a range of furrow closing options (4) and down force pressures (2) over two years to account for varying seasonal conditions. The results will be compared to standard practice of growers within the region.

2018

• Interestingly, the lower down force pressure across all press wheel type treatments yielded higher than the high down force pressure treatments, although this was not statistically significantly.
• When making decisions on which press wheel shape and down force pressure you need to account not only for yield, but also grain quality. The results from 2018 show that although yield was higher in some treatments these did not necessarily have highest gross margins due to grain quality.
• Being able to run a multi-year gross return analysis will provide more solid findings due to seasonal variability. 

2019

• Unlike 2018 where there was a clear trend of lower down force pressure across all press wheel types yielding higher than the high down force pressure treatments, this trend wasn’t evident for the 2019 season. This may have been due to the much drier season experienced in 2019 (average yield 0.71t/ha) compared to the 2018 season (average yield 3.59t/ha).

• Due to the poor finish to the 2019 growing season, the results from the trial site did not indicate a preference toward a seeding system. However, results from the 2018 season suggest that press wheel pressure has a greater influence on yield and profit than press wheel shape.

• Due to the poor finish to the 2019 growing season, the results from the trial site did not indicate a preference toward a seeding system treatment. However, it would seem in a higher rainfall year, as was experienced in 2018, press wheel pressure can impact on yield more than type of press wheel.

This project will demonstrate to growers the most profitable tyned seeding system for improved cereal crop establishment on medium to heavy textured soils in the eastern wheatbelt. This will be achieved by establishing a trial site to assess a range of furrow closing options (4) and down force pressures (2) over two years to account for varying seasonal conditions. The results will be compared to standard practice of growers within the region. In the first year of this project, crop establishment and vigour was good early in the season due to having sufficient rainfall prior to seeding of the trial to allow for even emergence of barley plants. The average NDVI reading across all plots at GS.31 was 0.18 and at GS.60 it was 0.40 (figure 7). At GS.31 the average seed bed soil moisture across all plots was 21.73% and at GS.60 it was 2.0% (figure 8). Come harvest, the V shape with a lower down force pressure had the greatest yield of 3.84t/ha and the V shape with a higher down force pressure had the lowest yield of 3.47t/ha (figure 9). Even though there is no statistical difference (P=.92), there is a difference of 370kg/ha between the highest yielding and lowest yielding treatment. Interestingly, the lower down force pressure across all press wheel type treatments yielded higher than the high down force pressure treatments, although this was not statistically significantly. In terms of gross return, Figure 10 indicates that W shaped press wheel with a lower down force pressure had the greatest gross return of $974.43/ha, whilst W shaped press wheel with a higher down force pressure had the lowest gross return of $814.15/ha. This is a difference of $160.28/ha. Grain quality could account for the major difference in gross margin when compared to yield difference between press wheels and pressures.

This project will demonstrate to growers the most profitable tyned seeding system for improved cereal crop establishment on medium to heavy textured soils in the eastern wheatbelt. This will be achieved by establishing a trial site to assess a range of furrow closing options and down force pressures over three years to account for varying seasonal conditions. The results will be compared to standard practice of growers within the region. The second season of this project (2019) unfortunately resulted in low yields due to a hard finish to the growing season. This significantly impacted yield and grain quality. The highest yielding treatments in 2019 included the Wedge shape at higher down force pressure and the W shape at a lower down force pressure; both had an average yield of 0.75t/ha (figure 8). Even though there is no statistical different, P=0.109, there is a difference of 120kg/ha between the highest yielding and lowest yielding treatment. Unlike 2018 where there was a clear trend where a lower down force pressure across all press wheel types yielded higher than the high down force pressure treatments, for 2019 this trend wasn’t as evident. Due to the poor season, all treatments made a loss for the 2019 season. Figure 10 indicates that Wedge shaped press wheel with a higher down force pressure resulted in the least loss of income of $183/ha. The V shape at lower pressure resulted in the greatest loss of income at $216/ha. The difference between the loss of income is $33/ha. Given the season grain quality was poor and all barley went feed grade at $280/t. Interestingly the W and V shape press wheels at low pressure on average resulted in an overall gross margin that performed better than the wedge and emu tracker across the two-year gross return. Whilst at the higher pressure they both performed worse than the wedge and emu track. This suggests that press wheel pressure has a greater influence on these two press wheel shapes than the wedge and emu tracker.