| Researcher(s) |
Nathan Dovey Philip Honey Phillip Mackie |
|---|---|
| Year(s) | 2020 |
| Contributor | Stirlings to Coast Farmers |
| Trial location(s) |
Mount Barker, WA
|
The aim of this trial is to determine and demonstrate if stubble management treatments can lead to a reduction in conical snail numbers.
The trial is based on techniques used in SA where snails on the stubble are knocked to the ground on to days (35 deg +) where they dehydrate and die.
The trial tested and analysed the effectiveness of three techniques- speed-tilling, cableing and stubble crunching on snail mortality.
This trial aims to provide growers with a clear percentage of the effect of three stubble management techniques (cabling, stubble crunching and speed tillage) on small conical snail mortality.
Introduce more ‘tools’ into growers’ repertoire to control snails & reduce reliance on snail baiting.
Demonstrate the effectiveness of ‘GrainCam’ to identify snail hot spots in paddocks and map their distribution for targeted future management.
There was no statistical difference between cabling, stubble crunching and nil control early in the season. However, there was an increased number of snails in the cabling, and stubble crunching plots after the treatments were applied.
The snail counts suggest that speed tilling was the most effective method of stubble treatment for snail mortality.
Cabling, crunching and speed tilling treatments had no significant effects on the number of snails that contaminated the grain harvest.
TheGrainCam and artifical intelligence programs showed high potential for measuring snail contamination but require further development of the training algorithms to increase accuracy and reduce the number of false positives.
Methodology:
The treatments investigated in this trial were: speed tiller, stubble cruncher, cabling, and UTC.
The cabling was conducted by a one-inch cable being pulled between two utes at 20k/hr. The stubble cruncher cut the stubble into 25cm lengths, in 12m swathes. The speed-tiller mixed the stubble and soil to a depth of 10 cm, which caused significant soil and stubble disturbance.
Snail density counts were conducted before and after the treatments applied, by counting 10 on-row and off-row quadrants, per treatment plot.
The GrainCam was set up on the harvester so that images were taken as the grain came out of the bubble auger. The images were run through an AI inferencing program to detect snail numbers. Samples were taken for manual counting to test the accuracy of the system.
| Lead research organisation | N/A |
|---|---|
| Host research organisation |
Stirlings to Coast Farmers |
| Trial funding source | COGGO |
| Trial funding source | Stirlings to Coast Farmers inc. |
| Related program | N/A |
| Acknowledgments | N/A |
| Other trial partners | Not specified |
| Crop type | Cereal (Grain): Wheat |
|---|---|
| Treatment type(s) |
|
| Trial type | Demonstration |
| Trial design | Randomised,Replicated,Blocked |
| Sow date | Not specified |
|---|---|
| Harvest date | Not specified |
| Plot size | Not specified |
| Plot replication | 4 |
| Psuedoreplication | Not specified |
| Plot blocking | Plots were laid out to ensure similar growing conditions. |
| Plot randomisation | The plots were randomised |
| Tillage | speed tiller, stubble cruncher, cabling, and UTC |
| @T1: Pre-treatment (31-03-2020) | @T2: Post-treatment (24-04-2020) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # |
Treatment 1
|
Growing season | Trial site | Snail (number/square metre) | Snail (number/square metre) |
| 1 | █ Control | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 854 | 469 |
| 1 | █ Speed Tiller | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 502 | 198 |
| 2 | █ Cabling | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 442 | 898 |
| 2 | █ Stubble Crunching | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 485.333 | 911.556 |
| 3 | █ | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | ||
| 3 | █ | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | ||
| 4 | █ | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | ||
| 4 | █ | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | ||
| # |
Treatment 1
|
Growing season | Trial site | Snails density/L of grain (Snails/L) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | █ Cabling | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 5.86 |
| 2 | █ Stubble Crunching | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 7.76 |
| 3 | █ Speed Tiller | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 9 |
| 4 | █ UTC | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 7.1 |
| # |
Treatment 1
|
Growing season | Trial site | Snails density/L of grain (Snails/L) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | █ Cabling Manual Count | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 5.86 |
| 2 | █ Crunching Manual Count | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 7.76 |
| 3 | █ Speed-till Manual Count | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 9 |
| 4 | █ UTC Manual Count | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 7.1 |
| 5 | █ Cabling GrainCam | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 14.2 |
| 6 | █ Crunching GrainCam | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 18.3 |
| 7 | █ Speed-till GrainCam | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 13.86 |
| 8 | █ UTC GrainCam | 2020 | Mount Barker (WA) | 15.25 |
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.
Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR)
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Note that PBR cover is administered through the Plant Breeders’ Right Act 1994 (