To evaluate the impact of crop type and stubble amount on fallow moisture efficiency (2022).

To evaluate the impact of crop type and plant population on yield (2021).

In the northern grains region, crops are often reliant on stored soil water with rainfall accumulated over fallow periods. Fallow water efficiency (the % of rainfall received that is stored in the soil) is a measure of how effectively our systems capture and retain soil moisture for following crops. Fallow efficiency is affected by many factors including; the amount of stubble cover, rainfall pattern, length of fallow period, starting soil moisture levels and soil characteristics. In an environment with erratic and seasonally dominant rainfall, any strategy that can reliably increase fallow efficiency is likely to provide useful improvements in crop consistency and production. 

Industry rules of thumb suggest cereal stubbles provide ~25% fallow water efficiency with pulse stubbles only ~20%. This project was partly designed to validate the magnitude and consistency of differences between crop types in fallow efficiency but also to evaluate the impact of varying plant population. If consistent benefits can be validated, this information may assist growers to improve rotation planning and crop production.