Initially there was disease evident at the site (14% on top 4 leaves at Z22) . The disease was found to predominantly yellow spot, with some septoria nodorum blotch also present (75:25). The disease continued to progress up the canopy and there were significant differences between fungicide treatments when disease was assessed at Z22, Z39 and Z65. There were no statistically significant yield differences, probably due to the dry spring, only approximately 60 mm of rain fell in the 8 weeks after flag leaf emergence. Average yield was 1.1 t/ha. Previous DAFWA research has found that at least 80 mm of rain needs to fall in this period for a Z39 flag leaf fungicide application to be profitable. While there were no significant yield impacts from the fungicide treatments there were significant grain quality results (see Table in attached document). The double spray strategy of applying fungicide at Z22 and Z39 gave the best disease control throughout the season. It, along with the Z39 spray on its own, were the best treatments for high hectolitre weight and lowest screenings.

• There are opportunities to increase profit with increased N input in sandy Mallee soils. However, the risk aversion of the land manager is an important consideration. The use of probability graphs at different levels of risk aversion can support decision making and practice change.

• The nitrogen status of the sites was captured prior to the treatments being implemented as a baseline for the nitrogen impact of the treatments in the second year crop.
• The groundcover impact of each of the treatments has been assessed in December 2015 and February 2016.
• The data already indicates that a number of the treatment will not be viable as they resulted in a less than 50 % groundcover which will increase the risk of erosion of Mallee sand to an unacceptable level.
• At this stage the only viable options that reduce chemical usage are the cutting for hay and the use of a blade plough to terminate the crop and associated weeds.

For further information please refer to the Lentil growers guide: a guide for the production of lentils. JM Carter and MA Materne, Victorian Institute of Dryland Agriculture, Horsham, Victoria.

• At Grass Patch in 2016 there was no response to fertiliser applications of K, S and micro nutrients. 
• There was a yield response to P and N.
• Considering the costs of inputs, the lowest cost treatment which provided equal maximum gross margin was to apply only superphosphate at sowing – equivalent to 9 kg P/ha.
• In this region farmers typically apply either superphosphate plus N or a compound fertiliser at sowing and top-up N at 4- 6 weeks after sowing.  This approach in this experiment would have had higher up front input costs, did increase yield but did not lead to higher gross margins.  But the farmer approach also is a more balanced nutrient approach, in that nutrients are replaced to balance out nutrients removed in the seed.

• Disease was scored as being low to moderate during the two assessment intervals with the highest disease symptoms observed at the second assessment and only data from this period has been presented in this report.

• The trial did re-iterate that early sowing provides more opportunity to ‘play the season’ and alter N management to significantly impact on crop yield outcomes compared with the late sown crops which, in the truncated 2010 season, provided little opportunity for changing N management.  This suggests that focusing on getting the N management of the earlier sown crops sown right for a given season is a good investment of time. Further testing will give a clearer picture as to whether Yield Prophet adds significant value to helping make these decisions. 
• Although the Farmer group were original concerned about the Yield Prophet N budget, tt appears that the model has utilized deep soil test data to reasonably assess the supply of soil N to plants and the movement of soil and applied N through the profile. From this point of view, with the addition of an accurately characterized soil profile, the model may allow growers to better account for and manage nitrogen supply and losses from below the 0-10cm zone.
• Although yields from the Farmer strategy tended to be higher than the Yield Prophet strategy (although not significant), returns per hectare (net of Nitrogen and application costs) were very similar due to the increased costs associated with the Farmer strategy. With further soil characterization and ‘ground proofing’ a tool such as Yield Prophet may be a useful way to reduce the risks and more accurately quantify the benefits associated with applying in-crop nitrogen.
• This trial will be repeated in 2011, and with a more accurate soil characterization it is expected that Yield Prophet will be more accurately assessed.

• Seeding rate had a bigger impact on wheat establishment than soil wetting agents
• High seeding rates on soils with low yield potential were sometimes a disadvantage; optimal seeding rates would need to account for yield potential as well as the degress of soil water repellence.
• Delaying sowing providing an opprtunity to get a knockdown of weeds was important on water repellent soils where staggered weed germination and reduced herbicide activity, reduces the efficacy of in-crop and pre-emergent applications. 

• Average Canola yield in the trial was 2.47 t/ha
• Disease pressure at the site was high initially during winter, but after a dry spring Stem Canker didn’t develop into a serious problem.
• The highest yielding treatment was Jockey® seed treatment + Intake in furrow®.
• The addition of Intake in furrow® to Jockey® seed treatment was significantly higher yielding than Jockey used alone.
• Intake in furrow® or Jockey® seed treatment used separately showed no significant difference in yield.
• The earlier foliar fungicide timing significantly reduced blackleg lesions on the leaf compared to delaying the application by a further 21 days.

• Addition of clay-rich subsoil improved crop establishment at this site in 2010.
• There was a very dry finish to the growing season with <15 mm in total for September and October so those cultivation and claying treatments with increased biomass and higher yield potential would have been more prone to haying off.
• Poor incorporation of surface applied clay-rich subsoil can also hold more moisture near the surface which is then subject to evaporation and competes with the roots for water with small rainfall events.
• Despite these factors cultivation with or without the addition of clay-rich subsoil did increase grain yields from <700 kg/ha in the uncultivated situation to an average yield of 1.3 t/ha for the rotary hoe and rotary spaded treatments combined.
• Ongoing monitoring of this trial will be required to see the longer-term benefits of these cultivation and clay incorporation treatments on establishment and yield in seasons with a better finish.

Both the Jockey seed treatment (Group B) and the Impact fertiliser treatment (Group C) gave added protection against stripe rust and leaf rust compared to Group A which relied solely on foliar sprays.

Disease assessment was not undertaken in this trial however the trial does reveal that treatment no. 6 with a conventional fungicide application yielded the highest, had the highest test weight, the lowest screenings and the highest thousand grain weight.

• This trial was infected with a reasonable level of leaf rust and all treatments yielded higher than the untreated.  The Amistar Xtra and Tilt Turbo treatments both yielded significantly higher than the control. When considering grain quality, Tilt turbo was best overall with significantly lower screenings. 
• For further discussion please see the attached trial report.

• This trial had relatively low levels of leaf rust and although there were no significant differences, most treatments yielded higher than the untreated. 
• For further discussion plesae see the attached trial report.

• Non wetting soil resulted in poor weed germination pre seeding
• Pre seeding the total trial area received 2 knockdowns with 1.5 L/ha Sprayseed.
• The limitation and knowledge of the relative tolerance of the different perennial grasses to grass selective herbicides prevented removal of late germinating brome and ryegrass from the trial post seeding.
• Jaguar was sprayed on the 29/6/2011 and good broad leaf control was achieved.
• For further results please see the attached trial report.

• One of the fundamental problems of pale deep sands is their poor water and nutrient holding capacity. While cultivation techniques can overcome water repellence they do not necessarily greatly alter the lack of water holding capacity. Similarly addition of clay at rates of 100-150 t/ha can be used to overcome water repellence but will not greatly increase water holding capacity.
• Deep ripping or the soil loosening caused by rotary spading or mouldboard ploughing allows faster root growth and improved nutrient and water uptake and this appears to be one of the primary reasons for the improved yields. The advantage of the rotary spader and mouldboard plough over deep ripping alone is improved weed control and reduced water repellence although the longevity of this is unknown.
• Reduced water repellence may prove to be more significant in certain seasons and more sensitive crops. Sustained productivity benefits are likely to be required for these approaches to be economically viable.

• More moderate clay rich subsoil application rates of 100-150 t/ha are less costly to apply, can be easily incorporated, can still improve crop establishment and productivity and importantly can reduce some of the risks associated with crops haying off due to water shortage during grain filling in dry seasons.
• Clay spreading is likely to be more beneficial in higher rainfall, longer season environments and in wetter seasons where the risk of water shortage at grain fill and haying off is reduced.

Leaf rust started to impact on Mackellar wheat from GS29 onwards. Grazing of the wheat and barley reduced the amount of leaf rust visible. Leaf rust was rife in theYerong barley, particularly late in the season. The forage material was analysed for quality with very high levels of metabolizeable energy and protein being recorded in both the wheat and barley (Table 5-8)

There was a visual response to P applied at sowing and up until after Z31. This did not translate into yield at harvest. There was an inital response to varying seeding rate but this was not obvious at Z31 and did not translate into a yield response. The results may have been a reflection of the dry spring and the time of application. The addition of P therefore resulted in the loss of money. There was no visual response to applying N in the N rich strip in either zone. DSN results and yield targets assessed using weather prediction and the French and Schultz model were therefore used to determine a single rate of N for all plots in both zones of 3.5 t/ha. The harvest results showed no response in the N rich strip but as these were only 80 metres wide and had additional N at Z31, the result may not be a reliable guide to whether there was a response at the site. There was no response to N at harvest. Overall the yield was disappointing and well below the target and the quality was also below the target.

• Natural enemies (predators and parasitoids) found within the crop were diverse, but had variable distribution.

• The abundance of natural enemies increased with time, which was probably related to an increase in pest pressure as well as temperature.

• Growers might be able to use more targeted sprays to control pests.

• Seed treatments appeared to have no long-term effects on natural enemy abundance.
 

• Deep ripping and spading increased yield between 68% and 107% at this site.
• Combining deep ripping and spading can ameliorate multiple soil constraints.
• Leaving untreated control strips can be used to quantify the yield differences of the treatment.

• Dry sowing did not significantly compromise nodulation and nitrogen fixation in chickpea in 2019.
• Peat slurry and granular inoculants led to satisfactory nodulation and nitrogen fixation in dry and wet sowing conditions in 2019.
• Chickpeas inoculated with peat based or bentonite clay granule inoculant and sown either dry or into moisture provided similar growth and production in a subsequent wheat crop in 2020.
• No significant differences in final grain yield of wheat was observed between inoculant types of sowing times.
• Some differences were observed in plant growth where the previous chickpea crop had been inoculated compared to uninoculated however inoculant type had no effect on wheat growth.
• Wheat grain quality was better when grown after an inoculated chickpea crop compared to an uninoculated crop and would contribute to a higher quality grade.

• A single application of GS39 (flag leaf) of either Opus at 250ml/ha or Amstar Xtra at 100ml/ha to control fungal leaf disease, gave superior yield in Kellalac wheat by comparison to other treatments. There was no significant benefit of applying 2 sprays (GS30 and GS39) compared to a single application at GS39. This was no doubt due to the late onset of disease. The best spray treatment gave and extra 1082 kg/ha of grain compared to the unsprayed control. This gave a net return of approximately $130 per hectare for the best fungicide treatment compared to the control.
• In terms of grain quality, screenings were reduced where a fungicide was used. 

The effect of nitrogen manipulation on grain yield and quality was masked by the inability to control foliar disease in the trial and the effect on yield of the dry October period. High base soil nitrogen levels resulted in high grain protein levels with little difference between treatments. The best net return was achieved using only the 10 kg/ha nitrogen at sowing. It did not pay to apply any post sowing nitrogen. Grain quality parameters such as test weight and thousand grain weights were extremely disappointing.

Delaying nitrogen application increased grain protein as would be expected. Treatment 5 which had 75 kg/ha nitrogen applied at GS39 (flag) had 2.19% more protein than the control and was higher than the other earlier applied nitrogen treatments, although not significantly higher. The cost involved in chasing this higher grain protein could not be justified

With no significant difference in yield across this trial (Table 4-11) it appears that the high soil nitrogen and variable season may have been too influential to repeat previous years’ results. Findings from this trial should still be reviewed, but not used solely to make strategic nitrogen management decisions in the future. Possibly one key finding may be that high N paddocks need little if any follow up N past crop emergence, depending on paddock history and seasonal outlook. Late leaf rust was present throughout this trial,
however it is not known if this was influential in determining yield outcomes. 

The trial shows clearly the impact of Stripe Rust on wheat yield and grain quality. All varieties had their yield depressed as a result of Stripe Rust, with an average yield reduction of approximately 21%. Those varieties with lower levels of resistance to Stripe Rust were more severely affected, with Silverstar for example suffering a 44% yield penalty. The extra profit generated by controlling foliar disease was on average $81.30 per hectare. The worst affected variety by fungal leaf disease (Silverstar) generated a further
$207.72 per hectare profit when sprayed with a fungicide. Stripe Rust had a significant effect of grain quality. Grain test weights and one thousand grain weights were reduced significantly in the unsprayed treatments. There was less effect on grain protein.

The trial was subject to a moderately dry finish and 2-3 week dry period in October, which curtailed grain fill, and resultant yields. Despite this, under moderate Scald (Rhynchosporium) pressure, a 2-spray fungicide programmes based on Tilt (propiconazole) and Tilt plus Amistar (azoxystrobin) gave a 6 and 7% yield increase (0.22 —0.25 t/ha) over the untreated (mean of nitrogen treatments). Though individual nitrogen levels differed, the 2-spray Tilt programme showed a small margin improvement, however the
strobilurin was not cost effective in this trial.

• Spray topping remains the most effective control option for matricaria in pastures.
• Sheep did not graze matricaria at any growth stage and the use of MCPA in a spray-graze scenario did not increase grazing of matricaria. Grazing would not be a reliable control method for matricaria, even when paired with chemical manipulation, in an average year.
• Matricaria had good feed value but had less crude protein and metabolisable energy than the other green feed in the paddock.
• Mowing or weed wiping to control matricaria at the flowering stage was significantly less effective in reducing biomass and number of flowers and had significantly more regrowth compared to district practice of spray topping.

FARMER COMMENTS

Usability of Yield Prophet

·         High input requirement to get detailed data out, but once it is setup the online format is easy to use and generates good reports.

·         Easy to use once you are familiar with the program.

Usefulness of Yield Prophet set-up process

·         Farmers commented that the exercise of opening up a deep soil pit was on one the most informative and useful aspects of the Yield Prophet process.

·         Good training with a consultant on how to use the tool was vital as well.

Yield Prophet reports

·         Farmers had mixed comments about the reports with each having their favorite report- one farmer chose to use only the crop report to make his decisions.

·         One farmer found the profit comparison report the most useful where as another found it the least useful report commenting ‘it is pretty obvious through the comparison report if the is likely to be a financial response, the seasonal risk is too great to compare nitrogen profitability to the last dollar.’

·         Farmers found the climate and weather aspects to the crop report of interest, specifically the breakdown of chances of certain weather characteristics influencing yield, however in reality this didn’t really clarify decision making.

·         The reports reference the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) which is generally considered irrelevant to the Western Australia.

·         Growth stages of crops were very accurate for all sites.

Other aspects that limited yield

·         Three of the four sites experienced a three week dry spell that was accompanied by warm, weather at the beginning of September. The yield prophet crop reports at all three sites did not indicate that crop was experiencing moisture stress or heat shock. The three farmers commented separately that this dry spell had impacted the crop yield.

·         One of the potential issues is the assumption of root growth and rooting depth. If there is low soil nutrition at depth it is likely that the roots are "lazy" during the growing season and don't go as deep as the model suggests. This would then affect the modeling of water use down the profile and water stress on the plant.

·         One farmer generated a report on 26 September which indicated the crop was under moisture stress, however this did not convert to yield penalty in the crop report.

 

Future of Yield Prophet in West Midlands region

The low water holding capacity of sands in the West Midlands region means that the effect of short term dry spells has greater significance than total rainfall on production- this seems to be difficult to simulate in Yield Prophet.

Simulated yield on two out of the four sites was far from what would be considered an acceptable level of variation (1 t/ha for yellow sand and 1.85 t/ha for shallow loamy duplex). However the other two sites simulated yield very well.

Typical farm paddock of 60-70ha within the West Midlands region has multiple soil types present. At this stage Yield Prophet only allows the user to simulate one soil type per paddock. There is the ability to separately log each soil type however this requires a great deal of information input and the user has to pay a ‘paddock’ subscription for each soil type.

Unfortunately, there are very few soils classified in the West Midlands region, to WMG’s knowledge the five soils classified as part of this project are the only fully characterized soils in the West Midlands region. This project has estimated that the cost of fully classifying a soil is $3,000. When there is so few soil types classified in the West Midlands region coupled with farmers having multiple soil types (sometimes more than a dozen) on their farm this cost is the key barrier to adoption of this tool in the West Midlands region.

Removing subsurface soil compaction can provide benefits over many years.

Deep ripping provides the opportunity to address other soil constraints such as sub surface acidity

• Deep ripping provided a 260kg/ha yield increase in barley in 2016,
• Deeper ripping and the use of inclusion plates did not improve barley yield at this site,

• Subsurface soil compaction has been shown to be a major constraint to crop production and its removal of this compaction via deep ripping can lead to large yield increases.
• Assessing yield responses on different soil types will guide where future deep ripping work is carried out, with priority given to those soils with the greatest yield increases.

• Assessing yield responses on different soil types will guide where future deep ripping work is carried out, with priority given to those soils with the greatest yield increases.

• The high ryegrass burden, particularly on the TOS1 plots impacted on the usefulness of the yield prophet tool for this time of sowing as it does not take into account other yield limiting factors.
• High rye grass burden on TOS1 had significant impact on yield (approx 1.2-1.3 t/ha).  As such we have learnt that site selection (most especially with herbicide resistant weeds) is critical in order to conduct meaningful trials.
• No difference in Yield Prophet forecasts between the two cultivars Mace and Bonnie Rock. This was also expressed in the harvest results, in direct contrast to the very dry, early finishing 2010 season, where Mace out yielded Bonnie Rock in all treatments.

The main risks for this year are:

• high fertiliser inputs,
• price risk,
• mice risk,
• nitrogen fertiliser risk,
• frost risk, and 
• rainfall risk.

• The optimum agronomic sowing window for field pea coincided with high blackspot risk in many districts of South Australia in 2015.
• Under such high disease risk situations, growers in low rainfall areas may be best suited to choose alternative break crop options to field pea to avoid significant yield losses through delayed sowing or disease infection.
• Experimental fungicide treatments with greater efficacy than Mancozeb showed improved blackspot control and significant yield increases over the Nil and Mancozeb treatments in 2015. Further assessment and application approval is still required.

 

• The optimum agronomic sowing window for field pea coincided with high blackspot in many districts of South Australia in 2015.
• Under such high disease risk situations, growers in low rainfall areas may be best suited to choose alternative break crop options to field pea to avoid significant yield losses through delayed sowing or disease infection.
• Experimental fungicide treatments with greater efficacy than mancozeb showed improved blackspot control and significant yield increases over the nil and mancozeb treatments in 2015. Further assessment and application approval is still required.

Soil acidity is affecting grain yield. 2014 sampling of "new" sites identified that acidification significant enough to impact upon grain yield was evident at 5 out of the 6 sites. The 1 site that did not display acidification had been subjected to a liming program. Sub surface acidification was evident at 2 out of the 6 sites.

Soil acidity is affecting grain yield. 2014 sampling of "new" sites identified that acidification significant enough to impact upon grain yield was evident at 5 out of the 6 sites. The 1 site that did not display acidification had been subjected to a liming program. Sub surface acidification was evident at 2 out of the 6 sites.

• Soil acidity is affecting grain yield. 2014 sampling of historic sites identified decline in pH at all sites except for Nyngan where the site had been returned to perrenial native pastures > 5 years.
• Evidence of sub surface soil acidification was displayed at 3 out of the 5 historic sites.

Soil acidity is affecting grain yield. 2014 sampling of historic sites identified decline in pH at all sites except for Nyngan where the site had been returned to perrenial native pastures > 5 years. Evidence of sub surface soil acidification was displayed at 3 out of the 5 historic sites.

Soil acitidy is affecting grain yield. 2014 investigation of a farmer led onfarm lime trial clearly identified the benefits of applying agricultural lime. The farmer applied 3 rates of lime and left 2 control strips. Both limed and control strips were soil cored and the pH within the soil profile was identified at depth for 5 individual sections. Results demonstrated that where the maximum rate of lime was applied, the soil pH within the profile was appropriate for plant growth. Where no lime was applied soil pH was significant enough to impact upon plant growth. Biomass cuts taken at Anthesis, from both the limed and control strips, showed a correlation between soil pH and plant growth. Grain samples taken from both the limed and control strips prior to harvest also showed a correlation between grain yield and soil pH. Where soil pH was above 5.5 plant growth and yeild was highest.

There was no evidence that the use of strobilurin fungicides lowered grain protein relative to untreated crops, despite yield increases of over 30%, contradicting European work where strobilurin application lowered grain protein through yield dilution. In this study strobilurin treatment was associated with either no effect or higher grain protein levels relative to untreated crops fertilised with the same amount of nitrogen. However, there was a slight trend to suggest that strobilurin treated crops utilised higher N rates better than untreated crops since where there was a margin advantage to nitrogen application it tended to be greater with the strobilurin treatments.

• Investigation of weed seedbank decline in nine chaff-lining systems of South Australia demonstrated that growers are achieving high concentration of weed seeds and crop residue at harvest.
• Assessment of the viable weed seed fraction after crop harvest suggests that large residual annual ryegrass, brome grass and Indian hedge mustard seedbanks have been established in cropping field because these species did not decay over the summer-autumn period in chaff-lines.
• Evaluation of chaff-tramlining systems showed that annual ryegrass seedbank decline is independent of chaff-line configuration and chaff density.
• The stability in the weed seedbanks in chaff-lines were consistent with the dry conditions over the summer-autumn period.
• Growers should be cautious of the magnitude of viable weed seeds in chaff-lines before the cropping season and expect variability in the effectiveness of this tactic between seasons.

• Yields and protein were generally low across the trial.
• Addition of granular starter had a significant effect on yield vs the untreated for all treatments except treatments 2 and 5.

Small ryegrass (less than 4 leaves) was controlled by Atrizine with oil in crop.

• Trial data from the fast track project is still to be analysed. The following key messages are from trials conducted by Steve Marcroft in conjunction with the fast track project.
• Normal crown canker occurred as predicted, i.e. high leaf infection resulting in crown canker. Fungicides applied at the 4-6 leaf growth stage were effective at reducing crown canker. Cultivar resistance was also very significant.
• Upper Canopy Infection did not develop as badly as anticipated with the many leaf lesions noted early in the season.
• Pod infection was not influenced by fungicide applications up to 30% bloom, but flowering date was very significant.
• Fungicide was effective at reducing Upper Canopy Infection. Fungicide was effective at significantly increasing yield, however the most effective timing for fungicide application was variable for each of the disease symptoms.
• The sclerotinia spray application timing (30% bloom) appeared to be a good timing for Upper Canopy Infection control. However this work needs to be repeated in seasons that are conducive for severe Upper Canopy Infection symptoms.

• Summer weed control is proven to increase yield, but is becoming a major cost and some summer weeds are difficult to control.
• Cost savings of 20-90% were achieved across 20 paddocks using the WEEDit™.
• Amajor benefit of using spot spraying technology was the ability to use high rates of chemical targeted onhard-to-kill weeds such as Stinkweed.

The two highest yielding varieties in the trial were the feed barleys Capstan and Yarra, but only Capstan gave a statistically significant yield advantage over the top six varieties.
 

Avadex Xtra provided excellent annual ryegrass control; either standalone or in a tank mix with Triflur X.

• Cereal stubble contributes only a small percentage of the nitrogen requirement for a following cereal crop (2 to 11% of N from 2014 wheat stubble was taken up by 2015 and 2016 crops).
• Urea fertiliser nitrogen use efficiency of the 2014 wheat crop was 35%.
• The 2015 drought reduced the influence of stubble management treatments on nitrogen cycling, yield and carry over effects on microbial activity.

Seed disinfection with seed treatments is essential for smut and bunt control.

Under 1999 growing conditions little take-all developed in the trial despite the conducive cropping history (wheat on wheat).

Prevention of bacterial blight (BB):

• In frost prone areas, sow field pea varieties that have some resistance against BB
• Use seed that was harvested from a crop that was free of BB
• Do not apply herbicides to the crop if there is a risk of frost as this can increase the
• risk of BB

If bacterial blight infects a crop:

• Do not drive over the paddock as bacteria will spread on wheels of vehicle
• Harvest the infected pea crop after uninfected crops, to prevent spread of bacteria
• through the harvester to other pea seed
• Do not spread stubble or hay from the infected crop to other paddocks as bacteria
• will survive in the stubble
• Do not keep pea seed for next years’ crop
• No sprays or seed dressings can control BB effectively

• The site became very wet in October and the controlled traffic and flat ground was inundated for at least 48 hours.
• However, the water was moving at all times and very little crop damage occurred due to waterlogging.
• The raised beds were above the waterline at all times. 
• For further comments please see the attached trial report.

• There was no difference between the treatments in terms of crop standability.
• The crop lodged quite badly with approximatelly 50% of the plants less than 45 degrees to the horizontal across all treatments.
• For further discussion, please see the attached trial report.

• In 2013, performance of feed barley varieties was better than malt varieties, on average across both sites.
• Even in 2013’s favourable season, malt varieties failed to make any considerable increases in yield over 2012 whereas feed varieties did increase their yields.
• The feed variety Oxford has yielded consistently well across several years of trial data at SFS and NVT.
• Generally, a narrowing of the spread between feed and malt barley prices means less extra yield is required from feed barley over malt barley for the same gross return.
• In 2013, the additional costs involved in managing feed barley trials were only $50/ha.

 

The project “Barley Agronomic Strategies for the Geraldton Port Zone KAL2003-002SAX \ 9178054” demonstrated that barley can be successfully grown in the Geraldton port zone and it can compete successfully with wheat. Varieties that performed well over years were identified at each location and these varieties matched the yield of wheat and in many instances recorded a significant yield advantage. This is most likely when barley is sown early.

Malt grade barley can be grown successfully in the Geraldton port zone, yet it cannot currently be delivered to CBH facilities.

Barley cannot compete with wheat financially as the first choice cereal in a crop rotation. The yield benefit was not large enough to overcome the price premium for wheat in the duration of this project.

Under the growing conditions and treatments experienced in this project it is clear that varieties respond in a similar manner to the way nitrogen is applied, therefore crop nitrogen strategies need to just consider crop growth stage, paddock history and expected growing season, not the variety.

In general, applying all nitrogen up front, prior to seeding, was a robust nitrogen strategy for the yellow sands at Binnu and the loam soils of Northampton, Tenindewa and Canna. An active nitrogen management was more likely to be beneficial at Eradu, Canna and West Casuarinas.

This project sampled three growing seasons. Whilst two seasons experienced many hot days above 30oC during grain fill no season experienced a very hot / dry finish that can occur in the Geraldton Port Zone.

• Good seed quality is essential for the successful adoption of No-Till farming systems.
• Highest yields generally occur with row spacing narrower than 300 mm and the benefits of adopting wider row spacing needs to be evaluated against the costs (in terms of lower yields).
• Narrow row spacing should not be used with currently recommended rates of pre-emergent herbicides for No-Till farming systems.

• Sowing mid to late maturing barley varieties in May was pivotal when optimising yield in this trial. May sown varieties yielded 0.6 t/ha more on average over their June sown counterparts.
• Sowing with a lower seeding rate reduced yield and increased protein concentration, with the optimum plant population being 180 pl/m2.
• Navigator had the lowest grain protein at 12.8% when sown at TOS 1 with 180 plants/m2.
• Navigator had the highest grain protein at 14.7% when sown at TOS 2 with 120 plants/m2.
• Navigator had the highest yield of all varieties, at 5.84 t/ha, when sown at TOS 1 with 180 plants/m2.

• Barley varieties differ in coleoptile length and their ability to emerge from depth.
• Care at sowing should be taken when Triadimenol based dressings are used in conjunction with short coleoptile varieties such as Hindmarsh.
• Choosing a long coleoptile variety, or combining higher seeding rates with a Carboxin based dressing may help counteract some of the plant establishment losses from deeper sowing.

• Varieties responded similarly in yield and all quality parameters to applied N. Variety choice played a more important role on overall yield and quality than N management.
• Averaged across all N treatments Fathom yielded highest at 3.30t/ha, and late maturing variety Wimmera the lowest at 2.47t/ha.
• No applied N, yielded 2.88t/ha, while 40kgN, applied at GS30, yielded 3.12 t/ha.
• Using the Greenseeker, improved agronomic N efficiency by more than 50% over all other N treatments.

• Higher grain yields were achieved in all varieties from early sowing in 2011.
• Buloke and Commander were not yield responsive to nitrogen despite early biomass responses at both sowing dates.
• Hindmarsh was more responsive to nitrogen than Buloke and Commander, showing an average 0.6 t/ha response to nitrogen across both sowing dates.
• Grain protein exceeded 12% with delayed sowing, while the strategic approach to applied N achieved protein levels less than 12% at earlier sowing in Buloke and Commander.

• In the 2012 season, barley variety and nitrogen rate had a greater impact on yield and grain quality than plant population
• There was no significant increase in grain yield from increasing the N rate beyond a 5t/ha yield potential in this season. Any additional applications did not increase the yield enough to justify the cost of the fertiliser.
• All varieties displayed significant positive responses to the increasing rates of N
• The 62 kg N/ha rate (for 5t/ha crop) gave us the maximum grain yield return.
• Optimum plant populations for grain yield were 200plants/m2. In 2012 although increasing plant densities tended to reduce grain quality but they still made malting quality.

Reponse to barley lines in this trial was different to what was expeted based on past performance in acid soil CVT trials.

• Early sown Planet with a plant population of 200 pl/m2 was the highest yielding treatment.
• Increased plant populations were not shown to significantly increase yields.
• Early sowing times showed a significantly higher yield results (p=0.05) however this results could be influenced by frost events.

• Highest grain yields were produced at the earlier sowing date at both sites.
• Commander produced the highest grain yields at both sites with the lowest protein content.
• Increased N application rates increased grain yield at both sites but significantly increased protein content at Frances.
• Increased sowing rates have been shown to slightly increase grain yield but reduce screenings and protein so may assist in attaining the malting grade.

• Highest grain yields were produced at the earlier sowing date at both sites.
• Commander produced the highest grain yields at both sites with the lowest protein content.
• Increased N application rates increased grain yield at both sites but significantly increased protein content at Frances.
• Increased sowing rates have been shown to slightly increase grain yield but reduce screenings and protein so may assist in attaining the malting grade. 
   

• Varietal differences in disease ratings will be reflected in the level of response achieved to a fungicide application.
• Even with a dry spring, inclusion of a fungicide in the program improved the effectiveness of a nitrogen application.

• Highest grain yields were produced at the earlier sowing date at Frances but the later sowing date at Conmurra.
• Commander produced the highest grain yields at both sites with the lowest protein content.
• Increased N application rates had no effect at Conmurra but a small increase yield at Frances.
• Increased sowing rates have shown to slightly increase grain yeild but reduce screenings and protein so may assist in attaining the malting grade.
• Disease control ws critical to allow high grain yields to be acheived. 

• Varietal differences in disease ratings will be reflected in the level of response achieved to a fungicide application.
• Even with a dry spring, inclusion of a fungicide in the program improved the effectiveness of a nitrogen application. 

• Simulated grazing significantly reduced grain yield.
• Non-grazed controls were more competitive with annual ryegrass (ARG) reducing the ARG population by 58% compared to the grazed treatments.

• Crop establishment was not affected by row spacing, regardless of barley variety or row width.
• Barley grain yield and quality were unresponsive to row spacing at Hart in 2009.

• Annual ryegrass did not affect crop establishment, but did reduce grain yield.
• Increasing the seed rate from 80 seeds/m2 to 150 seeds/m2 had no significant impact on grain yield, however, increasing the seeding rate to 220seeds/m2 significantly reduced grain yield, by 13%.
• At 220 seeds/m2 25% of the annual ryegrass survived, compared to 45% at 80 seeds/m2.

While the idea of early timings for improved tillering and survival of the key primary tillers was not necessarily any worse or better
than standard timings in 2016, when applying this practice into a large farming system the cost of doing two nitrogen applications
does need to be taken into account.

whilst the time of sowing can strongly influence yield, the advantages of early sowing may be reduced if establishment is compromised. later sowing (23 June) reduced yield in all varieties except Wimmera, the average reduction being 0.8t/ha compared to sowing on either 26 April or 17 May. avoid dry sowing into paddocks with known weed burdens

• Earlier times of sowing for barley in the HRZ can have many advantages, but should be carefully weighed up in terms of added costs involved with an earlier time of sowing
• Westminster was once again a standout variety across all sowing dates, performing well in both April sown and May sown conditions
• The use of PGRs can significantly reduce the height of early sown crops, and significantly improve yields across all varieties

• Commercial viability has been difficult to demonstrate.
• Field trials demonstrated that the H Senor was able to accurately classify annual ryegrass in several broadleaf crops, including canola, faba bean, lentil and field pea.
• Other grass weeds such as brome grass and wild oats were also correctly identified as grasses in these crops.
• Broad leaf weeds were accurately classified in cereal crops, however this was more difficult due to the overlapping nature of the cereal crops at the time when the broadleaf weeds had emerged.
• Classification accuracy was lower for detection of grass weeds in cereal crops and broadleaf weeds in broadleaf crops, and these scenarios were not pursued for that reason.  

Grain yield, as percentage of site mean yield, for entries in Victorian Stage 4 trials relative to control varieties when grown at eight sites in the Victorian Mallee during 2000 are given in Table 1 of the attached report.

With the crop under severe water stress for much of the growing season the yields were very low - 1 t/ha or less.

Growing season rainfall at this site was well below average (approximately 350mm) with 264mm for April - November. October was particularly dry with only 7.5mm

Gairdner barley gave significant yield responses to applied nitrogen of 1t/ha at 50kg/ha N and 1.27t/ha at 100kg/ha N applied.

For results and discussion please see the attached trial report.

It is important to consider the seasonal risk posed by diseases when developing an appropriate disease management strategy. Avoiding susceptible barley and wheat varieties will significantly reduce the risk of grain yield and quality loss due to disease Both foliar and fertiliser fungicides can both provide effective disease management when applied to coincide with the critical development stages of disease epidemics.

• Both barley scald and leaf rust were observed at high levels in the trial this year. 
• There were significant differences between the treatments with the best results obtained from the treatments with three separate applications. This equated with the levels of leaf disease in the plots. The plots with the highest levels of disease (and the lowest percentage of green leaf area) were generally the treatments with the lowest yield. 
• For further discussion plese see the attached trial report.

In the absence of disease at all three sites, some fungicide treatments still gave a significant yield increase over the nil treatment.

• The ungrazed paddock yielded 1.2t/ha more than the grazed paddock.
•  The grazed paddock was grazed intensively to approximately 1-2 cm in height where only the white stems could be seen, the green foliage had all been removed. It was observed that after sheep were removed from the paddock, the barley crop re-grew rapidly and out competed the radish that was also recovering from the grazing.
• It was also observed in the demonstration that the grazing delayed the maturity of the cereal with the grazed paddock haying off later than the ungrazed paddock.
• The quality of the grain from both treatments has not been tested for quality but it has been observed that the grain from the grazed paddock is a better colour than the ungrazed paddock.

Trinexapac-ethyl, either one or two applications, and Prosaro resulted in yield increases over the control.

The unusually dry and hot seasonal conditions in October impacted on both the development of barley disease and the final barley yields. Both Impact In furrow ® and Bumper ® appeared to provide varying degrees of visual control of the barley disease scald. The yield of the barley variety Gairdner appeared to react to disease pressure more than Baudin, with the most likely reason being the longer growing season of Gairdner and the date of sowing of the two varieties. Nufarm's Fungicide systems program will continue to analyze the affect of different fungicides on wheat and barley varieties to determine the most strategic fungicide regime.

• In 1997 it was not safe to use the knockdown Gramozone at the half leaf stage on wheat or barley (this has been a relatively safe practice in previous years).
• The crop did not recover from the spray due to the dry conditions.