• The following observations were made on the same farm using similar management, but it was not possible to conclude exactly what factors were responsible for the differences observed (since this has not been statistically compared).
• Grain maize following a terminated faba bean crop planted into the previous maize residues generated higher dry matter offtakes and grain yields than leaving the land fallow over winter and spring.
• Grain maize yielded 21.13 t/ha (14% moisture) following the terminated faba beans and 19.29t/ha following winter fallow (recorded from hand harvested quadrats which are typically higher yielding than machine harvested plots).

• In 2022, a cooler and wetter than average year, higher intensity of management (through increased nitrogen supply and fungicide use) significantly increased yields.
• RGT Planet was the highest yielding variety at both sites, yielding 5.85 t/ha at Nullawil (BCG) and 6.16 t/ha at Hart (HART).
• Higher average yields were achieved by all cultivars at a later May sowing at the Nullawil site whereas Cyclops and Leabrook averaged higher yields at an earlier time of sowing when grown at the Hart site. This highlights the importance of matching variety and sow date to the critical period to achieve actual yields closer to potential yield.
• Neither site saw a yield response to the application of plant growth regulators (PGRs), however Hart did see a yield increase to simulated grazing.

Hart: 

• Barley grain yield averaged 4.61 t/ha with yields ranging from 3.82 to 5.42 t/ha resulting from variety choice and different management strategies. • High fungicide inputs were required to maximise grain yield for RGT Planet, Cyclops and Leabrook across two consecutive years. High fungicide input was most profitable in varieties with leaf rust susceptibility and with high infection levels during grain fill. In the absence of leaf rust, high fungicide inputs were not economical in this trial. • There were no yield gains resulting from increasing nitrogen (N) application from low to high (60 – 140 kg N/ha). RGT Planet grain yields decreased in response to increasing nitrogen supply. High N supply also increased grain protein for all varieties, preventing them from meeting malt receival specifications. • The application of plant growth regulators (PGRs) reduced crop lodging at the early time of sowing, however no yield increases were observed. • The use of simulated grazing at growth stage (GS) GS30 resulted in a significant yield reduction for RGT Planet and Leabrook of 220 kg/ha and 180 kg/ha, respectively. No yield reduction was observed for Cyclops.

Kinnabulla:

• With high starting soil fertility (240kg N 0-100cm), high nitrogen rates are not required to maximise grain yield. • With a grain yield of 5.93t/ha, Cyclops outyielded both RGT Planet and Leabrook which yielded 4.34t/ha and 5.10t/ha respectively. • When sowing disease susceptible varieties early, increased fungicide applications are required to maximise grain yield. • The first fungicide application (start of stem elongation) was the most crucial fungicide timing in terms of protecting the crop and maximising final yield.

Barley Waterlogging Damage: What can we learn?
 Water logging during late stem elongation (the critical period) reduced grain number significantly in early sown Planet barley and severe stress resulted in complete crop failure.
 6 row slower developing winter barley had more viable stems and more grains per spike making recovery better from waterlogging.
 6 row winter barley achieved 9.9t/ha in the absence of significant water logging and 3.1t/ha under severe water logging stress.
 RGT Planet yielded 7.8t/ha in the absence of significant water logging and 0.3t/ha under severe water logging stress.
 Apart from sowing earlier and using slower developing genetics, there was little evidence of genetic differences in field waterlogging tolerance.
 Water logging was more detrimental to barley than wheat on site.
 Little evidence to suggest more N recovered yield from water logging and/or later sowing, the lowest N treatment (10 units of N) yielded 5.65, 50 Units of N yielded 7.11 and the highest N treatment (290 units of N) yielded 6.32t/ha.

• Canola yield response to N application plateaued at 3.7 t/ha with 150 kg N/ha applied, 0.6 t/ha higher than where nil N was applied.
• The addition of 3 t/ha (dry basis) Chicken Manure (see analysis Table 3) with nil N had no impact on grain yield but did increase yield when applied with the 225 kg N/ha rate, yielding 0.4 t/ha more than 225 kg N/ha alone.
• Although the manure supplied ~105 kg N/ha, the lack of response where no N as urea was applied suggests that this N may not be readily available to the crop.
• The Inorganic Nutrient treatment (NPKS in inorganic fertiliser equivalent to 3 t/ha chicken manure) applied with 225 kg N/ha yielded similarly to where Chicken Manure was applied with 225 kg N/ha.
• Where the macro-nutrients N, P, K & S were sequentially dropped out of the Inorganic Nutrition treatment, the only one that affected yield was the subtraction of P. Dropping P out reduced yield by 0.4 t/ha compared with where both 3 t/ha Chicken Manure and the Inorganic Nutrient equivalent were applied with 225 kg N/ha.
• This response to P comes even where there was 15 kg P/ha applied pre-sowing (as single super) and 28 kg /ha P applied at sowing (as MAP).
• Further work determining optimum P levels is required for canola yields > 4 t/ha. Potentially growers should aim to increase their soil P reserves gradually over time (similar to N bank approach) to increase yield potential in high yielding situations.

Please refer to the tial report for yield of the variety evaluation trial ( t/ha, % site mean) and grain quality results.

Please refer to the tial report for yield of the variety evaluation trial ( t/ha, % site mean) and grain quality results.

• Plant density achieved was generally higher than the target plant density.
• There was no effect of plant density on canola grain yield or oil concentration.
• 23 -32 plants/m2 was enough to achieve a similar yield to high seeding rates and at much lower cost.

• Seed yield (3.90 t/ha) was maximised when 240kg N/ha was applied as a two split application and although yield increased up to 320kg N/ha the advantage in seed yield was not statistically significant.
• There was no significant effect on seed oil content (45.9 – 48.3%) across the different rates of nitrogen fertiliser applied.
• When no nitrogen was applied the test weight was significantly lower (62.4 kg/hl) than all the other nitrogen applications (63.3 – 64.1 kg/hl).
• There was no significant difference in harvest index (HI) although values varied from 23 -31% with the N rates applied.
• Seed yield showed little relationship with dry matter content of the crop at 80% flowering.
• No removed in the crop canopy at flowering revealed a soil N supply of approximately 70kgN/ha in the absence of fertiliser applied.
• At 200kg N/ha applied fertiliser and below more N was removed in dry matter at flowering with N doses of 200kg N/ha and below.
• When applied fertiliser was 240kg /ha N or greater less N was removed in dry matter at flowering than was applied.

• Seed yield was not significantly different across the treatments receiving 120 kg N/ha or higher.
• Plant biomass and accumulated N differences were beginning to show at early flowering (4.89t/ha mean) and significantly less N in the unfertilised plots (75.5kg N/ha).
• Optimum yield of 4.19t/ha was produced from a crop canopy of 16.8t/ha biomass that had an N content of 245kg N/ha.
• Applying a rate of 120 kg N/ha or higher had no additional effect on harvest biomass or accumulated N content of the canopy.
• Application N fertiliser had no influence on oil content and test weight.
• While there was variation in the Harvest Index from 0.26 to 0.22, the differences were not statistically different.
• Water use efficiency was 9.7 kg/mm. Nitrogen use efficiency was 58.5kg N/t of grain.

• Different N timing strategies had no significant effect on yield irrespective of N rate applied (80, 160, 240 kg N/ha)
• Applied N fertiliser (based on urea 46% N) significantly increased yield over the unfertilised crop up to the highest rate of 240 kg N/ha.
• Dry matter production at 80% flowering significantly increased over the unfertilised crop when N fertiliser was applied at the early timing (Post sow pre-emergence (PSPE)/6 leaf).
• Nitrogen removal at 80% flowering was significantly increased compared to the unfertilised crop when N fertiliser was applied at the early timings (PSPE/6leaf), however N removal at the later timing (green bud/yellow bud) was only increased at the highest rate of N fertiliser (240 Kg N/ha).
• Oilseed test weight was significantly higher when Nitrogen application was delayed until 6 leaf/green bud (62.8 kg/hl) or green bud/yellow bud (63.0 kg/hl) compared to PSPE/6 leaf application (62.2 kg/hl)
• Grain oil content decreased as N application and yield increased.

• There was no interaction between N rate and N timing in this trial on the RR hybrid 45Y28 indicating that yield responses to N rate were the same irrespective of timing.
• Accumulated N in the canopy at harvest indicated that optimum yields were achieved with crop canopies containing no more 268 kg N/ha. The unfertilised contained 180N.

• Higher applied N rates (240N) produced N crop canopy contents of 300kg N/ha at harvest but significantly more N in the canopy was not associated with more seed.
• Yield of 4.3 t/ha was achieved by applying 80 kg N/ha. Increasing N rates above this level did not result in higher seed yields.
• Timing of N application had no influence on yield or grain quality (oil and test weight).
• Water use efficiency was 10.6 kg/mm and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) was 59.9 kg N/t.

 

• There was no significant interaction between seeding rate and cultivar with both varieties lower yielding at plant populations of between 15-20plants/m2.
• However, the yield effect of the lower plant population in 45Y28 was less pronounced (0.25-0.3t/ha compared to the optimum than with Trophy (0.45 – 0.8t/ha).
• Plant populations above 35 plants/m2 (60 seeds/m2) and above 30 plants/m2 with 45Y28RR produced the highest yields.
• Plant establishment rate for the trial averaged 75% and there was no significant detrimental yield effect from the highest plant populations in either cultivar, just an additional seed cost that was not cost effective.
• There were differences in biomass (dry matter) at green bud, with the trend to lower biomass at lower seeding rates and resultant plant populations.
• There was no additional biomass response to sowing seeding rates higher than 40 seeds/m2 when assessed at early flower (GS62) or at harvest with crop canopies of 14.5-15t/ha producing the highest yields.
• Oil content was significantly different between varieties but not between seeding rates with higher oil content in the RR hybrid.
• While there was variation in the Harvest Index (HI) from 0.32 to 0.24, the trend was for higher HI at the lower planting populations.
• Water use efficiency was 10.0 kg/mm.

• Yield potential in this trial was limited by a hailstorm on 12 December.
• High input management (including high rates of mineral fertiliser plus 5 t/ha pig manure) increased grain yield by 0.29 t/ha compared with low input (modest rates of mineral fertiliser only).
• The Clearfield varieties 45Y93 CL and 45Y95 CL had the highest yield at approximately 3.8 t/ha. The glyphosate and triazine tolerant varieties all yielded less than 3 t/ha.
• The high input management strategy had a small negative effect on grain value, dropping oil concentration by 0.8%. There were larger oil concentration differences between varieties ranging from 42.9% for 45Y95 CL to 45.9% for 45Y28 RR.
• Assuming a grain price of $700/tonne, gross income of 45Y95 CL was $2674 and the gross income of 45Y28 RR was $2015, highlighting the importance of yield over oil for income.

• Crop biomass of three hybrids was measured at early flowering (100°C.days after the start of flowering), late flowering (500°C.days after the start of flowering) and again at maturity.
• Differences between varieties and nutrition were observed at the early flowering assessment, with 6.5 t/ha of biomass for the high input nutrition treatment and 5.1 t/ha for the low input treatment. 45Y28 RR and 45Y95 CL both had higher biomass than the TT variety HyTTec Trifecta.
• Growth of these treatments remained consistent across the treatments for the two subsequent assessments, with final biomass rankings similar at crop maturity to the rankings observed at early flowering.
• A 0-10 cm soil test was completed on the high and low input treatments at the early flowering biomass assessment. Despite the large differences in N rate applied, mineral N was the same across the two treatments (~63 kg N/ha in 0-10 cm), but there were large differences in Colwell P between treatments, with high input at 58 mg/kg and low input at 31 mg/kg.
• Grain yield was measured on these three hybrids plus a further six hybrids that did not have biomass assessments. InVigor R4520P was the fastest variety in the trial and had the highest grain yield in a warm and relatively dry spring. Other varieties with relatively high yield included 45Y28 RR, 45Y95 CL and Nuseed Eagle TF.
• The High Input treatment (45 kg P/ha, 225 kg N/ha + 3 t/ha chicken manure) yielded 0.76 t/ha more than the Low Input treatment (15 kg P/ha, 75 kg N/ha).
• Oil concentration was highest in NCH22K902 and 45Y28 RR. The high input treatment reduced oil (down 1.7%) and increased protein (up 2%) across all varieties.
• Detailed yield component assessment including harvest index, seeds/pod and pods/m² was completed on two input levels of 45Y28 RR, 45Y95 CL and HyTTec Trifecta. The High Input treatment increased final biomass of all varieties, but also increased harvest index i.e. more biomass was converted to grain, even at higher biomass levels. The High Input treatment increased seeds/pod, pods/m² and seed size.
• The warm and dry finish to the season combined with good early growth was the conditions where it could be expected to see a crop ‘hay-off’, but these trials show that the opposite, where higher nutrition gave higher biomass, better conversion of biomass to grain and higher yield.

• Monarch was more responsive to fungicide strategies than Genesis 090 and gave significant yield increases of 0.42 t/ha (cheaper programme) and 1.72 t/ha (more expensive programme) which represented a 168 & 508% increase in yield over the untreated.
• Disease levels, principally Ascochyta (Ascochyta rabiei) at pre flower (V19) were low (<1% leaf area infected LAI) but increased later in the season with nearly 70% crop canopy infection in late October.
• The fungicide strategy based on more expensive chemistry containing SDHI (group 7) and QoI (Group 11) chemistry gave significantly better disease control and significantly higher yields than strategies based on chlorothalonil but only with PBA Monarch.
• Genesis 090 gave a yield increase to the more expensive strategy but the advantage over the cheaper chlorothalonil programme was not statistically significant.
• Both fungicide strategies gave significant improvements in control of ascochyta at 13 days after the final application compared to nil control treatment and produced significant improvements in grain yield.

• There was no disease infection observed at any point in the growing season
• With no disease pressure, there was no yield response to fungicide application with yields averaging 1.69t/ha from this spring sown chickpea trial.

• Chickpeas had not been grown in the trial location and inoculation did result in improved nodulation of the chickpeas.
• Nodulation did not increase with higher rates of granular inoculum.
• Yield and harvest biomass were not influenced by the trial treatments. However grain size was improved with either inoculating the seed or applying 40 kg N/ha at sowing.
• WUE was 12.8 kg/mm

• Chickpeas sown under overhead irrigation gave yields of between 2.09 – 2.63 t/ha (cv Genesis 090) and 2.06 – 2.37 t/ha (cv PBA Royal), twice that of the identical trial sown under overhead.
• A grain yield of 2.4 t/ha was achieved with an established population of 19-21 plants/m2, this was significantly higher than the 2.07 t/ha achieved at 11 plants/m2 (average of both cultivars).
• Increasing the plant population up to 29 plants/m2 gave higher yields, although the advantage over 19-21 plants was not statistically significant.
• There were no significant differences in grain yield due to cultivar.
• No significant interactions were observed between plant population and cultivar on dry matter (DM) production at early flowering; Genesis 090 maximised DM production at 19 plants/m2 whilst PBA Royal maximised DM production at a lower plant population (29 plants/m2).
• Dry matter production at early flowering was maximised with an established population of 19-21 plants/m2(2.96 t/ha), this was significantly higher than the 1.72 t/ha achieved at 11 plants/m2.
• There were no significant differences in DM at harvest with an average of 8.73t/ha and a harvest index of 25.5% (data not shown).
• Harvest index was twice that observed in the identical trial sown under overhead irrigation (13 vs 25% HI).

• Chickpeas yielded poorly in 2021 compared to the 2020 performance on the same research site. Chickpeas sown 27 April in 2020 under overhead irrigation gave yields of between 3.1 – 3.58t/ha (cv Genesis 090) and 3.0 – 3.35t/ha (cv PBA Royal).
• Sown at similar time in 2021 Chickpeas sown under overhead irrigation gave yields of between 0.78 – 1.22 t/ha (cv Genesis 090) and 1.12 – 1.20 t/ha (cv PBA Royal).
• There were no significant differences in grain yield due to cultivar.
• Significant interactions were observed between plant population and cultivar on dry matter (DM) production at early flowering; however both Genesis 090 maximised DM and PBA Royal maximised DM production at similar plant populations (21 - 23 plants/m2).
• An interaction between varieties and seed rate was observed in dry matter offtake at flowering, PBA maximised dry matter with 23 plants/m2 and Genesis 090 maximised dry matter production at 21 plants/m2.
• There were no significant interactions in DM at harvest however PBA Royal (7.86 t/ha) had significantly more dry matter than Genesis 090 (6.95 t/ha).
• Harvest index was very low (13.2%) in 2021, with no significant differences between variety or plant population (not shown).

• Establishment was reduced in the first Time of Sowing due to dry conditions post sowing.
• Time of Sowing 2 (18 May) saw no yield improvement by increasing seeding rates above 35 seeds/m2 (25 plants/m2).
• Time of Sowing 1 saw a similar trend but analysis was complicated by interaction between the cultivar and seeding rate.
• There appears to be no advantage in sowing earlier than mid-May.

• Overall yields were lower than expected due to waterlogging experienced on site.
• Yields ranged from 3.73t/ha to 6.22t/ha, with highest yield achieved by RGT Planet.
• There were no yield gains from applying higher rates of N (156kg N/ha soil supply). A fertile farming system is the key to reducing in crop N applications.
• Higher N rates resulted in higher grain protein, but lower test weight and higher screenings.

Between 2022 and 2023 we experienced two very different seasons although both provided similar outcomes. 2022 was high rainfall, so much so that it created water logging during September and October which limited yield. In contrast, 2023 had a very dry September period which also served to limit yield potential. These environmental conditions have acted as ‘equalisers’ for yield potential and have meant that there was little scope to improve grain yield through in-season management. Sowing on time (3 May) was the best strategy to maximise grain yield, followed by variety choice in 2023. In both years high nitrogen inputs and increased fungicide intensity did not increase grain yield.

 Grain yield of 45Y28 RR increased by 0.92t/ha from nil fungicide to where four separate fungicides were used, including seed, 6-leaf, 20% bloom and 50% bloom. However there were treatments that incorporated fewer fungicide applications that yielded similarly to where four applications were used. The highest of these was where Maxim XL was applied to the seed
and a single application of Miravis Star was applied at 20% bloom.
 It was difficult to ascertain which disease was responsible for the yield loss. Sclerotinia levels were low with only 1.5% plants infected in the untreated control. Crown canker infection (% of cross section of basal stem) was reduced by fungicide but was not observed in high levels. Upper canopy blackleg infection on the main stem was also reduced by fungicide but was also
only present at low levels. Pod Upper canopy blackleg was present at higher levels than 2021, it was reduced best by the treatment that included a 20 and 50% bloom spray.
 There was no statistical benefit of fungicide on HyTTec Trifecta. Upper canopy blackleg infection was generally lower than 45Y28 RR. Sclerotinia levels were also low in HyTTec Trifecta with infection on 2.5% of plants in the untreated control.
 There was no effect of fungicide on any grain quality parameter in either cultivar.

 Grain yield increased by 0.78t/ha from nil fungicide to where an intensive fungicide program was applied, including Saltro Duo on seed, Prosaro at 6-leaf, Aviator Xpro at 20% bloom and Veritas at 50% bloom.
 Highest yields were generally achieved with Seed and 6-leaf fungicide (Maxim XL f.b. Aviator Xpro of Saltro Duo f.b. Prosaro) followed by an application of fungicide (either Prosaro or Aviator Xpro) at 20% bloom. This suggests the response was due to the control of multiple diseases.
 All treatments (except for Maxim XL followed by Miravis Star) were higher yielding than the untreated control.
 There was no effect of fungicide treatment on oil concentration.
 It was difficult to ascertain the reasons for the yield response to fungicide as blackleg (upper
canopy and crown) and sclerotinia infection levels were low.

 Blackleg crown canker (measured as stem cross-section blackleg) was generally highest (in both trials) where no seed or 6-leaf (seedling) fungicide was used, however there was no effect of fungicide management on grain yield.
 There was minimum upper canopy blackleg and sclerotinia disease in both trials.
 Oil content difference was minimum between the fungicide treatments.

 Hyola Feast CL was badly lodged in this trial; therefore, it is difficult to make any major conclusions from it.
 There was no significant difference in grain yield between fungicide treatments.
 There was disease present in the trial, primarily powdery mildew as the dense, lodged canopy created a humid micro-environment for the disease. Powdery mildew infection was lowest in the treatment that included a Prosaro application at 50% bloom stage. This treatment also had the lowest level of sclerotinia stem rot.
 Sclerotinia stem rot and powdery mildew were present at higher levels than in either of the spring disease management trials.

 There was no effect of fungicide management on grain yield of the winter canola cultivar Hyola Feast CL. Trial average yield was 4.19t/ha.
 Sowing winter canola early combines the best of blackleg resistance (effective Group H) and cultural management, avoiding blackleg spore showers on seedling canola.
 Levels of all diseases were low, including blackleg crown canker, upper canopy blackleg and sclerotinia stem rot.

 The Roundup Ready cultivar 45Y28 RR was consistently higher yielding than the TT cultivar HyTTec Trifecta.
 Hyperyielding Crops don’t always need a lot of fungicide:
o A two-spray strategy of Miravis Star at 20% Bloom followed by Prosaro at 50% Bloom yielded 0.3 t/ha more than the untreated control. At a cost >$100/ha, the profitability of this fungicide program would have been approximately break-even.
 Resistant cultivars are useful to reduce disease infection, in this case for Upper Canopy Blackleg:
o In this trial however the yield potential of 45Y28 RR outweighed the resistance benefit of HyTTec Trifecta which has major gene resistance still effective.

 The Roundup Ready cultivar 45Y28 RR was consistently higher yielding than the TT cultivar HyTTec Trifecta.
 Disease levels were low overall, with only low-level blackleg observed. Although 45Y28 RR does not have effective major gene blackleg resistance, it did not have more blackleg infection than HyTTec Trifecta.
 Aviator Xpro and Miravis Star at 20% bloom, both followed by Prosaro at 50% bloom, were higher yielding than the untreated control, but by less than 0.25 t/ha which would have not been profitable.

 There was no effect of fungicide treatment on grain yield of either cultivar.
 Like other trials, 45Y93 CL was higher yielding than HyTTec Trifecta.
 There was no interaction between fungicide management and cultivar choice, effectively showing that there was no difference advantage of having a cultivar with effective major gene blackleg resistance compared with a cultivar with ineffective resistance.
 While sclerotinia, blackleg and Alternaria were present on site all disease where are low levels 45Y93 had a significantly higher incidence of sclerotinia infect in comparison to HyTTec Trifecta. However, disease pressure was not high enough to separate fungicide treatment effects.
 A disease management trial will be completed again in 2021 and will include a winter cultivar and early season (seed and 6-leaf) fungicide treatments.

• 45Y95 CL was the highest yielding variety across all fungicide treatments, averaging 3.65 t/ha.
• The Flowering and complete fungicide treatments yielded similarly, both yielding more than where no fungicide was applied. This indicated that the fungicide response was due to the control of late foliar diseases (upper canopy blackleg and/or sclerotinia stem rot).
• Varietal crown canker blackleg response to fungicide application varied but there was no interaction between fungicide treatment and variety for yield or quality.
• Hyola Solstice CL had very low incidence of crown canker blackleg but was the lowest yielding variety overall. 45Y95 CL had the most crown canker blackleg infection where nil fungicide was applied but this was greatly reduced where fungicide was applied. Yield did not appear to be affected by the level of blackleg in 45Y95 CL.
• 45Y28 RR had the highest oil concentration of the varieties but there was no impact of fungicide strategy on oil concentration.

Sub trial 1. Glyphosate tolerant canola

• The complete fungicide treatment was higher yielding than nil and late fungicide in both 45Y28 RR and Condor TF.
• The benefit of the Complete treatment is from the extra protection provided by Saltro on the seed and Prosaro at 4-6 leaf stage to protect crown canker blackleg.
• When counted at maturity, there were more plants in the Complete treatment in 45Y28 RR compared to Nil and Late, but fungicide had no effect on plant numbers in Condor TF.
• The Complete treatment reduced crown canker blackleg infection (proportion of cross section of stem infected with blackleg at maturity) in both varieties.
• There were small effects of fungicide treatment on both upper canopy blackleg and sclerotinia stem rot (data not shown) but despite the wet year these diseases were both at surprisingly low levels. Sclerotinia stem rot averaged only 2% of plants infected with no fungicide treatment.

Sub trial 2. Triazine tolerant canola

• There was a grain yield response of approximately 0.6 t/ha in ATR Wahoo where the complete fungicide management strategy was used compared with the late and full strategy, but there was no yield response in the more resistant variety HyTTec Trifecta. This response shows that the key timing for disease control in this trial was for early crown infection rather than later upper canopy diseases e.g. sclerotinia stem rot and upper canopy blackleg.
• The complete fungicide treatment had higher plant numbers at maturity in ATR Wahoo and lower crown canker infection.
• Upper canopy disease levels were low overall, with 4% infection of main stems with sclerotinia stem rot (untreated).

• No yield difference was observed between the nil, late protection and full protection fungicide treatments in either the TT or GT trials.
• In the GT trial, there was a difference in yield between the resistant (Nuseed Eagle TF) and the moderately resistant variety (45Y2 8RR). Similarly in the TT trial there was a difference between HyTTec Trifecta and ATR Wahoo.
• No difference in the stem cross-section blackleg infection was observed between the three fungicide treatments and between the resistance and moderately resistant varieties in both RR and TT canola trials.
• There was minimal upper canopy blackleg and sclerotinia disease in both trials.

• Although July rainfall was average, the rain fell on 18 days for the month. This resulted in Ascochyta rabei development in early August on the untreated plots. August and September saw dry conditions less favourable for foliar disease.
• PBA Monarch suffered a higher degree of leaf loss than Genesis 090 across all treatments from Ascochyta blight.
• This leaf loss was reflected in reduced yields and smaller grain, with PBA Monarch suffering the greatest yield reduction due to disease.
• PBA Monarch saw a yield benefit in response to the ‘Expensive’ strategy based on SDHI and QoI chemistry over the “Cheap” and untreated strategies.
• Genesis 090 saw a yield improvement with the ‘Cheap’ strategy over the Untreated but no benefit from the ‘Expensive’ strategy.
• Random plants across the trial did succumb to root rot prior to irrigation before flowering.

• Low levels of stripe rust at mid flowering GS65 (less than 10% flag leaf infection) did not significantly increase grain yield in this variable trial.
• The stripe rust control data indicated that 2 units of fungicide either applied as two foliar sprays at GS31 & GS39 or flutriafol with a follow up foliar spray at flag leaf provided effective protection for DBA Vittaroi.
• There was a very small advantage for stripe rust control from using two foliar fungicides but differences were extremely small.
• Systiva at sowing with a follow up foliar spray gave less effective stripe rust control than flutriafol and Jockey with a flag leaf follow up.
• Fungicide application had no significant effect on grain quality in this trial.

• Stripe rust was present in the trial in the untreated plots but little to no infection was observed in the fungicide treated plots.
• Fungicide strategy did not affect yield or grain quality when compared to the untreated control.
• This result contrasts with the results of the sister trial D21-07-2 located at the same site where fungicide application did result in improved yields over the untreated control.

• DBA Vittaroi developed higher levels of stripe rust infection than DBA Aurora but levels at mid flower were still below 5% on the flag leaf (3.5% v less than 1% on flag leaf at mid flower).
• The low levels of stripe rust infection did not generate any significant yield increases (p=0.3) when controlled with different fungicide strategies.
• The trend with DBA Vittaroi was non-significant yield increases associated with fungicide application with increases of 0.24 – 0.59t/ha with the two spray approach being the most reliable for yield and stripe rust control.
• Fungicide strategy had no significant effect on grain protein (range 14.3-15.0%) which averaged 14.7% (not shown)
• DBA Aurora at 13.9% had significantly less grain protein than DBA Vittaroi at 15.5% (not shown) but was significantly higher yielding than DBA Vittaroi at (8.04 vs 6.46 t/ha).
• The GS31 fungicide was very important to reduce initial infection but there was little additional value of Systiva seed treatment in this trial.

• Stripe rust was present in the trial in late August just prior to flag leaf emergence.
Infection/green leaf loss was higher in DBA Vittaroi than DBA Aurora.
• Multiple fungicide application strategies improved yields over single spray strategies.
• Despite little green leaf loss, foliar fungicides did improve the yields in the MR for stripe rust rated DBA Aurora.
• Three units of fungicide, either 3 foliar sprays or Systiva plus two foliar sprays produced the highest yields when both cultivars were considered.
• The yield increases of the fungicide treatments diluted the grain protein such that the untreated crop produced the highest grain protein.

• Neither previous chickpea sowing rate or pre-sowing stubble management had any significant effect on the following durum wheat yields or grain protein.
• Calculated stubble residues showed no difference as a result of variable chickpea seeding rates.
• NDVI measurements demonstrated that there was little influence on canopy development from either previous seeding rate or pre-sowing preparation.
• Durum wheat has a considerable requirement for N to achieve DR1 quality and so the contribution from the chickpea stubble is a relatively small part of the total N budget.
• Water use efficiency was 17.8 kg/mm.

• There were no significant advantage in grain yield of durum following the cultivation of faba bean stubble from the year previous, however cultivation did result in significantly higher grain proteins where faba bean stubble were incorporated.
• Prior to this trial area being established in durum it grew four different plant populations of faba beans in 2020.
• In the previous year higher seed rates of faba beans led to higher plant populations and higher NDVI measurements but did not result in higher yield (range 16 – 23 plants/m2).
• With the following durum crop there was no significant effect of the different faba bean populations on durum wheat yields.
• Speed tilling to incorporate faba bean stubble in autumn 2021 (resulted in a trend to slightly lower plant establishment of 135 plants/m2 of durum compared to 144 plants/m2 where the residues were left on the surface and the durum was direct drilled into a firm seedbed.
• NDVI measurements taken in the durum at early tillering (GS21) showed a higher reading for the plots where the stubble was incorporated, however this may have been due to stubble interfering with the reflectance measurements. By stem elongation and crop ground cover the differences in NDVI had dissipated.
• There were no differences in dry matter recorded at flowering at a result of cultivating the previous years faba stubbles (not shown).
• Incorporating the faba residues resulted in significantly higher grain protein (15.5%) than where the durum crop was direct drilled plots (14.9%).
• There was a trend to lower grain protein at higher plant populations of the previous faba bean crop when the durum was direct drilled, although this was not statistically significant.

• A number of PGR strategies based on Moddus Evo (trinexapac ethyl), Errex (chlormequat) and a coded PGR were noted to significantly reduce lodging in irrigated DBA Aurora.
• Reduction in lodging whilst significant did not significantly impact yield relative to the untreated control, since lodging occurred late in grain fill (GS87 late dough).

• Grazing twice at tillering and at pseudo stem erect (GS22 &30) prevented lodging and was as effective as a number of PGR programmes, however it significantly reduced yield relative to the control.
• Grazing durum plots produced lower grain protein (12.3%) compared to the PGR treatments (13.2-13.9%)
• At the earlier time of sowing, a single application of Moddus Evo and Errex at GS31 recorded a reduction in lodging when followed by an application of FAR PGR 20/01 at GS39 compared to the single application alone. This late PGR treatment also had an increase in grain protein (13.9%) compared to the untreated (12.9%)
• There was no difference in grain protein in any of the treatments in the later time of sowing.
• Applying trace elements and potassium had no impact gave no improvement in lodging control or yield in comparison to plant growth regulation.

• Grazing was effective in reducing crop height, but resulting grain yield was lowest in the trial, although it was not significantly different to the untreated control.
• Treatments did vary in their effect on lodging, but increased lodging did not necessarily result in decreased yield.
• Highest yield was from treatment 3 (split application of Errex 750 @ 0.65 l/ha + Moddus Evo @ 0.1 l/ha applied at GS30 and GS32) which was also the most effective treatment for reducing lodging.
• The application of the micronutrients manganese and copper had no effect on lodging.
• All PGR treatments did not influence grain protein, screenings or test weight.

• Following the wet winter soil N cores in late August revealed only 47kg N/ha in the 90cm profile with approximately 30kg N/ha in the top 30cm.
• As a result, all N fertilised plots were significantly higher yielding than the unfertilised control which yielded 4.87t/ha at 10.3% protein with a total N offtake of 138kg N/ha at harvest.
• The indication from the unfertilised plots were that the soil mineralised an additional 80kg N/ha on top of the 46kg N/ha available in the soil in late August.
• In N fertilised plots there were no significant differences in yield between 100 – 350kg N/ha applied with a yield range covered by 0.34t/ha.
• In contrast, grain protein levels continued to increase as the applied N fertiliser increased with over 13% achieved with 200kg N/ha, 150 N applied producing 12.5% protein.
• The highest grain proteins were achieved with 350 kg N/ha applied at 16.3%.
• N offtakes in the crop at harvest ranged from 137 – 300 kg N/ha but there was no significant difference in N offtake between 150-300kg N/ha fertiliser N applied with a range of 263 – 307kg N/ha.
• Applied fertiliser N had no significant impact on harvest index or dry matter and averaged only 35%.
• Durum grew similar amounts of dry matter at harvest compared to 2020, approximately 16-17t/ha but in 2021 harvest index was 35% as opposed to 43% and yields were peaked at 6.74t/ha compared 7.43t/ha in 2020.
• At high levels of applied N fertiliser (300, 350kg N/ha) there was no benefit to splitting the N three times, however at lower N fertiliser inputs (see Trial 4 – N timing) this is not the case.

• A grain yield of 8.98 t/ha was achieved with an application of 250 kg/ha of nitrogen (N).
• There was no significant difference in yield for nitrogen applications ranging from 250 – 350 kg N/ha.

• Applying 200 kg/ha of nitrogen was enough to raise the grain protein above the 10.5% required to achieve APW1 compared to the lower N application rates that only achieved ASW1.
• An additional 50 kg N/ha (250 total) pushed the protein above 11.5% and achieved a bin grade of H2, the highest quality achieved in this trial.
• The highest gross margin was achieved with 250 kg N/ha applied as urea 46% N.
• There was little difference in final harvest biomass between 100 and 350 kg N/ha applied with a range of 16.7 – 19.0 t/ha. When no nitrogen was applied final biomass was significantly lower at 14.2 t/ha and a grain yield of 6.55t/ha.

• With 47kg N/ha available in the soil profile (0-90cm) in early spring there was no effect of N timing (50:50 split applications) on grain yield.
• At the different N timings grain yield increased significantly up to a N rate of 200kg N/ha.
• Grain protein in contrast was significantly increased by N rates up to 300kg N/ha and applying N at a later timing split (GS32 and GS39) also significantly increased protein compared to earlier timings
• Later N timings under irrigation are more efficient with applied N, since N removed in the grain was greater with later timings in comparison to earlier timings.
• Grain yields were optimised with DR1 protein levels (13% or higher) at N rates of 100 to 200kg N/ha.
• In 2020 with much higher soil N reserves at sowing (232kg N/ha 0-90cm) it was noted that increasing applied nitrogen fertiliser had no negative yield effects when applied later in stem elongation compared to earlier N timings of the same amounts.

• With 66kg N/ha available in the soil profile (0-90cm) pre sowing there was an effect of N timing (50:50 split applications) on grain yield where the earlier (PSPE & GS30) and later (GS32 & GS37) applications were significantly lower yielding than the intermediate application timing (GS30 & GS32).
• Head numbers were also significantly higher with the GS30/32 timing than both the early or late N timings.
• At the different N timings grain yield increased significantly up to an N rate of 200kg N/ha with no additional response at 300kg N/ha.
• There was a significant interaction between N timing and N rate on grain protein.
• With the earlier application timings (GS00 /GS30 & GS30/GS32) grain protein was maximised with 300 kg N/ha while in the late application timing (GS32/GS37) grain protein was maximised at 200 kg N/ha.
• 200kg N/ha applied in a 50:50 split generated the best margin after N cost and quality considerations were taken into account.
• The highest gross margin was achieved with 200 kg N/ha applied as urea (46% N) split at GS30 and GS32.

• Biomass at harvest was no different between the N timing strategies. However, the higher N rates did result in more biomass and higher heads/m2.
• The later the N was applied the greater the N accumulation in the crop canopy at harvest, however this was only apparent at the higher N rates applied (i.e. greater N efficiency of applied N).
• Delayed application of nitrogen did not result in yield reduction, but lower N rates did.
• Grain protein meeting DR1 specification was only achieved by applying 300 kg N/ha at either of the later split N timings either GS30/GS32 or GS32/GS39.
• Harvest index averaged 0.40 and was higher at the lower N rates as was observed in Trial 3.

• In a first wheat scenario following faba beans durum wheat yielded on average 7.55t/ha DBA Aurora and 6.07t/ha for DBA Vittaroi. The difference in predicted yield was statistically significant (p=0.01).
• With 20 May sowing date there was no difference in yield due to plant population when it varied 125 – 300 plants/m2, although 150 - 200 plants/m2 were associated with the highest yields in both varieties.
• Plant populations below 100 plants/m2 had significantly lower dry matter at harvest and as a result lower yields.
• No significant differences in lodging were recorded due to variety or population in contrast to 2020 when Aurora lodged at higher plant populations.
• There were significantly more tillers per unit area at the highest plant populations tested (440 tillers/m2) but it had no additional yield benefit over lower tiller densities irrespective of cultivar.
• DBA Aurora with a longer tillering period and longer season phenology recorded more tillers per unit (419/m2) than DBA Vittaroi (284/m2) at stem elongation.
• In both varieties there was a significant increase in head numbers as a result of increasing plant population with a maximum of 385 heads/m2 (mean of two cultivars- Aurora 412 and DBA Vittaroi 358).
• Although increasing plant population significantly increased dry matter production at pseudo stem erect (GS31) lower plant populations had compensated such that there was no difference when assessed at harvest, apart from plant populations below 100 plants/m2.
• Plant population had no significant effect on grain protein (range 14.4-15.1%) which averaged 14.7%
• DBA Aurora at 14.1% produced significantly lower grain protein than DBA Vittaroi at 15.4% as result of the higher yields in the former.

• Yield was below expectations which appears to be due to inadequate soil moisture in late winter, with irrigation not possible due to the irrigation season being closed.

• Establishment rate for the trial averaged 76% but was lower at the highest populations.
• There were differences in biomass at GS30, with the trend to lower biomass at lower • seeding rates and this was reflected in shoot numbers.
• Yield was not influenced by seeding rate in either variety, although plant populations below 100plants/m2 tended to be the lowest yielding, however there was little or no difference in grain yield between 150 – 240plants/m2.
• Yield was below expectations which appears to be due to inadequate soil moisture in late winter, with irrigation not possible due to the irrigation season being closed.
• Winter drought is a risk that is greater under overhead irrigation as the soil profile is unlikely to be full at the beginning of winter as is the case under flood irrigated circumstances.
• Water use efficiency was 16.1 kg/mm

• In an identical trial to Trial 1 under surface irrigation DBA Aurora lodged more and was significantly higher yielding than DBA Vittaroi.
• Though not statistically comparable (separate trials based on same site, same sowing date & management) yields were higher under overhead than surface irrigation but lodging at harvest was noted to be more severe where surface irrigation was used.
• Higher plant populations were associated with higher plant, tiller and head numbers, although this did not relate to higher yield.
• Lower plant populations were associated with lower dry matter production at early stem elongation (GS31) but later in the growing season there were no significant differences.
• Plant population had no significant effect on grain protein (range 14.2-14.4%) which averaged 14.3%
• DBA Aurora at 13.2% had significantly less grain protein than DBA Vittaroi at 15.3%.

 No BYDV was observed in the trial and as a result there were no significant yield differences due to BYDV control recorded in either Manning (tolerant) or Revenue (non BYDV tolerant) cultivars.
 Omitting the GS31 fungicide however (treatment 7 & 8) had a significant impact on grain yield with both Manning (minus 2.13t/ha) and Revenue (minus 2.34t/ha).
 Adding azoxystrobin to the first fungicide application at GS31 over and above the experimental fungicide increased yield with Manning but not with Revenue.
 The additional application of Dominex Duo along with the experimental fungicide (as opposed to Opus 250mL/ha) at GS31 significantly increased the yield of the non BYDV tolerant cultivar Revenue but the yield of Manning was unaffected.
 The “Revenue BYDV tolerant bred line” with no insecticide input was the highest yielding treatment of Revenue and not significantly different from the best Manning treatment that received azoxystrobin at GS31.

• The long season UK wheat RGT Relay out yielded Manning but none of the treatments of insecticide or fungicide produced any significant difference in grain yield.
• There were clear indications that symptoms of BYDV were present in the RGT Relay that were not present in the BYDV tolerant variety Manning, but these differences did not result in a yield effect.
• BYDV like symptoms became more apparent in the canopy as the crop began to grain fill with less BYDV observed in the insecticide treated plots in RGT Relay (non-tolerant).
• Little or no BYDV like symptoms were observed in the Manning.
• There was no significant expression of erect heads in this trial or significant differences in erect head numbers.
• ELISA testing confirmed Cereal yellow dwarf virus (CYDV-prv) presence but not Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV-pav).

• There were small visual differences in BYDV control recorded in this trial (which were variable in effect) but no differences were assessed in erect heads at harvest.
• As a consequence, there were no differences in yield due to insecticide management in the BYDV tolerant (Manning) and non-tolerant variety (Anapurna) in this trial.
• There was a significant yield increase associated with the application of the GS31 experimental fungicide application.
• The effect of the fungicide had no impact on erect heads observed in the trial and was primarily associated with superior STB control compared to the other four treatments that received no GS31 fungicide.
• There was no advantage from the addition of azoxystrobin at GS31 added to the experimental fungicide.
• It should be noted that two more fungicides were applied to all treatments at flag leaf emergence (GS39) and head emergence (GS59) (see Table 3).

• There were significant yield increases in both BYDV non-tolerant (Anapurna) and assumed tolerant germplasm (DS Bennett) due to insecticide management.
• The application of insecticide for BYDV control produced a significant reduction in the level of BYDV (4% plot affected – mean of two varieties).
• There was no significant difference amongst the insecticide strategies in terms of BYDV control with an application of neonicotinoid seed treatment (Gaucho) generating the same level of control and yield response as multiple insecticide applications.

• Insecticide management with the Imidacloprid seed treatment Gaucho significantly increased yield by 0.56 t/ha but additional foliar insecticides applied at tillering and at GS31 gave no further yield increases over Gaucho seed treatment alone.
• Adding additional fungicides (prochloraz and azoxystrobin) to the stem base GS31 fungicide based on epoxicionazole (Opus) significantly increased yield.

• No fungicide strategy resulted in higher yields than the untreated crop.
• The fungicide strategies did result in reduced disease pressure (as measured by loss of green leaf) but this was not reflected in grain yield at harvest.

• PBA Amberley had lower disease incidence than Fiesta VF but levels of disease were very low.
• The maximum response to foliar disease in faba beans under surface irrigation was 0.09t/ha with the more disease resistant cultivar PBA Amberley. In contrast with Fiesta VF the yield increase was 0.15t/ha, neither variety producing a significant yield increase to fungicide application.
• Crop canopy infection of chocolate spot caused by the pathogens Botrytis fabae and Botryris cinerea was approximately 10% just pre flower in Fiesta VF and less than 2% in PBA Amberley.
• The disease did not appear to develop with drier conditions prevailing in spring post flower up to November. Early the levels of disease control with tebuconazole and Veritas were relatively poor no more than 50%.
• Although the expensive fungicide strategy based on DMIs, SDHIs and QoIs was higher yielding than the tebuconazole/chlorothalonil programme it was lost money relative to the untreated (data not shown).

• There was no disease infection observed at any point in the growing season.
• With no disease pressure, there was no yield response to fungicide application with an average yield of 2.04t/ha from spring sown faba beans.

• Faba grain yield was not influenced by either seeding rate (plant population 10-32plants/m2) or PGR strategy in this trial.
• Plant height was reduced by the application of experimental PGR, with the two-application strategy being most effective. Seeding rate and resultant plant population did not affect plant height.
• Faba bean lodging was influenced by both seeding rate (plant population) and PGR application. As a general observation, increasing plant population increased lodging while PGR application reduced lodging but yields were not significantly affected.
• Lodging was eliminated in the low seeding rate coupled with an experimental two spray application PGR strategy.

• Experimental PGR application in irrigated faba beans gave no significant yield effects although application did influence crop height at harvest.
• Applying a single experimental PGR (FAR PGR 1) application at the start of flowering had a significant effect on plant height at harvest.
• Sequencing this earlier treatment with FAR PGR 2 at the end of flowering had no further effect on crop height.
• Reducing plant population to 9 plants/m2 reduced yield significantly compared to 22 and 32 plants/m2, increasing the population to 32 plants/m2 was significantly higher yielding than 22 plants/m2 leading to grain yields over 7t/ha.
• Reducing plant population had no significant effect on final crop height at harvest.
• Increasing plant populations resulted in a trend for higher lodging which was controlled by the single application of PGR, although differences were not statistically significant.
• Applying a single experimental PGR (FAR PGR 1) applications at the start of flowering led to a significant reduction in lodging and an eight cm reduction in crop height.

• Applying Nodulator granular inoculant at recommended rates led to a significant increase in nodulation, compared to the untreated plots, but did not increase yield.
• Increasing the rate of Nodulator to double or triple the recommended rate had no additional effect on nodulation, compared to the standard rate.
• Applying nitrogen fertiliser (40kg N/ha) at sowing had no negative effect on subsequent nodulation and increased grain yield by 0.96 - 1.39 t/ha compared to treatments where no nitrogen was applied, however the more variable nature of the trial meant that the
advantage not statistically significant.
• Applying nitrogen at pod set increased grain yield by 0.22 – 0.65 t/ha compared to treatments where no nitrogen was applied, however again this yield advantage was not statistically significant.
• Although there were no significant differences between dry matter and nitrogen offtake at flowering, there was a trend for more dry matter and nitrogen in the dry matter at flowering where nitrogen had been applied at sowing.

• The grain yield of Fiesta VF was 5% higher than PBA Amberley under overhead irrigation.
• Seed rate had a significant impact on grain yield with yield maximised at the highest plant populations, although there was little yield advantage above approximately 25-30 plants/m2 with either cultivar.
• If plant population fell to 12 plants/m2 the yield reduction was approximately 1.2 with Fiesta VF and 1.8t/ha with PBA Amberley.
• There were no significant differences in harvest dry matter due to plant population with all cultivars and populations achieving approximately 12-14t/ha.
• There was no significant difference in pod number due to plant population with all populations including the thinnest producing approximately 500 pods/m2.
• Significantly lower plant populations being lower yielding due to less beans per pod or smaller thousand seed weight.
• Increasing plant populations significantly increased stem number per m2 and height to first pod with stem number over 65 stems/m2 being associated with the highest yields.
• Plant population had no significant on dry matter production at harvest.

• Both cultivars showed a similar yield response to increasing plant population with no advantage in yield from plant populations above approximately 20 plants/m2, but significant reductions in yield associated with populations of 15 plants/m2.
• Establishment rate for the different seed rates in the trial averaged 77% with 10-36 seeds/m2 producing 8 – 27 plants/m2
• Fiesta had slightly higher biomass at early flowering but moisture stress had begun to affect the trial. Optimum yields were associated with crop canopy harvest dry matters of 11-12t/ha.
• Water use efficiency was 16.1 kg/mm

• The grain yield of Fiesta VF was 5% higher than PBA Amberley under overhead irrigation.
• Seed rate had a significant impact on grain yield with yield maximised at the highest plant populations, although there was little yield advantage above approximately 25-30 plants/m2 with either cultivar.
• If plant population fell to 12 plants/m2 the yield reduction was approximately 1.2 with Fiesta VF and 1.8t/ha with PBA Amberley.
• There were no significant differences in harvest dry matter due to plant population with all cultivars and populations achieving approximately 12-14t/ha.
• There was no significant difference in pod number due to plant population with all populations including the thinnest producing approximately 500 pods/m2.
• Significantly lower plant populations being lower yielding due to less beans per pod or smaller thousand seed weight.
• Increasing plant populations significantly increased stem number per m2 and height to first pod with stem number over 65 stems/m2 being associated with the highest yields.
• Plant population had no significant on dry matter production at harvest.

• Under surface irrigation faba yields exceeded 7t/ha with a significant interaction between plant population (seedrate) and cultivar.
• Fiesta achieved its highest yields at only 17plants/m2 whereas PBA Amberley had an optimum of 27 plants/m2.
• However, the results indicate more severe consequences of dropping too low (15-20 plants or below) with plant population in faba beans vs higher plant populations 25-30 plants/m2. irrespective of cultivar.
• Establishment rate for the trial averaged 89% with decreasing establishment at higher seed rates.
• Biomass increased as seeding rate increased at early flowering, but there was no influence on harvest biomass from plant population.

• A seeding rate of 18 seeds/m2 (17 plants/m2) was sufficient to achieve the highest yield with
Fiesta .
• Water use efficiency was 14.1 kg/mm

• Foliar application of a micronutrient mixes failed to provide in any yield improvement over and above the standard nutrition adopted.
• Tissue testing prior to, and at tasselling, revealed no micro or macro nutrient deficiencies, and no response to the additional nutrient applications..

• With an average grain yield of 16.51t/ha there were no significant differences in header grain yield from varying nitrogen rate or applying liquid potassium products.
• Applying Calcium Nitrate Ca (NO3)2 caused a decrease in yield when it was combined with an additional application of pre drill 90 kg/ha of nitrogen.
• There was evidence that additional nutrients significantly interacted (p=0.044) with the overall level of N fertiliser applied with liquid calcium nitrate giving greater benefits with 230N (applied as fertigation than when N was application was increased to 320kg N/ha (predrill urea = fertigation).

• Application of different DMI (triazoles) and QoI (strobilurins) fungicides at either 8 leaf (V8) or tasselling (VT) resulted in no yield response over the untreated crop.
• There was no observed effects of a fungicide application on green leaf retention post application.

• There were no significant yield effects of fungicide application at either V9 (9 leaf) or VT (Tasselling) development stages.
• Low levels of disease were observed in the trial but there was little evidence to suggest that fungicides improved green leaf retention when assessed at R4.
• Late infection of Common rust (Puccinia sorghi) was detected in upper canopy

Plant height varied from 59cm in Minotaur to 95cm in Crescendo.
Data highlights the increased lodging incidence in Laureate and this will need to be managed.
Shorter cultivars in this trial were also less prone to lodging.
The incidence of brackling was less in 2021 than 2020.
Lodging and brackling were not always correlated suggesting they are genetically independent
and may require different management solutions.
These data highlight plant heights lower than 80cm, lodging and brackling can all be reduced
with genetic solutions.
Spring lines such as Laureate, and Crescendo developed later than Planet.
Laperouse and Rosalind developed earlier than Planet.

New spring introductions such as Laureate and Fatima offered slower developing alternatives to RGT Planet, while Rosalind was the quickest cultivar.
There was a larger gap in the development speed of spring cultivars and winter cultivars in WA compared to the eastern states.
The incidence of disease was very low in 2021 at this site and there were minimal differences between cultivars.
A number of these cultivars were evaluated for yield in stage 2 elite screen presented below.

 Stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) was the most destructive disease in the untreated screen, severely affecting Catapult, Rockstar, and Trojan (93%, 65%, and 35% plot infection respectively).
 From sampling carried out the 239 pathotype was the dominant pathotype on site with lower levels of the 198 pathotype (the dominant pathotype in 2020).
 Septoria tritici blotch (STB) caused by the pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici was more significant in 2021 in terms of green leaf area lost, with up to 75% plot infection in Scepter. Other notable infections include V12167-048, Coota, and L13070-027 (70%-39% plot infection).
 The following varieties AGFWH004418, AGFWH004618, Big Red (AGFWH004718) and AGFWH004818 had similar phenology, and as good as or better disease resistance and standing power (straw strength) than the highest yielding feed wheats on the research site RGT Accroc, Anapurna and RGT Cesario (see trials 2 – 4).
 

 Using RGT Accroc and Trojan (not coloured) as controls and comparisons to Trial 2 cultivars of interest were LPB16-0598 (which has potential quality) but was stiff strawed and moderately affected by Septoria tritici blotch (STB).
 Big Red and its sister AGF lines also looked interesting, particularly AGFWH004618 (see trial 2), however Big Red was probably still the pick of the four.
 AGTW005 has looked interesting for the second year with intermediate maturity, good standing power and good resistance to STB.
 The more northern European wheat cultivars Reflection, Graham, Savello, Shabras displayed much later maturity than the cultivars of greater interest Big Red, RGT Cesario and RGT Accroc.
 Rockstar was slower through stem elongation and slightly later to develop than Scepter, stiff strawed with intermediate disease resistance.
 Looking at lodging and straw stiffness Manning was the weakest strawed variety tested.

The following 1st HYC stage screen was amalgamated with the SARDI untreated nursery to evaluate phenology for HYC and disease for NVT in the absence of fungicide protection.
 To give a guide to suitable phenology for this site sown in April, the high yielding feed wheats Anapurna and RGT Accroc give good indications of flowering windows, however it should be noted that RGT Accroc was earlier than normal for the research
site this season.
 The European lines Reflection and Tabasco that gave the highest yields on the research site in 2021 (12.74 & 12.5t/ha) are typically too long season for the lower SE environment, however in 2021 the mild conditions during November and
December allowed these lines to finish.
 The AGF lines including 4618, 4818 and Big Red were also high yielding and again had phenology similar to Anapurna which has performed strongly over the last four years at SA Crop Technology Centre.

 For mid-April sowing dates at the SA Crop Technology Centre (CTC) barley has been under consistent pressure from disease and lodging.
 New spring introductions all have improved net form net blotch resistance compared to the current control RGT Planet but are weaker for Scald (referenced in table 2)
 Leaf rust was evident in high yielding European introductions Laureate and Sanette
 Winter barley reference in table 2 (shaded in light red) had superior disease packages compared to spring barley.
 Head loss, brackling and lodging was a major constraint in 2020 at this location and the winter barleys were inferior to spring barley for head retention.
 Some of these lines were also assessed for yield at the same sowing date in the HYC Elite Screen trial (Trial 2 – next write up).

 For mid-May sowing dates at the SA Crop Technology Centre (CTC) barley has been under consistent pressure from disease and lodging.
 The levels of NFNB were less in the current control RGT Planet at the second sowing date suggesting delaying sowing date is a viable solution to reducing NFNB pressure.
 European introductions Laureate and Sanette were clean for disease at this sowing date compared to Australian cultivars.
 Crop development speed rankings changed at this sowing date compared to the earlier sowing date. There is a suite of new spring introductions more suited to the long season environment with improved disease resistance package compared to RGT Planet. This presents an exciting opportunity for subsequent HYC trials.
 Some of these lines were also assessed for yield at the same sowing date in the HYC Elite
Screen trial (Trial 2).

 Disease pressure and lodging were high at the VIC Crop Technology Centre (CTC) in 2020
 New spring introductions all have improved net form net blotch resistance compared to the current control RGT Planet but are weaker for Scald
 Head loss and lodging was a major constraint in 2020 at this location and the winter barleys were inferior to spring barley for head retention.
 New spring introductions were slower to develop than current controls RGT Planet, and winter cultivars flowered during the optimum period for Gnarwarre.
 Some of these lines were also assessed for yield at the same sowing date in the HYC Elite Screen trial (Trial 2)

 New spring introductions offered slower developing alternatives to RGT Planet, while Rosalind was the quickest cultivar
 There was a larger gap in the development speed of spring cultivars and winter cultivars in WA compared to the eastern states.
 The incidence of disease was very low in 2020 at this site and there were minimal differences between cultivars.
 These cultivars were evaluated for yield in stage 2 screen presented below

 The variation in crop development highlighted the difference between the European and Australian spring germplasm suitability to spring sown conditions.
 Photoperiod (daylength) responsive cultivars progressed to heading too quickly for spring sown conditions, these examples include Rosalind, Fathom, IGB1844, and Laperouse.
 Photoperiod sensitive cultivars in the range from RGT Planet, Laureate, and Westminster developed slower and are likely to be more suited to spring planting
 Lodging and brackling responses varied across cultivars, however all introduced cultivars had lower levels of lodging than the lodging control Compass under irrigated conditions
 These lines progressed to yield evaluation in the next experiment

• For mid-April sowing dates at the SA Crop Technology Centre (CTC) Anapurna has been one of the most consistent varieties grown over the last three years.
• In the following tables varieties with similar phenology (Table 1) and better disease resistance and standing power compared to Anapurna (Table 2) have been referenced.
• The other controls were based on Scepter (spring), Trojan (spring), RGT Accroc (winter) and Nighthawk (facultative).
• Of those lines which had similar phenology to Anapurna and equivalent or better than disease resistance and standing power it was AGF codes, SFR codes, GS-18-105-W, BA26.35 and AGT004 that looked most promising.
• Some of these lines were also assessed for yield at the same sowing date in the HYC Elite Screen trial (Trial 2).

• Cultivars performed similarly at the second sowing date but lower disease pressure resulted in more screened cultivars looking to be potential candidates (those with less than 10% plot infection and no or little lodging issues (less than lodging index score of 50).
• GSUQ-19-48-W, LPB16-0582 and V13079-049 showed STB infection below 10% in addition to those cultivars outlined as more disease resistant in the April sowing screen.

• On 4 September wheat development varied from first node (GS31) to the end of booting (GS49) with Trojan being the most advanced of those wheats tested.
• A number of varieties looked promising in terms of straw strength/standing power and disease resistance to Septoria tritici blotch (STB) and rust.
• Unfortunately, many of the northern European lines were too long for the southern Victorian HRZ environment. These included Graham, Reflection, Shabras and Savello, although the disease resistant cultivar Reflection performed well in the yielded trial (Trial 2).
• Promising lines were represented by SFR86-092, LPB16-0598, AGFWH004618, AGFWH004718 and some of AGT codes 003 & 005. (See trial 2 – Yielded screen entries).

• Stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) was the most destructive disease in the untreated screen, severely affecting Trojan and LPB17-4713 (95% and 75% plot infection respectively).
• Septoria tritici blotch (STB) caused by the pathogen Zymoseptoria tritici was notable in terms of green leaf area lost, with between 15-20% infection severity in GSUQ-19-48-W, IGW6563, IGW6496 and V12069-076.
• Powdery Mildew (Blumeria graminis f. sp. tritici) was only evident in Nighthawk.
• Since Anapurna and RGT Accroc produced the highest yields in the germplasm management trial (GEM Trial 2) the following varieties had similar phenology and as good as or better than disease resistance and standing power (straw strength). Of the varieties were V13079-049, BX7932-074, BX7932-039 and SFR86-090 codes.

• A wetter than average spring, high inoculum in the environment and the use of susceptible varieties, NFNB pressure was extremely high in 2022.
• The use of SDHI chemistry at the second spray timing was most effective at reducing NFNB severity on flag-1, the most important yield contributing leaf in barley.
• There was no yield difference between the single spray programs and the untreated, suggesting this level of management is not appropriate for high disease pressure environments.
• There were no significant improvements in yield between the 4 fungicide units, 3 fungicide units or 2 fungicide units regardless of seed treatment/foliar spray combinations.
• The cheaper fungicide managements (untreated and single sprays) gave poorer screening and retention figures as well as increased brackling when assessed at crop maturity.

• The dominant barley disease found on site was Net Form of Net Blotch (NFNB), to which RGT Planet is rated SVS.
• When assessed on the 12 of October, NFNB levels were highest on the Flag-1 leaf layer (the most important leaf in barley for contributing to yield) in the untreated or where only a single GS30 fungicide had been used.
• Disease scores closely corelated with final grain yields with treatments 2, 3 and 7 showing some of the best NFNB control and some of the highest yielding plots.
• The single spray treatments yielded the least out of managements with a fungicide and indicate that in high disease pressure environments with a susceptible variety, a minimum of a 2-spray program is required.

• Levels of Net Form Net Blotch (NFNB) and Spot Form Net Blotch (SFNB) were elevated in 2022 compared to previous years, producing a high amount of disease pressure, particularly in RGT Planet.
• Fungicide management had a significant effect on yield with a more robust program, including a seed treatment and three applications throughout the season, producing a significantly higher yield, approximately 0.42 t/ha above the average (Table 1).
• Although not reflected entirely in the yield, the untreated plots showed higher levels of NFNB and SFNB throughout the entire growing season, with a lower green leaf retention (GLR) (Table 3).
• In general, more complex fungicide programs returned a higher NDVI value throughout the season when compared to the control, indicating a healthier and greener plant (values not shown).

• There was no significant response in yield to the use of fungicides. This result is in line with those in 2021 and 2020. This again demonstrates that intensive fungicide management (multiple applications and expensive chemistry) may not be needed to grow barley in spring sown systems.
• There was no influence of fungicides on grain quality with the exception of retention, with untreated (92.6%) significantly lower than most other treatments (average 94.2%).
• Despite no significant differences in yield, low amounts of NFNB and scald were recorded in this trial.

 

• Despite RGT Planet’s SVS rating to Net Form Net Blotch (NFNB), drier conditions in spring meant little disease was present in this trial.
• When assessed during mid-flower on the 16 October, severity of NFNB (% leave area infected) peaked at only 1% with an incidence score of 40% on flag-1, the most important leaf in barley (Table 2).
• Although only low levels of disease were found, there were differences in yield with the untreated yielding 6.92t/ha, which was significantly lower than treatments where 2-4 fungicide units had been used. The exception was the use of Aviator Xpro as a single spray at GS39-45. (Table 1).
• Treatments with only a single fungicide unit, used earlier in the season, or treatments not using higher rates of products, did not yield statistically different from the untreated (Table 1).

• Trials conducted between 2020 and 2023 in Hagley have not shown any response to fungicide in spring sown barley.
• These results suggest that the management needed to combat barley disease in a susceptible variety when autumn sown, are not required in a spring sown scenario where pressure is much lower.
• Although there were statistical differences in the Net Form Net Blotch (NFNB) disease assessment conducted at early grain fill, levels of disease were minimal with severity levels under 5% leaf area infected and less than 1% incidence on Flag-1 (Table 2).
• Fungicides had no influence on grain quality.

• Conducted in RGT Planet (SVS to Net Form Net Blotch (NFNB)), untreated plots saw infection levels of NFNB of 96.5% leaf area infected (%LAI) on flag-2 and 66.9 %LAI on flag-1 when assessed at early grain fill
• The best treatments in terms of controlling diseases were ones that used a combination of group 3, group 7 and group 11 fungicides at multiple spray timings. These treatments gave between 67-77% control on the flag-1 leaf layer
• Systiva alone (treatment 2), or Systiva with a late follow up fungicide application (treatment 11) gave poor control of NFNB with only 3% and 41% control respectively on flag-1 at early grain fill.
• With low disease pressure early in the season, there were no statistical differences between untreated plots and Systiva treated plots when assessed at stem elongation (GS32)
• Despite high levels of Net form Net Blotch (NFNB) assessed in the trial, there was no yield response to fungicides with generally poor control across the trial 
• Fungicides did influence grain quality with untreated plots having lower test weight and retention scores and higher screenings 

• With wheat disease only found at very low levels across the site, much of the disease story developed in the barley trials at the Frankland River CTC.
• Increased areas of the high yielding barley RGT Planet have been sown in the HRZ of WA in recent times and in turn the prevalence of Net Form Net Blotch (NFNB) has increased. RGT Planet is rated SVS to the Oxford virulent strain of NFNB, which is the most common variant of the disease in the Frankland River region.
• NFNB, now widespread in both the west and eastern states of Australia, and has reduced sensitivity and resistance to DMI and SDHI fungicide chemistry in WA.
• Despite the susceptibility of RGT Planet, the dry spring kept levels of the disease to a minimum with just over 10% infection in the untreated on Flag-2 when assessed on the 20 September at early grain fill.
• Most two, three and four fungicide unit programs were sufficient to control the disease although control only averaged 50%.
• Single applications of fungicides showed poorer control, especially in the case of a single application of propiconazole (Tilt 500) which showed no significant difference in severity or incidence when compared to the untreated.
• Due to the low levels of disease experienced, there was no yield response to fungicides.

• Cultivar had a significant effect on phenology, yield, grain quality and disease resistance.
• In spring cultivars, late booting (GS49) ranged from the 23 July (Leabrook) to the 25 August (Laureate and IGB21130), with the two winter varieties flowering on the 17 September and 5 October, 74 days after Leabrook.
• Newton (a two-row winter variety) and Pixel (a six-row winter variety) were some of the top yielding germplasms, 6.09 t/ha and 5.49 t/ha respectively.
• Of the spring varieties, a new InterGrain cultivar (IGB21130) produced the highest yield of 5.77 t/ha.
• Spring barleys which flowered after mid-August produced a significantly higher yield than faster-maturing varieties.
• Protein percentage also varied greatly between cultivars, with the winters having significantly lower levels (9.1% and 9.3%), and with a trend of lower yielding varieties having a higher protein percentage.
• Net Form Net Blotch (NFNB) and Spot Form Net Blotch (SFNB) were assessed throughout the season, with RGT Planet and Zena CL having significantly higher infection levels.

• The highest yielding variety was IGB22102T which yielded 12.35 t/ha, a new record for spring sown barley in the HYC project.
• The top yielding variety was also significantly higher yielding than the control variety RGT Planet (11.57 t/ha) and older varieties such as Westminster (9.35 t/ha).
• Grain protein was difficult to maintain with over half of the varieties producing protein over 12%.
• Other grain quality parameters were generally favourable across the whole trial with a mean test weight of 69.9 kg/hL, retention of 95.1% and screening of 1.5%.

• The average yield across the trial was 7.25 t/ha with the highest yielding variety being the coded InterGrain line IGB1130 (8.45 t/ha), this was also the highest yielding treatment on site.
• There was little difference in yield in the trial with the exception of AGTB0244 which experienced high disease pressure and Newton which is a very slow developing winter barley.
• There were no significant differences in protein and test weight due to variety, however winter varieties Newton and Pixel produced significantly lower retentions and higher screenings compared to the spring varieties.

• The highest-yielding variety in this trial was the quick-developing, 2-row spring barley Rosalind (6.96 t/ha).
• Varieties that are more susceptible to NFNB, such as RGT Planet and AGTB0244 yielded poorly on site as disease pressure in 2022 was very high.
• Fandaga was the lowest yielding variety in this trial which contrasts with this cultivar’s performance at other HYC centres. It was observed to be discoloured throughout much of the growing season leading to suggestions that it is particularly susceptible to soil conditions distinctive to the Millicent centre.
• The 6-row winter barley Pixel also yielded well and had the highest harvest index (43.4%), a significantly higher percentage than the top yielding Rosalind (32.2%).
• Due to the highly fertile soils at this site, grain protein was very high with a trial average of 14%.

• There were mixed results in terms of yield with the highest yielding variety being the winter barley Pixel (7.86 t/ha) and second highest the quick developing spring barley Rosalind (7.74 t/ha) which was not significantly different.
• The high rainfall control of RGT Planet was also high yielding and not significantly different from the top yielding varieties.
• P-52 is a variety being developed to be very similar to RGT Planet with an additional gene for water logging tolerance. It was found to be lower yielding (6.84 t/ha) than the control RGT Planet (7.65 t/ha) despite the site experiencing mild water logging during the wetter than average spring.
• No variety was able to meet malt specifications due to a combination of high protein percentage (average 12.5%) and low test weights (average 61.4 kg/hL).

• There was no interaction between variety and management with all varieties responding similarly. Low input, which was characterised by cheaper fungicides, no PGR and less applied nitrogen, yielding significantly less than the other management approaches (Table 1).
• On average the quick developing but adaptable variety Rosalind yielded best (7.19 t/ha) with the slower developing spring barley Laureate also preforming strongly (6.98 t/ha) (Figure 1).
• RGT Planet and Neo suffered from high Net Form Net Blotch infection with untreated plots recording 98% and 55% of plot infected respectively. Robust fungicide in strategic and high input managements significantly reduced disease levels to less than 10% of plot infected in Neo. While still reducing infection in RGT Planet, NFNB infection was still between 88% and 94% plot severity (Figure 2).
• High grain protein results meant no treatment achieved malting grade (Table 3).
• Although there was no interaction between variety and management, economic differences have been observed when completing a partial net margin analysis. Varieties that showed very little yield differences between management, such as Pixel, meant reducing total operational costs under ‘low input’ was most economical (Table 7).
• There was a yield trend in Neo and RGT Planet to yield less where less fungicide input had been implemented and higher disease was found. Therefore, the economic analysis shows that the additional expenditure in the ‘High’ input was justified. An additional margin of $160/ha in Neo and $581/ha in RGT Planet was made by shifting from ‘Low’ to ‘High’ input.

• The highest yielding treatment was with the quick developing Rosalind variety under strategic input (8.03t/ha) which compared to other managements received a lower amount of nitrogen (150kg N/ha) but relative robust fungicide and PGR management.
• There was a significant interaction between variety and management with Neo being consistently the highest yielding variety with no difference in yield across the different managements, unlike Rosalind where management approach had a significant effect.
• Pixel, a slow developing 6 row winter barley variety also yielded best under strategic management, however it preformed poorer than the other spring barley varieties suggesting that the later time of sowing was not appropriate for this variety.
• RGT Planet and Laureate yielded best under the tactical management strategy and benefited from additional N (175kg N/ha) and robust PGR and fungicide inputs.
• Net From Net Blotch was the dominant disease in this trial with lower levels of Spot Form Net Blotch (SFNB) and Scald also being found.
• Rosalind, Laureate, Pixel and Fandaga displayed strong disease resistance, showing low levels of NFNB (<6% plot infected) and no disease differences in response to changing fungicide inputs.
• Neo showed low to moderate levels of NFNB infection and gave statistically significant decreases in infection with the higher fungicide inputs in ‘High’ and ‘Strategic’ managements. RGT Planet showed the highest level of disease with 81.3% plot infection when left untreated with fungicide. It required the highest level of fungicide input to significantly reduce infection from the levels recorded in the untreated however NFNB levels still remained above 70% of plot leaf area infected.
• Driven by high proteins, no treatment was able to meet malt standards for barley.
• With the lack of improvement in quality and little yield change in response to agronomic inputs, the ‘High” management approach was the least profitable scenario in 5 out of 6 varieties under a partial (based on variable inputs and applications only) gross margin analysis.
• For Rosalind, Laureate, Pixel and Fandaga, the more tailored ‘Strategic’ or ‘Tactical’ managements were most profitable. In contrast the costs of management and resulting income in Neo and RGT Planet could not be offset which saw the ‘Low’ management option becoming the most profitable