• Porto cocksfoot the standout perennial grass cultivar, with Uplands cocksfoot showing promise for persistency in shallow dry soil environments.
• Gosse sub clover the standout annual legume, with Napier showing promise as a later cultivar. Trikkala subclover still a good performer.
• Persistence and productivity will continue to be monitored over several years, subject to further funding.

• Surface applied lime increased soil pH in the top 10 cm by 0.9 unit.
• Deep application of lime had a limited impact on soil pH at depth, possibly due to sampling errors and natural soil variability.

• Lime at 3t/ha increased pasture growth in the first year after application.
• Tune in for next year’s write up to see what effect the lime placement had at depth on soil pH.

• The research aims to find rhizobia that will support lucerne growth on acidic soils.
• Good levels of nodulation found on acidic sand at Kingscote, despite soil acidity, pHCa 4.6
• Lucerne is highly recommended for KI soils that do not receive lengthy periods of water logging or have high levels of aluminum.
• Purchase freshly coated seed as background levels of lucerne rhizobia are low.

• Gibberellic acid is a safe, cheap and convenient way to increase winter fed growth, but it must be applied early in the season (ideally by late autumn/early winter).
• Applying early in the season will boost winter growth.
• Applying too late can potentially cause a decrease in spring feed production.
• Don’t graze the paddock within 3 weeks of application.

• Managed bee hives have the ability to substantially increase bean crop yields.
• Across the 12 bean trials there was an average of 54% yield increase over the exclusion tent.
• In trials with adequate introduced bee densities an average of 73% yield increase was achieved over the exclusion tent.

Take Home Messages

Whilst the trial didn’t go according to plan there were still some key messages that arose:

• Maximising seed-soil contact is the aim at sowing especially for the larger seeds that require more moisture to imbibe and germinate compared to small seeds.

• Unseasonably low June rainfall hindered establishment of partially sown beans due to a drying topsoil. These may have been

OK under normal June rainfall conditions.

• Hair pinning can be a serious issue when using a disc seeder especially when sowing into wet/ moist lodged stubble.

• Solutions to avoid hair pinning – sow when stubble is dry (good in theory), keep stubble standing, use sharp discs and ensure bar

has sufficient down force to cut through tough stubble.

• The results of this trial suggest that there is good promise for ongoing improvement in oil extraction levels from canola and hence their worth to biodiesel (and other oil) markets.
• This trial also shows that the KI environment is conducive to high oil levels in canola which improves their relative value as an oilseed crop.

• Monitor canola crops at windrowing for the presence of Blackleg disease.
• Know the Resistance group your canola variety and be prepared to change both variety and resistance group if required.

Starting in September of 2021, the KI Feral Pig Eradication Program is now well into it’s first year. So far, the program has culled over 350 pigs, building on earlier post-fire pig control carried out by the KI Landscape Board.

• Soil testing is essential for monitoring soil fertility levels.
• Of all the soil samples taken the majority were below critical levels for pH.
• Phosphorus levels were low on some properties particularly with ironstone soils

• Soil testing is essential for monitoring soil fertility levels.
• Of all the soil samples taken the majority were below critical levels for pH.
• Sulphur levels were low on some properties with sandy soils.

KI NRM Board staff are preparing environmental audits for each property which summarise all the environmental
issues (including flora and fauna) and water resources relating to each property. Six training sessions were held on the topics related to the project. The differing skills, backgrounds and experience of participants made it difficult to develop course material that was suitable for all participants. This was overcome by one to one discussions that addressed the information in a way that was more relevant to each individuals' needs.

KI’s 7 golden rules for successful establishment

•  Good weed control is absolutely critical – it’s a waste of time seeding if you don’t get weed kill.
•  Apply broad spectrum insecticides pre-seeding.
• Seed in early Spring.
•  Seed at 2kg/ha.
•  Ensure good seed soil contact.
•  Allow the plants to become well established before grazing.
•  Continually monitor the paddock, after seeding for insects and pests and during the first graze to ensure stock are not pulling up runners.

• Kikuyu has the potential to become a valuable addition to pasture mixes on parts of KI
• Kikuyu may provide many economic as well as environmental benefits
• Early spring sowing plus weed and insect control is essential for successful establishment (and the odd rain dance won’t go astray either!)
• Kikuyu is less likely to become an environmental weed if the adjacent native vegetation is fenced and is in good condition.

• Kikuyu has the potential to become a valuable addition to pasture mixes on parts of KI.
• Follow the nine golden rules for success – weed, insect and vermin control, good seed/soil contact, shallow seed at 2kg/ha in spring, don’t graze until well established, use N fertiliser or legumes.

The results of the trial confirmed what we expected to see from kikuyu pastures – better growth rates through Summer/Autumn, lower supplementary feed cost, more wool growth with a higher tensile strength and better Vitamin E status.

Although full results are not yet in it appears at this stage that the kikuyu paddocks are resulting in:

• more weight gain by the weaners
• increased wool growth
• reduced hand feeding costs
• reduced vitamin E deficiency

• In terms of feed value, kikuyu out performed the annual pastures for nearly all criteria during the spring/summer period.
• Kikuyu paddocks were able to sustain a higher stocking rate than the annual paddocks over the spring/summer period.

• Kikuyu paddocks grew more pasture than the annual paddocks for most months of the year.
• In terms of feed value, kikuyu outperformed the annual pastures for nearly all criteria over the 18 month monitoring period.
• Kikuyu paddocks were able to sustain a higher stocking rate than the annual paddocks.

• Weed control is essential for effective kikuyu establishment.
• Two sprays of round up is the ‘safest’ bet although you do lose some grazing value and may have difficulties with seeding at the optimum time if the paddock is too wet to spray early.
• Further work is required to quantify the benefits of application of TM 21 on kikuyu pastures on KI.

• Weed control is essential for effective kikuyu establishment.
• Two sprays of round up is the ‘safest’ bet although you do lose some grazing value and may have difficulties with seeding at the optimum time if the paddock is too wet to spray early.
• Further work is required to quantify the benefits of application of TM 21 on kikuyu pastures on KI.

Farmers planning to renovate pasture’s can face an almost bewildering choice of varieties to select from. Victorian perennial rye grass is one of the best known of the ryegrass varieties and is still used by many. However, given it was developed and released in the early 1900’s it’s been superseded by many new and improved varieties. To look at this another way, this would compare to you buying rams from a breeder that had not done any genetic improvement in his flock for 100 years. 

Farmers planning to renovate pasture’s can face an almost bewildering choice of varieties to select from. Victorian perennial rye grass is one of the best known of the ryegrass varieties and is still used by many. However, given it was developed and released in the early 1900’s it’s been superseded by many new and improved varieties. To look at this another way, this would compare to you buying rams from a breeder that had not done any genetic improvement in his flock for 100 years. 

How quickly can your N be lost? Most yield reductions come from one or two nitrogen- loss events pertaining to:
Denitrification  

• 10 percent lost in 3 days of saturated soils saturated (i.e. 20+ percent lost in four days of  wet soils)

Leaching  

• Heavy soils: lose NO3 nitrogen with tile-line flow  (7 to 23 Kgs/year)

 

• The use of eNtrenchTM, adequate sulphur at sowing, AwakenTM foliar all should be considered to enhance hay yields.
• A more complete approach to nutrition (sulphur, zinc & copper) is only beneficial if the nutrition is managed within the environment provided. This is what AwakenTM, eNtrenchTM & Pro Gibb take advantage of.
• By stabilising the nitrogen, big gains in utilisation were able, which results in more efficient use of land for hay production which could be adopted easily as all changes fit with existing operations.
• The extra costs are easily returned in yield, even in a poor rainfall season.
• The adoption of these products is not difficult as they fit as part of existing regimes.

• These initial results indicate that to change soil pH at depth ideally requires some form of incorporation and/or higher application rates
• In the second year of monitoring, there was a significant increase in yield with the high rates of lime application (either incorporated or surface application)

• Select a few key paddocks and soil test them every few years to monitor soil pH levels.
• Make lime a part of your annual farm budget.
• Lime will increase pasture growth and feed quality.

• pH soil trials take time to show true results.

• The effect of the liquid lime was less that the 3.5 t/ha lime sand when applied at 113 L/ha.
• In this case the manufacturer’s recommendations were possibly insufficient to guarantee a result.

• The effect of the liquid lime was less than the 3.5 t/ha lime sand when applied at 113 L/ha.
• In this case the manufacturer’s recommendations were possibly insufficient to guarantee a result.

• Most suitable summer crop species for Kangaroo Island soils are tillage radish, French white millet, sunflowers, turnips and buckwheat
• Bees have a higher preference to forage on sunflowers and tillage radish flowers compared with buckwheat.

• Although additional nitrogen will generate extra feed the cost of application needs to be considered carefully.
• There is no point growing feed that won’t be eaten or utilised if it is costing you to produce it.
• Soil temperature will have a major impact on feed response.
• Nitrate leaching can lead to soil acidification and excess nitrates can leach into waterways so ensure application rates match plant requirements.

• Whilst additional nitrogen will generate extra feed the cost of application needs to be considered carefully.
• There is no point growing feed that won’t be eaten or utilised if it is costing you to produce it.
• Soil temperature will have a major impact on feed response.
• Nitrate leaching can lead to soil acidification and excess nitrates can leach into waterways so ensure application rates match plant requirements.

• Products with low cost per unit N were the most profitable in 2013.
• Very high N treatment increased quality but reduced yield.
• Some products that claim to increase N efficiency require further investigation.

• Small differences in yield with extra N under conditions at this site.
• Very dry spring needs to be taken into consideration when interpreting results.
• High rates of N early did not have significant impact on number of tillers.
• Grain quality higher for all N treatments.
• Further work required with ENTEC, eNtrench and Biopolymer urea coated product.

Results are complex and its difficult to separate the effect of waterlogging and crop development stage.
Results not statistically significant but suggest:

• Double application of nitrogen increased the crop yield,
• Potentially there is a benefit in applying nitrogen once waterlogging abating, and
• Quality increased with late application of nitrogen but yield did not increase.

• Early sulphur application supported higher tiller numbers although this did not translate into yield
• Site was very responsive to at least 79kg nitrogen application.
• An additional 50kg urea (23kg N), resulted in slightly higher protein readings.
• Site was unresponsive to sulphur application.
• Timing and splitting of in-crop fertilisation conferred no yield advantage • Good utilisation of applied N and S in spite of high rainfall year.

Pasture cropping is an option for KI producers wishing to maximise grazing/cropping options.
The key principles are:

• Graze the paddocks down to 75-100 mm with livestock, or apply herbicides. Aim to suppress (but not kill) the pastures either with the judicious use of herbicides to burn the perennials or through appropriate grazing to take out the annual weeds.
• Zero till with a tyne or disc. Minimise soil disturbance as it kills pastures and encourages weeds. The aim is to open a slot and loosen the soil to create sufficient tilth for germination of the seed crop.

• Pasture cropping is an option for KI producers wishing to maximise grazing/cropping options.
• If you want to remove kikuyu from a paddock use roundup – if you want to pasture crop use other herbicides.
• Excellent lamb growth recorded 250g/hd/day.
• Producers now have a range of herbicide options toast will enable them to establish a crop without killing the kikuyu.

• There was good correlation between the visual cuts and satellite data early in the season, but during the spring results diverged.
• Further work is required to fine-tune the satellite data for KI, including soil characteristics and more accurate rainfall data.
• Pastures from Space is a useful tool for landholders to further fine-tune their grazing operations.

• Benefits from inoculating peas far outweigh cost.
• Higher rates of inoculants may be worth considering.
• Granular inoculant yielded better than peat but not statistically significant.
• Lime pellets must use seed coat grade lime.

• The production and farm management lessons learned during the project will be made available to the KI farming community and wider South Australia through a range of information events, including field days, offered during the project and at the conclusion of the programme.

• Precision soil mapping for pH and nutrients can result in significant cost savings for producers.

• Mapping soil pH has greatest value if the paddocks are into their second or third rotation of lime.

• Consider including sulphur in the testing if mapping phosphorus.

• Establish several sites across the farm to monitor the ongoing pH, P and S status.

• Nodulation can be very poor and very patchy, and measures to improve both the level and consistency of nodulation are needed.
• Growers are encouraged to take root samples of legume crops in late winter or early spring to assess nodulation. A nodulation assessment guide that includes photos of plants with poor and good nodulation is available online.
• AgKI has received funding through GRDC for bean nodulation trial work in 2015 – so hopefully next year’s Ag Trial booklet will have good news about how to improve nodulation.

• Most farmers apply fungicide as a curative rather than preventative measure.
• Foliar fungicides are more effective when applied before the onset of the disease.
• Preventative applications can be applied at lower rates than curative applications thus reducing application costs and potential yield loss.
• Despite the dry spring finish, all plots treated with fungicide demonstrated an increase in yield compared to the control.
• There was a small yield deficit incurred from applying only Folicur at GS39 compared with only Triad at GS32.

• Raised beds increase productivity on saline, waterlogged land along with fertiliser and fencing our wildlife.
• Potential issues: uneven bed formation can make seeding difficult, saline soil may be brought to the surface, leached salts may cause damage.

Please see article

• Deep ripping in most cases improved plant vigour and increased yield although responses were variable between the deep ripping treatments.
• Although potassium had visual responses at most sites it only translated into increased yields at one site.
• Nutrismart appeared to have no impact on barley production.

• The application of Pastures from Space technologies allowed wethers to be carried at a stocking rate 50% above the district average.
• There were no significant differences in animal health or parasite burden between the two groups.
• The per head wool production was reduced by approximately 5% in the PFS mob; however, the per hectare performance was 42% above the Control mob for CFW and 44% above the Control mob for wool income per hectare. This outstanding result demonstrates the ability of merino sheep to grow wool at close to maximum rates on 800 – 1000 kgs DM per hectare of good quality feed
• Forward feed budgeting using the Feed Budget program was able to predict when it would be necessary to initiate supplementary feeding in the PFS wethers and when it would be necessary to remove sheep from the paddock altogether. This allowed forward planning to maintain adequate ground cover and hence preserve topsoil in the more heavily grazed paddock
• The net benefit in the PFS wether group was $73.83 per hectare after allowing for the higher direct costs per hectare associated with the higher stocking rate and the extra supplementary feed required in the PFS wethers. Due to the extraordinarily high prices for supplementary feed in early 2008, the extra supplementary feed cost
• $63.11 per hectare. This obviously had a large influence on the magnitude of the net benefit, with a benefit of $97.00 per hectare being achieved using long-term average supplementary feed prices

• SARDI Entomology is developing a large-scale pilot for the use of Sterile Insect technique for Sheep Blow Flies on Kangaroo Island
• Funding through the Bushfire Recovery program will allow us to set up a production facility on KI in 2021/22 and develop the technique
• With additional funding we hope to be able to do large scale releases and eradicate Sheep Blowfly from Kangaroo Island over a 4-5-year period

• Soil pH levels in paddocks across KI are below critical levels which is having an impact on both farm production and the environment.
• Soil acidity potentially remains as a significant land management issue on Kangaroo Island with 94% of all sites analysed the top and sub soil were below the critical level of 5.0 pHCaCl2.
• Amelioration of soil acidity, through lime spreading needs to be conducted to prevent soil acidification.

• Over time applications of lime increase soil pH by an average of 0.45 unit.
• Many limed paddocks were still at critical pH levels, it’s important to retest paddocks about 2 to 3 years after liming and re-apply lime if required.
• Amelioration of soil acidity, through lime spreading, needs to be conducted to prevent soil acidification.

• Over time applications of lime (2.5-3t/ha) increase soil pH by an average of 0.45 unit.
• Monitor pH levels, retest 2 to 3 years after liming and reapply lime if required.
• Amelioration of soil acidity, through lime spreading, needs to be conducted to prevent soil acidification.

• Crop production on these deep infertile sands is often well below the water-limited potential, partly because they have little capacity to hold mobile nutrients such as nitrogen but also because they are often compacted.
• However, a major limitation on these soil types is the very infertile subsoils, which prevent efficient extraction of water by crop roots.
• Adding fertilisers into this area can produce spectacular benefits to crop performance but techniques to produce these benefits need to be further refined to make them more cost-effective.
• The addition of products, which will hold nutrients near the seed, showed some promise in this trial but further testing should be conducted to assess the reliability of this approach.
• Deep ripping is usually beneficial on these deep sands.

• There is still a lack of scientific research to validate results and their complete interpretation, nor does there appear to be any standardisation of tests.
• Testing may provide a ‘guide’ and some value as a comparison tool between paddocks.
• Significant differences in results between labs, possibly due to different analysis methods. This highlights the
• need to be cautious when comparing results from different labs.
• For a copy of the full report contact the PIRSA Office, Kingscote.

• Twenty soils monitoring sites were established on a selection of rainfall, soil type and management systems on the agricultural soils of Kangaroo Island.
• Soil organic carbon (Walkley and Black method), total carbon (Dumas method) and pH (calcium chloride) were analysed for depths 0-5, 5-10, 10-30 and 30-50 cm.
• There was a good relationship between organic carbonWB and total carbonD for the results on Kangaroo Island. A multiplication factor of 1.12 can be used to estimate total carbonD from organic carbonWB.
• There was a strong positive relationship between carbon stock, rainfall and soil type.
o There appears to be a sharp increase in carbon stock at rainfall > 600 mm.
o Sand over clay soil type had lowest carbon stock and ironstone soil type the highest.
• Management system had a variable effect on carbon.
• There are inconsistencies in carbon stock for the sites depending on which analytical test was used organic carbonWB and total carbonD. This requires further investigation.

• Salinity is increasing slightly but is still well within desired levels. Salinity is not increasing at depth.
• Acidity is worsening with the majorioty of sites below critical levels. Acidity is also inceasing at depth, where it is much more costly to treat.
• Phosphorus levels, where fertilser had been applied, is at optimum to above optimum levels.

• The majority of sites had a soil pH less than pH 5.0 (CaCl2) which will reduce crop and pasture productivity and reduce profitability.
• Soils should be sampled at 0-5 and 5-10 cm rather than 0-10 cm. There is often an ‘acid throttle’ that is missed if sampling at 0-10 cm.
• Soils that have been limed will acidify over time. An application of lime every 5-6 years may be necessary to keep the soil pH above pH 5.0 (CaCl2).
• Deep rooted perennial grass dominant pastures can be less acidifying than annual pastures.

• Monitor pH to depth by using a shovel and cheap pH test kit
• Don’t assume just because you once limed that the problem is solved – monitor, monitor, monitor
• Consider options to get lime to depth by increasing the rate and/or frequency of liming or using strategic tillage

• As to be expected, the highest rate of lime application (100 t/ha) had the greatest increase on pH, increasing pH by 1.5 units in the topsoil and 0.4 of a unit in the sub soil.
• The spaded only treatments (no lime applied) also increased the pH by bringing up less acidic clay into the surface soil horizons.
• The higher lime rate applications showed that the soil pH had been evenly increased through the profile,  demonstrating the ability of the spader to uniformly mix the lime to depth.

Growers taking part in the trials were hoping that the spader would create a more uniform soil by mixing clay throughout the root zone and breaking up impermeable clay at depth and help reduce waterlogging.

Changes in pasture composition, groundcover, stocking rate and stock condition are being monitored at each grazing site. Soil moisture is being measured at one pasture site (to 1.2m) and one cropping site (to 1.6m). Water quality will be monitored at one pasture site opportunistically depending on flow. Photo points were established and soil pH and nutrient testing was undertaken at all sites.

•  Use the tools – they are easy to use and real eye opener on what acidity can be costing you.
• Significant yield improvements have been seen when cropped paddocks are limed.
• Make liming a part of your annual program. 
   

• Tissue test plants before applying trace elements to know what is and isn’t needed by the plant.
• Boron is an unknown entity.
• When the pH is low, molybdenum remains at inadequate levels even after ‘in crop’ applications
• Lime when pHCaCl2 <4.8.
• It would be good to repeat the trial on a limed paddock.

• Tonic plantain and Grouse chicory are worth considering as summer forages, with the Tonic plantain likely to persist through the following winter and longer. Although not tried, Italian ryegrass (or perennial ryegrass) could be oversown for more winter feed. In this trial, winter feed production from Tonic plantain and sub clover was excellent, no doubt partially due to the high sub clover seed reserves and partially due to the high soil fertility on Tremaine’s.
• Banquet tetraploid hybrid perennial ryegrass could be considered for a medium term high quality pasture for finishing lambs/weaners in high fertility paddocks, with controlled rotational grazing over summer.

• Condition score stock every time they come into the yards and use the “Lifetime Ewe” app to guide costeffective decisions on feeding regimes.
• Ewes pregnancy-scanned for twins and singles and managed as separate mobs, enables tighter feed management of the singles without compromising the overall lambing percentage.
• Use all the tools - Pastures from Space, condition scoring Lifetime Ewe app and stocking rate calculators - to ensure mobs are not being over or under-fed (both options can lead to costly mistakes).

• Without this intensive mapping the paddock would have been either under or over limed and fertilised resulting in either a loss of productivity or a waste of fertiliser/lime dollars and possibly both.
• Whilst it’s economically beneficial to apply variable rate technology for a liming program, until more cost efficient soil testing methods are developed, the economic justification may not be there for soil nutrients.

• Most drainage treatments did not cause a yield penalty in 2007 when waterlogging was not a constraint to cropping.
• The gravel slot treatment had the lowest yield in 2007, drained the most water, and was the most expensive to install.
• We now have a site established to evaluate a range of drainage treatments for their effect on crop yield and the amount and quality of water draining from the paddock.

• In a year where waterlogging caused yield penalties all treatments resulted in a yield increase compared to the control.
• The raised beds increased yield by almost 200% followed by gravel moles, gravel slots and conventional moles.
• On flat waterlogged land, raised beds provided the best yield result but they did have some management issues.
• Gravel slots and gravel moles also worked extremely well but the slots were too expensive to install to consider for broadacre use. No commercial scale gravel mole is available at present.
• Conventional moles are prone to collapse with Kangaroo Island’s sodic clays.

• In a year where waterlogging caused severe yield penalties, all treatments resulted in a yield increase compared to the control.
• On flat waterlogged land, raised beds provided the best yield result but they do have some
• management issues .
• The delved treatment drained a considerable amount of water, yielded equal to the other treatments (but less than the raised beds) and was more cost effective to install with fewer management issues.
• Gravel slots and gravel moles also worked extremely well but the slots were too expensive to install to consider for broadacre use. No commercial scale gravel mole is available at present.
• Conventional moles are prone to collapse with Kangaroo Island’s sodic clays.

• No significant yield difference between treatments in WL trial in first year.
• Redox potential affects availability of nutrients and was dependent on soil moisture.
• Redox potential higher for the lime treatment which should mean better conditions for plant growth.
• Commercial varieties used showed little variation in waterlogging tolerance.

• Site received only ‘mild’ waterlogging.
• Slow release N not given a fair trial.
• Higher N rates increase grain protein.
• No statistically significant effect of N on yield in 2012.

• Site received only ‘mild’ waterlogging.
• No statistically significant effect of Zn, Mn and Cu oxides on yield in 2012.
• Plants were not deficient at this site.

• Due to extreme waterlogging at the trial site, comparison between crop growth on drained and waterlogged conditions was unable to occur.
• The trial does indicate that some varieties out-yielded the district standard Wyalkatchem.
• Some varieties warrant further investigation in a replicated trial in 2012 season.

Engineering solutions:

• On flat waterlogged land, raised beds provided the best yield result but they do have some management issues.
• Gravel slots and moles also worked well but the slots are expensive for broad acre use.
• Conventional moles are prone to collapse with Kangaroo Island’s sodic clays.
• The nature of many of our clays (sodic and poor draining) results in poor water movement from the soil into a slotted agricultural pipe.

Agronomic solutions:

• The adverse effects of waterlogging are primarily due to anoxic conditions in the soil, rather than element toxicities or deficiencies, except perhaps for aluminium.
• Liming acidic soils will reduce al toxicity.
• In waterlogged soils the application of poultry manure doesn’t appear to improve yields. But the application of lime may increase yield.
• Waterlogging may cause nitrogen (N) deficiency but high rates of N will not turn a waterlogged crop into a good crop.
• There may be some potential for varietal difference to waterlogging in wheat.
• Broad beans: improve nodulation through a combination of liming and application of molybdenum. Liming will also reduce inherent nutritional problems of low soil pH. Early tissue testing and nutrient correction with foliar applications help overcome some soil ph deficiencies

• If you are a productive farmer, you will be acidifying your soils.
• Use the tools – they are easy to use and provide valuable information on what is driving acidity and what it is costing you and your property.
• Liming will save you money – it’s cheaper to lime than wear the cost of lost production . 
   

• Our standard package of 100 kg 18:20/ha at seeding under the seed row (to avoid fertiliser toxicity), Jockey-treated seed, endosulfan and simazine pre-seeding, a follow up spray of atrazine and a grass herbicide mid-season, and two top-ups of nitrogen during the season (50 kg N/ha as broadcast urea each time) gave us a clean, high yielding and good quality crop with no pests or diseases.
• There was no evidence that extra management options provided any further benefits to canola performance (ie a fungicide spray, B fertiliser or use of a growth regulant) under the conditions of last year’s trial.
• However, it would appear that we may have been a bit generous with our N and P inputs in the standard package because we could halve the mid-season N rate and not suffer any yield or quality loss. Additionally, leaving out P altogether had little impact so a rate lower than 20 kg P/ha may have been the best compromise last year.
• There seems little reason to change from a management strategy of plenty of N at seeding (providing you can avoid seedling toxicity by separating the N and the seed) followed up by an early season top-up. Delayed aapplications of N produced yields or quality no better than our standard.

• This trial showed that under the extremely dry conditions of 2006, wheat yield at this site was largely determined by water supply because major diseases were absent and the soil had abundant nutrients in reserve for the small demands of such a low yielding crop.

• Wyalkatchem wheat reinforces its position in the cropping rotation.
• Annuello and Magenta also performed well.
• Biscuit and noodle wheats performed well but market access needs to be checked.

• Grain quality can be as important as yield.
• Need to consider gross margin.
• Falling numbers test not well correlated with sprouting.
• Long term results show a number of varieties with similar high performance.

• Need to consider gross margin.
• Grain quality can be as important as yield.
• Some newer varieties have better yields and gross margins.

Two seasons data reaffirms newer varieties preforming well.

• Variety relative performance consistent last two seasons.
• Need to consider gross margin.
• Gross margin driven by yield and quality.
• Canobolas Trit high yielding feed option.

• The only way to accurately know your soil pH is to send a sample for a laboratory test (soil testing kits are available from the PIRSA Office in Kingscote).
• Have a look at the on-line acidity tools . They are easy to use and extremely helpful in guiding liming decisions.
• Liming will pay for itself, often in the first year. 
   

• No yield measurements were taken.

Take Home Messages

• Near perfect growing season for canola, provided ideal opportunity to assess the residual N feeding effect of the legumes.

• All legumes sown in 2016 – peas, lupins, sub clover and faba beans had similar starting soil N levels and soil water nitrate readings throughout the year which was reflected in similar grain yields inferring that all legume species were equal in terms of their N fixing capabilities.

• The average amount of N fixed by the legumes was calculated as ~86kg/ha.

• Growing adequately nodulated legumes can give rise to a ~1t/ha canola yield advantage compared with a non-legume.

• Linseed used more moisture, from a greater depth, than the faba beans in 2016. Resultantly more moisture was extracted by the canola crop sown on the faba bean stubble in 2017, and yet there is still more  residual moisture left.