• Visual observations of Spinnaker causing reduced bean growth were quite spectacular.
• The recommended maximum rate of Spinnaker (100 g/ha) suppressed growth and final grain yield in both Farah and Nura, and this was further exacerbated at higher rates and later sowing.
• The results do not show Nura to be more sensitive to Spinnaker than Farah overall, although Nura yields were reduced by Spinnaker at all sowing times, while Farah yields were only reduced at later sowings.

• Soil pH (6.8) at this site was ideal for bean growth, and attempted amelioration through application of lime had no effect on grain yield. In soils with higher acidity beans may still benefit from the application of lime.
• Inoculation of beans is considered to be “cheap insurance” in areas with low previous history or acidic soils prone to water logging. However the addition of inoculum may not always provide a significant yield response, but will generally improve nodulation and consequently N fixation.

No product had significant effects on crop height.

• PBA Samira was damaged by Intercept, with damage including stunting, chlorosis and coupled leaves
• Double the rate of standard rhizobia and the new acid tolerant strain improved root nodulation compared to the recommended rate of the standard strain
• Fertiliser rate impacted on lodging only, with standard rate of P standing up  slightly more
• All treatments achieved excellent yields >2.5 t/ha
• PBA Bendoc looked better all year and out yielded PBA Samira for all herbicide treatments

•Across all varieties tested, there was no significant response to sowing time, which validates the current sowing window recommendation. Therefore, the optimum time to sow faba bean at Lockhart in 2016 was late April–mid May.
• PBA Nasma and Fiesta VF were the two highest yielding commercial varieties.
• The advanced breeding lines AF10089 and AF09169, developed by Pulse Breeding Australia (PBA) were significantly higher yielding than all other varieties.
• PBA Samira and Nura yielded significantly higher when sown on 18 May compared to 28 April.
• Crop lodging was significantly less for the 18 May sowing date.
• PBA Nasma flowered 17 and 14 days earlier than PBA Samira and PBA Zahra at 28 April, and eight and six days earlier at 18 May.

• The optimum time to sow faba beans in southern NSW was late April–mid May.
• Even in a favourable season such as 2016 there was a 10% yield penalty when sowing was delayed from 7 May to 2 June.
• Average seed size reduced by 8% when sown outside the recommended window.
• PBA Nasma, Fiesta VF, and PBA Zahra were the highest yielding commercial varieties.
• Advanced breeding lines AF10089 and AF09169 had significantly higher grain yields, particularly at the 28 April sowing date when compared to other sowing dates.
• Flowering duration for PBA Samira and PBA Zahra was stable across sowing dates, but reduced for PBA Nasma as sowing was delayed.

• Sowing early (April 26) produced the highest grain yields in 2018.
• In a drier than average year there was a yield benefit from very high sowing rates on narrow row spacings, with significant gains from 21 to 31 plants/m2, and from 31 to 45 plants/m2.
• 2018 was a low disease year and there was no disease penalty from higher sowing rates. Yield benefits from higher plant densities should be weighed against higher disease risks in wetter years. 

• The optimum timing to sow faba beans at Junee in 2015 was mid-April.
• PBA Zahra, PBS Samira and PBA Nasma were the highest yielding varieties.
• Commercial yields of 3t/ha are acheivable with appropriate variety and selection management. 

• Sowing time has far greater consequences on growth, development, dry matter and grain yield of faba bean than variety choice.
• The dry spring combined with temperature constraints, imposed a common ceiling to yield despite large differences measured in dry matter (DM), height and reproductive number across all treatments.
• Early sown faba bean was primarily affected by severe frosts, while later sown was limited by flower node production and heat stress.
• Under these conditions, early April sowings resulted in greater biomass, taller plants, more flowering nodes, additional lodging, more disease and greater frost damage. Given a more favourable spring, disease and lodging could have been further exacerbated, inflicting even greater yield penalties to the first time of sowing (TOS).
•  Findings from this and previous experiments show the optimum sowing window for faba bean on acidic, red brown soils of southern NSW to be from 20 April to 15 May. The later sown crops within this window could still be disadvantaged under early unfavourable finishing conditons. 

• Winter and early spring seasonal conditions favoured faba bean production in 2009, and yields were more than double those in 2008.
• Yield was generally maximised at the early sowing date and at the narrow row spacing.
• Farah was the highest or equal highest yielding variety at both sowing dates in 2009.
• The taller varieties Farah and 974* showed the largest reduction in yield when row spacing
  was doubled from 9” to 18”.
• Chocolate spot levels were high in 2009, and accounted for 32% yield loss across varieties
  in untreated plots. Agronomic techniques that delayed canopy closure (ie later sowing, lower
  plant densities and wider row spacings) were important in reducing disease severity.
• Nura had higher disease levels and lower grain yield than Fiesta across all treatments in
  2009, but a triple chocolate spot spray strategy was effective in reducing yield loss by 25%
  in both varieties.
• Decreasing plant density was the most significant factor influencing disease levels after
  delayed sowing, and resulted in lower disease levels across all varieties, and increasing row
  spacing reduced disease infection in early sown Fiord only.
• Increasing row spacing reduced chocolate spot infection, but only in the susceptible variety
  Fiord when sown early.

• New varieties are likely to offer significant yield improvement in southern Victoria, along with improvements in disease resistance.
• Residual herbicide caused issues in 2013, most likely due to the dry summer of 2012/13.
• Similar to 2012, AF05095 was the highest yielding variety at 3.95 t/ha, 37% higher than Farah.
• Based on yields achieved (3.9 t/ha) beans could have achieved a gross profit of approximately $1300/ha based on management costs of $250/ha and grain price at $400/t.
   

• Grain yields of beans were lower in 2012 in than previous seasons, averaging 3.6t/ha at Bool Lagoon.
• All varieties showed higher yields sown early.
• Later maturing varieties PBA Rana and PBA Kareema performed similarly to other varieties in this trial in 2012, despite the low season rainfall.
• The three earlier maturing varieties (Farah, Fiord and Nura) showed increased yield from increasing plant density, while no yield response was seen in later maturing and larger seeded varieties (PBA Rana and PBA Kareema).
• Fiord showed the most response from varying plant density across the three seasons of trials.
• Crop-topping trials showed a 9% yield loss across all varieties from crop-topping at the milky dough stage of ryegrass in 2012 and caution is required with this practice in later maturing regions. No yield loss was generated from later treatments.

• Plant densities greater than 25 pl/m2 produced the highest grain yields in 2018.
• PBA Samira and PBA Zahra performed equally well, with average grain yield of 3.2 t/ha and 3.1 t/ha, respectively.
• 2018 was a low disease year and there was no disease penalty from higher sowing rates. Yield benefits from higher plant densities should be weighed against higher disease risks in wetter years. 

• Very high yields achieved in faba bean breeding trial in South Western Victoria in 2016
• New PBA faba bean varieties have higher yields than older varieties
• A high level of fungal disease developed in 2016 and a proactive fungicide program is required to manage faba beans in high rainfall districts 

• Despite a dry season, yields for many of the varieties was extremely good, with Aquadulce and Fiesta VF both performing well. Manafest did not perform well in this trial, although in the intermediate trial at the same site, it yielded much better and was not significantly different in yield to Aquadulce. 
• Dry conditions at sowing limited the effectiveness of the post sowing pre-emergent herbicide sprays used. This is a major constraint with growing beans as there are no broadleaf herbicides registered for use post emergent in beans. Beans are best grown as a third or fourth crop in the rotation, after broadleaf weeds have been controlled in previous years. 

• The highest yielding faba bean variety was Manafest yielding 4.4 t/ha, followed by Farah with 4.14 t/ha. Fiesta VF and Nura yielded about 4.00 t/ha and were not significantlly different from Fiesta VF.
• For further take home messages please see the attached trial report.

• The faba bean varieties produced high yields (>4 t/ha) indicating their potential as a crop in the Western Districts.
• The three major faba bean varieties, Farah, Fiesta VF and Nura, produced comparable yields in both 2009 and 2010 while there was also little difference between the varieties for chocolate spot. Farah and Nura are both MR-R to Mscochyta blight whereas Fiesta VF is MS-MR, so Farah and Nura would be the preferred varieties for the district.
• The broad bean varieties Aquadulce and PBA Kareem yielded significantly less than the faba bean varieties in both years. Broad beans are very late to fill pods and mature, compared to faba beans, and require a long and cool pod filling period to achieve maximum yields.
• A significant level of chocolate spot developed in both seasons and is likely to have affected yields. Chocolate spot is favoured by a high humidity during the flowering and pod filling period and a preventative fungicide should be applied at the commencement of flowering with follow-up applications dependent on disease development and weather conditions.

• In a season with very little disease pressure, small varietal differences in chocolate spot did occur throughout the season, but these differences did not manifest into yield differences. Seed rate was critical to maximise yield in 2020, where lower seeds rates produced significantly lower yields when compared to higher seed rates. Seed rates also had a major effect on crop architecture, with lower seed rate treatments podding over a longer portion of the stem and having a higher pod number but lower overall dry matter harvest than that of higher seed rates.

 

• In 2020 grin yields were high (3.36 and 2.96 t/ha) considering the dry finish to the season. As with the sowing rate trial, varieties that were slower to mature and held a green canopy for longer and could not convert the green leaf area into yield due to the very dry spring conditions Variety selection is the key to minimise diseases. However, in low disease pressure situations, less disease doesn’t mean higher yields.

• Despite very low disease pressure in 2018, there was a significant and profitable grain yield increase of between 40 and 55% with the use of fungicide strategies. 

• Disease was not an issue in 2018 due to very dry seasonal conditions. There was no difference in grain yield between the disease management strategies, and the varieties and breeding lines.  

• AF11023 and AF12025 had significantly higher grain yield than other breeding lines, and equivalent grain yield to varieties such as PBA Samira, PBA Farah, PBA Marne and PBA Bendoc.
• This highlights the potential for reliable and profitable faba bean production in low rainfall environments.
• In addition to the rotational benefit of faba bean to the farming system, the high yielding varieties and breeding lines had an estimated net return of $24-89/ha.
• However, it is worth noting that the price of faba bean at harvest was exceptionally high in 2018/19, reaching more than $1100/t. 

PBA Bendoc, PBA Amberley and PBA Samira showed similar relative tolerance to GpC in terms of crop damage, but slightly higher biomass reduction in PBA Bendoc, could indicate greater sensitivity. PBA Bendoc showed excellent tolerance to ‘imazamox & imazapyr’, even with GpC applied PSPE. Results also highlighted the base level tolerance that many conventional faba bean varieties have against imidazolinone products with PBA Amberley and PBA Samira showing almost no damage with the PSPE application of ‘imazamox & imazapyr’.

•  Group B herbicide application timing significantly influenced herbicide damage of faba bean varieties. Herbicide damage scores generally increased with delaying herbicide application timing from PSPE to 4 node, 8 node and flowering stages. Although the level of damage in PBA Bendoc was significantly less than PBA Samira, both varieties showed the highest sensitivity to in-crop application of sulfonylurea herbicides (see Table 1 in attached trial report summary). Grain yield results are not presented due to soil variability and poor root nodulation caused by soil acidity. 

• Group B herbicide application timing significantly influenced herbicide damage, biomass and grain yield loss of faba bean varieties. Herbicide damage and subsequent yield losses were more severe in the conventional variety PBA Samira than in the group B tolerant variety PBA Bendoc, and generally increased with delaying herbicide application timing from PSPE to 4 node, 8 node and flowering stages. PBA Samira incurred significant yield loss from all the herbicide treatments except PSPE and in crop application of ‘Imi2’, and application of ‘Imi1’ up to 8 node stages. In contrast, PBA Bendoc showed improved tolerance and did not have significant yield loss from the herbicide treatments except in-crop application of ‘SU1’ and ‘SU2’ at 8 node and flowering stages. The results should be treated with caution due to the confounding effect of dry seasonal conditions and repeated frost events. 
   

High levels of crop safety were observed in the imidazolinone tolerant faba bean variety at both Mundulla and Yeelanna sites in 2019.

Applying inoculant at sowing has proven to be beneficial to early season crop vigour in faba bean production. Adequate phosphorus fertiliser increased early season crop vigour, biomass and grain yields. Applying 75 kg/ha MAP to faba bean at sowing doubled biomass production compared to faba bean being sown with no fertiliser, at Strawberry Hill in 2019.

• Grain yields were low and variable in 2018 due to low soil pH at the site, and waterlogging that occurred during winter. The removal of molybdenum from the fertiliser significantly reduced plant vigor and grain yield. However, due to the high soil variability results should be treated with caution. 
   

• There was no grain yield response to the phosphorus fertilizer rates. These results may be due to very dry growing season conditions, which might have reduced movement and uptake of the applied nutrient by the crop. Hence, results should be interpreted with caution. Biomass yield however showed a significant increase from application of 20 kg/ha and higher rates of P2O5. 

Tebuconazole foliar fungicide is the superior treatment for controlling this disease, showing that Systiva® seed treatment or Uniform® in furrow were not effective fungicide treatments for control of cercospora leaf spot. 182 Infection from cercospora leaf spot was high early in the season at eight node stage where Uniform mildly suppressed severity compared to the nil treatment. However, by spring the standard tebuconazole treatment at six node growth stage prevented further spread of the disease.

In 2019 at Lake Bolac, faba bean grain yield was reduced by 15% when the crop emerged on June 12 compared to May 23. PBA Zahra and PBA Nasma had larger seed sizes than PBA Samira and PBA Marne.

• Faba bean and its specific Group F rhizobia are sensitive to pHCa below about 5.0
• Faba bean rooting depth is limited by acid layers in the soil profile
• Unincorporated, surface-applied lime increases pH of the soil surface, but has limited effect on subsurface pH in the short to medium term
• Lime incorporation to 10cm is necessary to rapidly increase subsurface pH
• Check for pH stratification before using Group B SU herbicides – elevated surface pH slows the breakdown of herbicide residue and may extend re-cropping intervals for legume species on acid soils to 22 months – check herbicide labels

• Soil amelioration, particularly liming with incorporation to depth, increases break crop options.
• Faba beans can be successfully grown on light soil types if pH is managed.
• Subsequent nitrogen fertiliser programs should take account of residual N to optimise the benefits of pulse crops.

Group B herbicide application timing significantly influenced plant height, biomass and grain yield of faba bean varieties. The level of herbicide damage and subsequent yield losses from the herbicide treatments were generally more severe in PBA Samira than PBA Bendoc, and when applied incrop than PSPE. PBA Samira incurred significant yield loss from all the herbicide treatments except SU1 applied at PSPE and Imi2 applied at PSPE and flowering. In contrast, PBA Bendoc showed improved tolerance and did not have significant yield loss from most herbicide treatments except in-crop application of SU2 and SU1.

• The Making Better Fertiliser Decisions for Cropping Systems in Australia (BFDC) database allows us to search for soil test calibrations for four macronutrients across a range of crops, soils types, regions and time spans.
• As an example, the critical range for soil test P (Colwell) for wheat grown in red chromosols in NSW has increased under minimum-tillage management.

Cu greatly increased yield fro 560 kg/ha to 1570 kg/ha.  Grain yield and analyses of tops of wheat showed large granules greatly reduced the effectiveness of Cu incorporated into them, the effect being more marked at the lower granule number provided by the 100 kg/ha super mix compared with the 200 kg/ha. Doubling the rate of Cu applied by doubling the Cu concentration in the granule had little effect on Cu uptake and failed to ovecome the restrictivew effect of large granules. It is the number of granules in the root zone of the wheat plants that is critical for adequate uptake of Cu and that large granulated "wet mixed" Cu superphosphate mixtures are unsatisfactory Cu fertilisers.

In general oxide source was equal to or superior to the sulfate source in wet mixes. In dry mixes in the same trial Cu oxide was only 66 % as effective as the sulfate.

Shallow placement was miuch less effective than placing Cu fertiliser at 5 cm or more. Cu foliar at 0.54 kg cu/ha applied at 6 weeks after seeding gave highest yield.

It was concluded that application methods that reduce the number of CXu particles available for root copntact greatly reduce the effectuiveness of Cu fertiliser.

 

Cu greatly increased yield fro 560 kg/ha to 1570 kg/ha.  Copper was applied as copper sulfate at 6.6 kg/ha.

Highlights of the results are:

(a) preseeding cultivations after drilling the Cu in 1979 markedly increased Cu uptake;

(b) medium sized Cu-OSP was inferior ti fine granule size

(c) the effects of granule size & 1979 pre-seeding cultivations were not reflected in 1980 Cu uptakes.  The effectiveness of the treatments which were relatively ineffective in 1980 as those treatments which were most effective in 1979

(d) Cu drilled with the seed in 1980 was much less effective than all Cu treatments applied the previous year

(e) although all grades of Cu-OSP drilled with the seed in 1980 were relatively ineffective compared with that applied the previous year, the inclusion of 15% fine material with 85% medium material increased Cu uptake from the fertiliser by 40%, 50% fine material increased Cu uptake from fertiliser by 80%.

GRanules > 3 mm are much less effective than medium sized granules.

REsearch suggests that 1 kg/ha copper sulfate at early boot is required for the first crop where Cu fertiliser is applied at recommended rates.

 

• A soil and sediment survey of 10 irrigated cotton paddocks across four cotton-growing valleys revealed the tail drain sediments were enriched in organic carbon (1.03% ± 0.05) and nitrogen (0.11% ± 0.01) compared with head ditch soils (0.73% ± 0.07 for carbon and 0.08% ± 0.01 for nitrogen) of the same paddocks. Nitrate-nitrogen and dissolved organic carbon analyses showed similar trends.
• After irrigation, tail drain samples tended to release more nitrous oxide compared with head ditch samples. Emission rates were linked to the pre-irrigation mineral nitrogen concentrations of the soil/sediments.
• These non-cropped areas, representing up to 2% of the paddock area, are a significant source of nitrous oxide emission per unit area of farm as they retain high soil moisture and nutrient concentrations in the absence of plants.
• Nitrous oxide emission calculations for cotton farming systems should incorporate the emissions from head ditch and tail drain sections of the irrigation network.
   

The 1995 cropping season was the final season that will be monitored by the FAST Project, and ironically it was also the best. 1995 provided a combination of good yields and prices, returning good gross margins to farmers, as well as adding another full year of excellent data to the large database that has been collected over the last four cropping seasons.

2012 was a set up year for the Rhizoctonia best bets demonstrations. Fungicides banded with fluid fertilisers at seeding did not reduce Rhizoctonia in the following cereal crop.

In 2013 the Rhizoctonia best bets demonstrations using rotations were over sown with cereal and showed break crops which are grass free are the best option to lower Rhizoctonia inoculum levels.

In the 2014 season there were no significant yield advantages recorded at five sites across upper Eyre Peninsula when using the fungicide products over the nil treatments. This was in a season with an early start and minimal stress during crop establishment, and at sites with high Rhizoctonia inoculum levels. The broad acre farmer demonstrations in the 2014 season showed no visual differences or early plant growth measured at the given sites during the cropping season. There were differences in the level of crown root infection at Cleve, where the nil treatment had a higher number of crown roots infected and a greater % of crown root infection than the fungicide treatments. There were differences between treatments recorded in the mid-May sown barley crop at Piednippie in Rhizoctonia patch score and the seminal root score. Differences in protein, screenings and test weights were recorded between treatments at several sites with a general trend of lower yields having higher protein, higher screenings and lower test weights. Further evaluation of research trials and farmer demonstrations using new fluid products and fungicide placement, will occur over two more seasons to evaluate the economics of using fungicides in low rainfall farming systems.

Six different farmer operated seeders were used in a minimum tillage situation to compare seeder set up and the effect of trifluralin incorporated by sowing on crop emergence. The demonstrations were taken through to harvest to compare yield.

Average trial yield was 2.8 t/ha, approximately 1 t/ha below the nitrogen unlimited potential as identified by Yield Prophet® during the season. No significant differences in yield were found between stubble treatments (stubble retained, worked or removed) and nutrient treatments (normal practice, normal practice plus additional nutrients to enhance stubble breakdown). After three years of trial work, no significant differences in soil carbon were found between the stubble and nutrient treatments.

The farming systems trial is in its first yera of operation and has collected base line information so that the effects of each farming system on soil characteristics, weed composition and disease burden  an be assessed as the trial progresses.

2001 was the second year of complete monitoring and recording at the BCG's farming systems site.

2002 was the third year of monitoring and recording at the BCG’s Farming Systems site. The Systems trial site was severely affected by the drought, which limited monitoring and results for this year.

The drought of 2002 continued to impact on sheep production in early 2003 through a lack of bulk in crop stubbles and a high erosion risk if these stubbles were grazed. Breeding ewes were retained in the Hungry Sheep system using containment areas to avoid erosion problems and to maintain ewes. No other system contained significant sheep numbers during 2003. July-dropped crossbred lambs grazed on medic pasture and reached a weight of 45kg in mid-December. The ewes received no supplementary feeding from July, at a stocking rate of 3.7 ewes/ha. This was largely due to early germination of medic pasture in February, and sufficient follow-up rain to keep some plants alive, producing adequate pasture in late autumn/winter. Regenerating pastures were more productive than pastures sown at the autumn break.

• Reliance on chemicals as the only weed control option is difficult (almost impossible) in a run of dry years.
• This trial will cease at the end of 2004 (3 years too early to obtain meaningful results) unless other funding is found.
• The trial showed, in the 2003 season, that there was no yield penalty for waiting until rain for sowing, although grain protein was lower in these crops.

Of the seven frost events that showed significant differences, all showed that the reduced stubble treatment (2t/ha) reached colder minimum temperatures than the removed stubble treatment (1.6t/ha). Across the seven events, the retained stubble treatment (2.5t/ha) also remained warmer than the reduced stubble treatment. The removed stubble treatment spent significantly less time at -2⁰C temperature threshold compared to the reduced stubble treatment. The retained stubble treatment was not significantly different to either of these.

These results suggest that removing stubble decreases the severity and duration of frost, however as discussed, there was variability in the results between the retained and reduced stubble treatments. This suggests, that in seasons where frost events are so severe, stubble management does not have a large effect on the severity of events.

The interim temperature results suggest that retaining 4t/ha of stubble significantly increases the severity and duration of frosts when compared to 0t/ha. On all occasions, reducing stubble loads to 0t/ha reduced the severity and duration.

• Crop yields in 2006 were driven by fallow (no difference between mechanical/conventional).
• Early sowing set an upper limit to yield but did not compensate for not being sown on fallow.
• Crop emergence was very sensitive to sowing conditions, with later sowing and sowing into 2005 cereal crop stubbles leading to much later crop emergence.
• The difference in soil available water driving the fallow response was difficult to measure with soil sampling on these soils; soil available nitrogen was a better predictor of yield in 2006.
• There were no yield penalties to adopting no-till in the Hungry Sheep and Fuel Burner systems.
• Cultivation in No Till and Reduced Till paddocks produced inconsistent effects on yield.

• There is no clear difference between till and no-till crop establishment systems for yield at the Farming Systems Trial.
• Low protein in some plots indicated nitrogen deficiency in 2009.
• Pre-sowing deep soil nitrogen tests indicated low protein but not always at the levels expected.

• Long chemical fallow plots achieved record yields in 2010.
• Rotation was a factor in higher 2010 yields, but the cause of differences is not clear.
• Pre-sowing soil nitrate was not a good predictor of crop yield potential in 2010.

• It is possible that a one off cultivation in no-till systems could increase crop yields in successive years..
• Standard and Fuel Burners outyielded No Till, followed by Reduced Till, followed by Hungry
  Sheep

• A survey was conducted in early 2010 to determine the current management practices of farmers and the average water use efficiency of farms on upper Eyre Peninsula.
• The survey will be repeated in 2013 to see if there are changes in the management practices and water use efficiency.

• Using crop growth models to quantify the season to season yield performance on different soil types and predict in-season potential yield can be a very useful tool for managing risk and inputs.
• Given the high spatial variability in soils and grain yield, mapping paddocks into zones of similar soil and yield potential enables farmers to better target input levels as well as understand crop yield potential in different seasons.
• Information about the capacity of a soil to hold water, the water and mineral N levels at sowing are the basic information needed to use Yield Prophet - given this information, grain yield can be accurately predicted.

Overall, the trial was successful in demonstrating to the students the effects of varying urea rates on plant growth throughout the season.

This study of Victorian wheat crops shows that:

• increasing the uptake of nitrogen by 50kg N/ha improves WUE by 3.4kg/mm,
• introducing a break crop increases WUE by 2.1-4.2kg/mm,
• the efficiency with which fertiliser nitrogen is taken up by wheat increases from 40 to 80% as GSR increases from 200 to 400mm,
• each 1% of OC contributes from 16kg N/ha (200mm GSR to 32kg N/ha (400mm GSR) to the uptake of nitrogen,
• at current prices for fertiliser N ($1kg/N) and for wheat ($170/t) is is still more economic to apply fertiliser N than to increase N supply by raising OC levels with pasture,
• grain protein levels tend to fall by 1% for each 100kg/ha increase in yields.

It’s been, once again, a frustrating season. A dry spring, then a late rain to spoil the rainfall records - and too late to be of benefit. The role of livestock in the system to diversify income has, once again, been demonstrated. It is worth looking after the stock you have because they can be a huge benefit in years like this. Many people are reaping crops with very high screening levels due to the harsh finish. What is the value of these screenings for livestock?

Feeding stock for survival during a drought is certain to be a financial loss. Feeding might not be the best strategy. However, if feeding is used, it needs to be planned and concentrate on increasing production.

Ryegrass and barley grass were the dominant weed species along fence-lines.

Higher sowing rates resulted in higher dry matter yield at late flowering and higher seed yield with no significant differences between varieties 'Fenugreek' and 'A287'.

Spinnaker at 150ml/ha was the safest post-sowing-pre-emergent herbicide for use in fenugreek. Post-emergent herbicides with good crop safety included Broadstrike 25 g/ha + Uptake 0.5%, Buttress 2 L/ha, Buticide 2.5 L/ha and Broadstrike 25 g/ha + Buttress 1 L/ha.

• Varieties 150265 and 150292 were the highest yielding varieties at Birchip and over all sites.
• Dry matter increased 10-fold from early flowering to mid pod fill which may have implications on the optimum time for terminating crop growth for green manuring.

• Wheat was surprisingly tolerant of continuous flooding for nearly 4 months, yielding up to 2.8 t/ha with the best combination of nutrients tested.
• Despite the extended flooding there was a 13% response to P at a starting Colwell P of 29 mg/kg, with an economic optimum application rate of 7 kg P/ha.
• Canola was intolerant of extended flooding, producing no harvestable yield.
• In-crop application of urea shortly before flooding showed no grain yield response in wheat, while there was a negative response of 9% to applying S as in-crop sulfate of ammonia.
• Ideally in-crop applications of fertiliser should be made at least a week prior to flooding to allow time for the crop to take up the nutrients.

• Application of P fertilisers increased pasture growth and dry matter production (t/ha).
• Application of P above maintenance levels will increase soil P levels.

Sowing more than 20kg of N with seed (seeder set at 9inch spacings) resulted in seedling burn and poor crop establishment.

The success of this project continues to grow as the concept of developing useful tools to empower farmers to make changes to their practices takes hold

• Crop nitrogen requirements should be applied at or before sowing as poor spring conditions can reduce crop responses to topdressed nitrogen.
• When drilling nitrogen with the seed, rates should not exceed 25 kg/ha (7" rowing spacing).
• Grain protein levens under 10.5% indicate crop yields are below thier optimum potential - apply additional nitrogen.

Stretegic (up-front) nitrogen was useful in a wet year, but no N rate used was high enough to anticipate the wet and cool spring at Ouyen.

• Zinc (Zn) has been shown to be a clear limiting factor in achieving maximum fertiliser response from N and P on all soils sown in the SA Operation FerTill experiment program.
• Increased wheat grain yield of 4-6% has been achieved with Zn as a coat to DAP applied in each year over 3 years.
• This clearly questions the current practice of Zn application once every 3-4 years.
• These results suggest that Zn when used in combination with higher P and application should be considered every year.
• P and Zn placement are very effective management tools to reduce the severity of Rhizoctonia spp, in crops.
• Some P and Zn placement in the seed row of cereal crops is beneficial in reducing the severity of Rhizoctonia patch by up to 50%, increasing grain yield.

• Both desi and kabuli chickpea varieties suffered severe plant establishment reductions from fertiliser placement with the seed and with increasing fertiliser rates.
• Fertiliser rates of 20 kg P/ha and above placed with the seed had a significant negative effect on grain yields.
• The dry spring conditions have compressed achieved yields to that possible from the limited water supply. Differences in plant population still negatively influenced achieved yields. Yields increased with fertiliser rate up to about 20kg/ha of P in this particular season.

• Both desi and kabuli chickpea varieties suffered severe plant establishment reductions from
  fertiliser placement with the seed and with increasing fertiliser rates.
• All amounts of fertiliser placed with the seed had a significant negative effect of kabuli grain yields.
• Desi type PBA Slasher can tolerate low rate of fertiliser with the seed.
• Yields increased with fertiliser rate up to about 20kg/ha of P in this particular season and soil type

• Applying MAP with the seed at sowing resulted in a 25% increase in plant emergence compared to using DAP at Piednippie.
• Applying MAP at sowing resulted in higher grain yields and better water use efficiency (WUE) in plots which had high seeding rates at Nunjikompita.
• In combination with a high seeding rate, a blend of DAP and triple super phosphate (TSP) applied at sowing at Piednippie and Nunjikompita (plus urea) resulted in grain yields which were closer to the crop yield potential than the control.

• Fertiliser trials often take a few years for the real results to become evident.

• Fertiliser trials often take a few years for the real results to become evident.

• After 3  years of no fertilizer applications in the low P sites, residual P levels have fallen by 25% and are significantly affecting productivity.
• After three years there appears to be little significant difference between the three products applied.

• After four years of no fertilizer applications, residual P levels have fallen and are significantly affecting productivity.
• Granule placement appears to be more critical in low P sites.

Many wheat varieties grown in WA already have the major gene for acid soil tolerance. In this trial several other acid tolerance traits are being assessed under field conditions to determine if they confer growth and yield advantages in addition to the major gene. If the traits do prove useful they can then be back-crossed into current well-adapted WA wheat varieties and ultimately become available for growers to use. In addition to these field trials, the project aims to identify molecular markers to facilitate the breeding process. The traits are likely to be beneficial in situations where soils are being limed to correct soil acidity but are not likely to help in highly Al toxic soils in the absence of liming. This trial and others like it will help determine under what soil acidity levels the traits are likely to be beneficial.

Acid soil tolerance in wheat is not a stand-alone solution for managing acid soils, rather it complements a liming program to ameliorate subsoil acidity. Subsoil at the site is acidic to a depth of at least 40 cm as demonstrated by the indicative site soil pH (CaCl2): 0-10 cm = 5.4; 10-20 cm =  4.2; 20-30 cm = 4.3; 30-40 cm = 4.3. Prior to the site being seeded 1.5 t/ha limesand was spread and this has lifted the topsoil pH to ~5.4 on average. More lime will need to be applied to the site to lift the low subsoil pH values.

• Kaspa continues to show a yield advantage over earlier maturing varieties and blends in regions with high yield potential (eg Turretfield) due to its later maturity and subsequent higher yield potential.
• Earlier maturing varieties and blends may confer a yield advantage over Kaspa in lower yielding situations/seasons.
• This work will continue for a number of years reusing the seed from each location to identify any potential benefit for growers using a mix of these varieties to manage pea yields across variable seasonal conditions.

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

• Kaspa continues to show a yield advantage over earlier maturing varieties and blends in
  regions with high yield potential (eg Turretfield). This is due to its later maturity and
  subsequent higher yield potential.
• Earlier maturing varieties and blends will generally provide better yield stability compared to
  Kaspa in lower yielding situations/seasons eg Minnipa, Snowtown.
• At sites with generally lower yield potential (eg Minnipa, Snowtown), blends containing Kaspa
  may confer a yield advantage over earlier maturing varieties in some favourable seasons (eg
  Snowtown in 2013).

• The field peas sown at Hart on the season break in 2009, were heavily infected with blackspot and grain yields were reduced by 30% (0.8 t/ha) compared with later sowing times.
• Sowing peas two to four weeks earlier (late May) than the conventional time (early–mid June) optimises production of Kaspa and the earlier, longer flowering line OZP0602.
• OZP0602 was generally higher yielding than Kaspa particularly in later sowing treatments.
• Yield loss from blackspot can be minimised if peas are sown after 60% of airborne spores have been released.
• The combination of P-Pickel T with two sprays of mancozeb was economic in some cases in the time of sowing trial at Hart in 2009, resulting in an average 7-14% yield gain in Kaspa and OZP0602.

• Overall lentil and pea grain yields averaged 1.18 t/ha across all sites and treatments.
• There was no significant foliar disease and the major yield limiting factor was the lack of late season rainfall, only 25mm in September and October.
• Although only small the slightly higher grain yield at the eastern site compared to the western site highlights the importance of paddock and crop selection to maximise pulse yields in these more marginal areas.
• A similar result was found in 2011 where there was a 0.46t/ha yield increase from the western site to the eastern site, 1.76 t/ha to 2.23 t/ha respectively.

NVT is a national program of comparative crop variety testing with standardised trial management, data generation, collection and dissemination. The program is supported by the Australian Government and growers through the Grains Research Development Corporation and is managed by the Australian Crop Accreditation System Limited.

• All varieties showed similar levels of yield loss from crop topping two weeks prior to the recommended timing (rye grass milk dough stage) and no yield loss at the recommended timing under dry finishing conditions in 2014 and therefore no one variety was more or less suited to this agronomic practice.

• Yield losses from Early crop-topping generally followed cultivar maturity, with latest maturating varieties (eg Glenroy) showing the highest yield losses. Glenroy was also the only variety to show yield loss at the Recommended timing, supporting previous findings that later maturing varieties are not as well suited to crop-topping as earlier maturing recent releases PBA Twilight, PBA Gunyah and PBA Oura.

• PBA Coogee being a dual purpose pea provides growers the option to either cut for hay, harvest for grain, or graze.
• PBA Pearl is consistently the highest yielding pea variety in all areas across SA (2013 NVT data). It stands well and has better pod shattering tolerance than traditional varieties.

• There was low disease pressure in 2018 and no differences in grain yield between the untreated and fungicide programs.  

• Significant grain yield responses to P fertiliser application occurred at the Goonumbla site.
• At Goonumbla, 25 kg P/ha significantly increased grain yield over 15 kg P/ha only when applied with starter N.
• Field peas proved very sensitive to heliothis damage at Gunning Gap and to harvest delays at Wirrinya.

• There was no grain yield response to supplementing a foliar application of micronutrients as a foliar spray to field peas.  
• 2018 was a low disease pressure year and there was no grain yield response to fungicide applications.  

• A high rainfall growing season favoured blackspot disease build up and generally later flowering pea varieties at Minnipa in 2009.
• Kaspa was 17% higher yielding than Parafield, its highest margin over this variety at Minnipa in 11 years of testing.
• Kaspa’s grain yield was reduced by 19% when sowing date was delayed from 30 April to 20 May, however no grain yield reduction occurred in the advanced PBA field pea lines OZP0602 and OZP0601 with this delayed sowing date.
• OZP0601 and OPP0602, despite lower performance than Kaspa in the MAC variety trial in 2009, will provide better adapted “Kaspa type” options for low rainfall environments when they become available due to their earlier and longer flowering periods.

• Despite a late break to the season (12 June), very favourable conditions followed resulting in exceptionally well grown plants and above average yields with very little disease.
• Yield declined in all varieties when densities were below 35-40 plants/ sq m.
• There were no significant yield responses above 35-40 plants/ sq m in all varieties except 96-262*1.
• Seed size increased with density for Kaspa, Moonlight & Parafield but unaffected in others
• Increasing density increased lodging in the semi-dwarf types (Kaspa, Moonlight, Yarrum and 96*262*1).

• Despite a late break to the season (12 June) and very late sowing, very favourable conditions followed resulting in exceptionally well grown plants and above average yields with very little disease.
• Yields at Yenda were not significantly different for the 19, 30 & twin 50 cm spacing.
• Stretching row spacing to 50 cm reduced yields

•  Field peas sown on May 3 had grain yields of 2.6 to 3.4 t/ha. PBA Butler and the blue field pea breeding line OZB1308 were highest yielding.  
    

• Grain yield was highest sown earlier; 1.2t/ha May 17 c.f. 0.7 t/ha June 6.  
   

• New field pea varieties PBA Gunyah and PBA Twilight performed similarly to Kaspa and Parafield under extremely favourable conditions in 2010 at Minnipa, and given their yield advantages over these varieties in drier seasons, will be better adapted varieties for this region.
• Grain yield of PBA Stage 3 field peas averaged 2.9 t/ha at Minnipa in 2010 due to the wet and long growing season, which generally favoured later flowering pea varieties.
• Most advanced breeding lines showed no difference in yield to Kaspa (2.93t/ha) due to the favourable conditions.
• Though blackspot was present in 2010, it was not as extensive as in 2009 and had little impact on yield. This will have contributed to the 27% higher yield achieved in 2010 compared with 2009.
• Agronomy trials showed no significant effect of sowing date or stubble management treatments in 2010. This is likely due to the long growing season, and lack of disease. However early sowing is still recommended for low rainfall regions providing frost, weeds and blackspot risks are considered.