Medic trials

To recommend options to improve;
• soil nutrients and groundcover, and 
• reduce disease levels and chemical use.

To compare the production of different winter pastures and their recovery from grazing.

To demonstrate to Upper North growers the impact that sulfonylurea (SU) residues and other broadleaf herbicides have on two medic pastures, Herald and the new strand medic Angel.

To test the tolerance of the new strand medic, Angel, to sulfonylurea (SU) herbicide residues from a summer weed application.

To assess the role of annual medics as a break crop in a wheat-sheep mixed farming system, by measuring the biomass produced over the growing season followed by the retention of the pasture residue over the summer autumn period, then subsequently assessing the impact of the pasture in the following cereal phase in terms of yield and grain quality.

To assess the performance of annual medics in a pasture – wheat rotation over the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

To assess the potential of a range of multi-trait breeders’ lines for commercial development.

To improve the long term control of Rhizoctonia by increasing the understanding of the interactions between disease inoculum and natural soil suppressive activity and to improve the prediction and management of disease.

To answer the question 'What if there is no break until June or July?'

To compare grass herbicides alone and in comparison with common broadleaf herbicides.

To investigate best bet options for controlling medic prior to sowing lentils.

To assess the ryegrass control ability of crop rotation, in combination with pre- and post- emergent herbicides.

To report on activities and results from the core site in 2005.

To quantify the agronomic benefits that break crops can provide in Mallee cropping rotations so that farmers can be confident of the long term benefits of more diverse crop sequences.

Why do the trial? 
Barley grass possesses several biological traits that make it difficult for growers to manage it in the low rainfall zone, so it is not surprising that it is becoming more prevalent in field crops in SA and WA. A survey by Llewellyn et al. (2015) showed that barley grass has now made its way into the top 1 O weeds of Australian cropping in terms of area infested, crop yield loss and revenue loss. 
The biological traits that make barley grass difficult for growers to manage in low rainfall zones include: 

- early onset of seed production, which reduces effectiveness of crop-topping or spray-topping in pastures,
shedding seeds well before crop harvest, reducing harvest weed seed control effectiveness compared to weeds such as ryegrass which has a much higher seed retention,•    increased seed dormancy, reducing weed control from knockdown herbicides due to delayed emergence, and
•    increasing herbicide resistance, especially to Group A herbicides, used to control grass weeds in pasture phase and legume crops. 

Barley grass management is likely to be more challenging in the low rainfall zone because the growing seasons tend to be more variable in terms of rainfall, which can affect the performance of the pre-emergence herbicides. Furthermore, many growers in these areas tend to have lower budgets for management tactics, and break crops are generally perceived as more risky than cereals. Therefore, wheat and barley tend to be the dominant crops in the low rainfall zone. This project is undertaking coordinated research with farming systems groups across the Southern and Western cropping regions to demonstrate tactics that can be reliably used to improve the management of barley grass. 

To demonstrate the productivity and persistence of annual pasture legumes (NAPLIP cultivar/species) on several soil types in the medium–low rainfall wheat belt environment.

To compare a number of different varieties  which could be used for making hay.

To define critical parameters for identifying zinc deficiency and the fertiliser strategies to overcome.

To investigate the dry matter (DM) productivity and nutritive value (NV) of a range of pasture species sown independently or in conjunction with Fathom barley at Hart in winter and summer.

Part 1: Medic cultivars were grown in soil with high boron levels in a glasshouse, leaf damage symptoms recorded and cultivars allocated to different tolerance groups (Howie 2012). 

Part 2: The above identified that all spineless burr medic cultivars are susceptible to high boron levels. Screening wild accessions (supplied by the Australian Pasture Genebank) identified a burr medic accession with boron tolerance and vigorous growth. The boron tolerant accession was crossed with current spineless burr medic cultivars Scimitar and Cavalier. F2 plants with high early vigour were selected and a molecular marker used to identify homozygous boron tolerant plants. A single seed descent breeding method using speed breeding was used to obtain uniform lines. Lines were seed increased at Waite in 2018 and lines with the highest agronomic performance selected for 2019 field evaluation trials. A cohort of 16 boron tolerant lines along with their  parents and barrel medic cultivars that differ in boron tolerance, were sown at Roseworthy and Minnipa. The trials were managed as best practice first year annual medics to maximise dry matter and seed production. Best practice consists of a high sowing rate (10 kg/ha), controlling broadleaf and grass weeds, monitoring and controlling insects and no grazing. Dry matter production was  assessed and pods collected. Seed yield will be determined by April 2020.

There are reports of low grain protein levels in wheat following medic pastures and many observations of poor medic nodulation. Previous work has shown that rhizobial inoculation can improve the nodulation of medics in the SA and Victorian Mallee, and that more generally about 50% of the populations of medic rhizobia in soils are suboptimal in their nitrogen (N) fixation
capacity. This trial aimed to:
• Determine if inoculation can improve medic nodulation at Minnipa,
• Quantify the amount of N fixed by different legumes, and
• Assess impacts on the following wheat crop.

Legume pastures have been pivotal to sustainable agricultural development in southern Australia. They provide highly nutritious feed for livestock, act as a disease break for many cereal root pathogens, improve fertility through nitrogen (N) fixation and mixed farming reduces economic risk. Despite these benefits, pasture renovation rates remain low and there is opportunity to improve the quality of the pasture base on many low to medium rainfall mixed farms across southern Australia. A diverse range of pasture legume cultivars are currently available to growers and new material is being developed. Some of these legumes, such as the annual medics, are well adapted to alkaline soils and have high levels of hard seed, which allow them to self-regenerate from
soil seed reserves after cropping (ley farming system). Other legume cultivars and species are available and being developed that
offer improved seed harvestability, are claimed to be better suited to establishment when dry sown and/or provide better nutrition for
livestock. Regional evaluation is being undertaken to determine if they are productive and able to persist in drier areas (<400 mm
annual rainfall) and on Mallee soil types common to the mixed farming zone of southern Australia.

Investigate the dry matter accumulation and timing of a range of pastrure species and mixes and comparing them to the dry matter production by crops that are grown to be grazed before being shut up for grain production or cut for hay or silage.

Investigate the dry matter accumulation and timing of a range of pastrure species and mixes and comparing them to the dry matter production by crops that are grown to be grazed before being shut up for grain production or cut for hay or silage.

To evaluate Ecopar for controlling flowering and podding wild raddish in pasture.

To evaluate emerging and newly released medic, vetch and forage peas varieties for their ability to produce dry matter and nutritive value for stock in the Mallee and Wimmera environments.

• To report on a farm which aims to run both livestock enterprises profitably and at the same time, through good grazing management, to allow desirable native grasses and forbs to eventually replace the sown pasture species.

The GRDC project ‘Maintaining profitable farming systems with retained stubble - upper Eyre Peninsula’ aims to produce sustainable management guidelines to control pests, weeds and diseases while retaining stubble to maintain or improve soil health, and reduce exposure to wind erosion. The major outcome to be achieved is increased knowledge and skills allowing farmers and advisers to improve farm profitability while retaining stubble in farming systems on upper Eyre Peninsula (EP).

One issue Mount Cooper farmers identified as an issue was the establishment of self-regenerating medic pastures into heavy stubble residues. The trial reported here was designed to compare medic establishment and production, with different management strategies imposed on the previous crop stubble residues.

The GRDC project ‘Maintaining profitable farming systems with retained stubble - upper Eyre Peninsula’ aims to produce sustainable management guidelines to control pests, weeds and diseases while retaining stubble to maintain or improve soil health, and reduce exposure to wind erosion. The major outcome to be achieved is increased knowledge and skills allowing farmers and advisers to improve farm profitability while retaining stubble in farming systems on upper Eyre Peninsula (EP).

One issue upper EP farmers identified as a problem was sowing into retained pasture residue with pasture vines causing issues with blockages at sowing and uneven germination. Also establishing legume pastures into heavy stubble residues has also an issue in this region. The trial at Mount Cooper was designed to compare plant establishment and production, and weed and pest control effectiveness in the presence and absence of previous crop or legume pasture residues.

To provide a useful technique for estimating pasture legume seed reserved in paddocks.

To assess the potential of medic pastures and compare the productivity and persistence of commercial varieties in the Birchip area.

To evaluate forage varieties in a cropping system. 

To collect more data on dry matter and production figures for forage varieties.

To look at the impact of 2012 break crops on Rhizoctonia inoculum in 2013 and of crop management on disease expression in the 2013 cereal crop. 

To discuss the BCG Farming Systems 2000 season.

To compare the profitability of four different farming systems.

To report on the BCG Farming Systems project in 2001.

To investigate pasture production and utilisation by sheep.

To update information on livestock ad the Farming Systems site.

To report on the Farming Systems trial 2003.

To report on the Farming Systems trial.

• The Minnipa Agricultural Centre (MAC) has been funded by Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) to run a research and extension program (Eyre Peninsula Farming Systems 3 – Responsive Farming Systems) to improve water use efficiency on farms by 10% on upper Eyre Peninsula (EP). This is seen as one of the main ways to improve profit and manage risk for farm businesses.

To assess and evaluated a range of different pasture varieties at three different sites.

To assess and evaluated a range of different pasture varieties at three different sites.

To demonstrate a range of crop types and end-uses that could have a role in the low rainfall farming systems of the Mallee.

A long-term study was established at the Minnipa Agricultural Centre from 2008 to 2015 (EPFS Summaries 2008 to 2014) to assess the impact of grazing on crop and pasture production and soil health and also to evaluate this from a systems perspective.

The eight year demonstration with a wheat, wheat, pasture (volunteer and sown annual medic), wheat, pasture (self-regenerating annual medic), wheat and wheat rotation was also established to determine whether productivity could be improved under a higher input system compared to a lower input and more traditional system and what affect this had on soil fertility.

To evaluate commercial and new pulse (grain legume) cultivars on sandy, calcareous soils, in terms of both the crop performance and its benefit in a rotation.

To determine the effectiveness of a number of grass selective herbicdes to control grasses in medic pastures

To investigate the effect of grass herbicides on nodulation in legumes.

The GRDC project ‘Maintaining profitable farming systems with retained stubble - upper Eyre Peninsula’ aims to produce sustainable management guidelines to control pests, weeds and diseases while retaining stubble to maintain or improve soil health, and reduce exposure to wind erosion. The major outcome to be achieved is increased knowledge and skills allowing farmers and advisers to improve farm profitability while retaining stubble in farming systems on upper Eyre Peninsula (EP).

The Minnipa Agricultural Centre S3S pasture trial was established in 2013 to assess the impact of a two year medic pasture break on barley grass. The trial had different grass weed management and tillage treatments imposed in 2013 and 2014. The trials were sown with wheat in 2015 and 2016, and allowed to regenerate with medic pasture in 2017.