Oats trials

This trial is the second year of the trial series comparing the performance and response of two breeding lines (03198-18, named Kowari , and 06204-16, named Bilby ) and two benchmark varieties (Carrolup and Williams ) to changes in nitrogen and plant density in medium rainfall environments.

Native budworm actively feeding on cereals has not been an issue for growers or industry in the past, and considering the recent detections, growers and western region industry networks have voiced that they would like support on this issue, especially regarding sampling techniques and spray thresholds. To achieve this, we investigated this new behavioural trend and the population numbers required to cause economic yield losses to determine if and when management is required in non-traditional cereal hosts.

Through pheromone-based moth trapping, crop inspections, glasshouse trials and a field cage trial, we investigated the behaviour of H. punctigera moths and larvae on, and potential economic damage to, wheat in the northern grainbelt of Western Australia. 

To assess the impact of (and interaction between) grazing and frost damage on the grain yield and quality of a range of winter and spring cereal varieties sown at two times of sowing.

To determine if there is any quality variation against different seeding rates for oats.

To determine yield against various seeding rates for oats.

To conduct an oat variety trial.

Barley grass is becoming an increasingly problematic weed in Western Australia. A GRDC funded project sought to increase the adoption of integrated weed management tactics for barley grass, by working with grower groups to develop regionally appropriate rotations for optimal control.

A survey indicated that growers in the southern lakes region of Western Australia often had pasture as the main rotation choice after cereal. In contrast to other areas of the wheat belt, some growers in this region considered barley grass a valuable (early) feed in pasture as well as a weed in crops. However, growers found that barley grass could have a large impact on crop yield. Growers were interested in either controlling barley grass or suppressing barley grass in crops while allowing it to survive in pasture.

Most group members felt their barley grass was resistant to herbicides (especially low-level resistance to Group A, Targa^®). However, growers were unwilling to stop using Targa^®, even if efficiency was reduced against barley grass, as it effectively controlled other grass weeds. Growers wanted to pair Targa^® with other products in the pasture to kill barley grass, and then control surviving barley grass in crop with best practice pre-seeding herbicides.

The trial aimed to investigate pasture barley grass control in 2019, pre-emergent herbicides in barley in 2020 and oats in 2021.

Demonstration to evaluate new forage options against commonly used graze and grain options.

To conduct an oat variety trial.

The objective of this demonstration was to evaluate the biological compatibility and crop safety of Axial compared with Achieve or Wildcat, when applied alone or in mixtures with common broadleaf herbicides for early wild oat and wild radish control in wheat.

The trial aims to see the benefits of crop grazing at various times of sowing, to increase feed availability for stock, while retaining winter pastures and to find out whether crop grazing can be utilised in delaying the flowering window to reduce the impact of frost. It also aims to assess the impact of grazing times against the grain yield and quality across various species and varieties.
 

To conduct an oat variety trial.

To monitor the presence of soilborne disease levels in the farming system following the legume pasture, Sothis.

This research determines to assess the benefits (economic and environmental) of a green manure phase under current cropping systems in areas with a poor nutritional status. 

To evaluate crop types and incorporation techniques to rejuvenate poor performing soils using a green manure phase, as well as to identify and evaluate the potential longevity of benefits on a heavy loam soil in Mullewa, Western Australia over five years.

To conduct an oat variety trial.

Assess the yield impact of different summer spray application timings at four trials in March 2017, following a widespread summer rainfall event.

• To evaluate the responsiveness of Bannister and Williams oats to increasing plant density.
• To quantify the effect that plant density has on oat grain quality if a crop is sown early versus late.
• To determine if Bannister and Williams oats are suitable for lower rainfall regions.

To conduct an oat variety trial.

To determine if a soil wetter, such as SE14, improves plant establishment in years with a dry start.

To demonstrate the impacts of degree and timing of grazing of crops on yield.

To demonstrate establishment, management and viability of legume phase options in cropping rotations with appropriate agronomic management packages.

To demonstrate establishment, management and viability of legume phase options in cropping rotations with appropriate agronomic management packages.

To investigate time of sowing x crop type.

Growers in medium to low rainfall regions are keen to grow oats as a break crop, either for hay or as a profitable grain crop; however, there is a need to identify management inputs and varieties that consistently meet quality specifications. Currently there is considerable interest in the high yielding milling oat varieties Bannister and Williams but they have not been adequately evaluated in lower rainfall environments in WA. Oat agronomy trials conducted in 2014 suggested that the grain quality of Banister and Williams was more sensitive to nitrogen inputs than established varieties like Carrolup in lower rainfall regions (Troup et al. 2015) but these trials were only sown in late May at the end of the ‘modern oat grower’ sowing window for milling oats.
The aims of this study are to:

• 1. quantify the impact of delayed seeding and N inputs on the yield and quality of hay and grain production,
• 2. evaluate the responsiveness of Bannister and Williams oat varieties to applied nitrogen,
• 3. determine if Bannister and Williams are suitable milling oat varieties for lower rainfall regions.

To conduct an oat variety trial.

To conduct an oat variety trial.

To conduct an oat variety trial.

To demonstrate establishment, management and viability of legume phase options in cropping rotations with appropriate agronomic management packages.

To demonstrate the growth rates and carrying capacities of new pasture species and to show options available for improving pasture productivity.

The aim of this project is for the Corrigin Farm Improvement Group (CFIG) to compare the profitability of a range of crop rotations, including chemical fallowing, on a medium textured, loamy soil type east of Corrigin. Gross returns are assessed both on an annual basis and on an accumulative multi-year basis.

This project was designed to test the relative benefit of chemical fallow with a range of different crop types. The trial compared different crop types on chemical fallow with the aim to identify which crop is likely to produce the highest return. The project also aims to investigate the profitability of different rotations over multiple years which include both chemical fallows and continuous crop.

To conduct an oat varity trial.

To conduct an oat variety trial

To assess the effects of physical (spading), chemical (fertiliser) and biological (compost) treatments on soil organic carbon (SOC) in relation to changes in long term crop yields and quality.

• To increase understanding of the interaction between increasing soil organic carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. In particular to quantify the influence of soil organic carbon on nitrous oxide and methane emissions in a grains cropping system.
• To determine whether increasing soil organic carbon lowers the amount of nitrogen fertiliser required for grain production.

To investigate if increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) increases N₂O emissions.

To investigate the potential of organic matter inputs to increase yield and improve soil health.

To evaluate yields of new and existing oat varieties in Wongan Hills.

This trial is the second year of the trial series comparing the performance and response of two breeding lines (03198-18, named Kowari, and 06204-16, named Bilby) and two benchmark varieties (Carrolup and Williams) to changes in nitrogen and plant density in medium rainfall environments.

The aim of this project was to work with growers to maximise harvester throughput capacity with acceptable losses in the Western region and compare data to that collected in 2022.

The goal of the project was for grain growers in the Western Region to understand the current level of grain losses (tonnes and cost) from harvesters, for all of the major grain crops in Western Australia and understand where these losses occur. Growers will be able to calculate acceptable losses irrespective of varying yield levels.

To evaluate the feed response of barley and oats to two different N rates applied at sowing and post-sowing, and the economic returns from sheep production.

To evaluate commercially available forage cereal varieties, comparing their feed value and suitability for grazing or grain production in low rainfall Mallee and Wimmera environments.

To determine the least cost foliar fungicide application method to maximise the potential of achieving milling grade oats for south west Victoria.

To examine if winter cereals can be successfully sown into exiting lucerne stands to lift winter production but without compromising lucerne production the following summer.

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

To identify the most economical rate of phosphorus usage in a southern Mallee cropping system over time. 

To make farmers more aware of herbicide drift and the management practices which reduce the potential for drift to occur.

To compare new and old varieties of crops in a demonstration trial.

To demonstrate a wide variety of crop types and varieties in the Southern Mallee.

To measure effect of gibberellic acid application and grazing timings on the biomass production and feed quality of oats.