Barley trials

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 investigiate if variety phenology has an impact on frost damage in a high risk frost zone

To investigiate if variety phenology has an impact on frost damage in a medium risk frost zone 

To determine if mixing cereal varieites with differing maturing will help reduce risk of crop failure in a high risk zone. 

To determine if mixing cereal varieites with differing maturing will help reduce risk of crop failure in a moderate risk zone. 

Why do the trial? 
There are around 5 million hectares of sandy soils under agricultural production in the low to medium rainfall areas of south-eastern Australia. These soils have multiple constraints limiting production including water repellence, soil acidity, compaction and low organic carbon levels leading to poor biological cycling and nitrogen mineralisation. Estimates of the yield gap (the difference between water limiting potential and average actual crop yield) are between 1.8 and 2.1 t/ha on Upper Eyre Peninsula and as much as 2.3 t/ha on Lower Eyre Peninsula (http://yieldgapaustralia.com .au/ maps/). 
In 2016, GRDC invested in a research program to help grain growers identify and overcome the primary constraints to poor crop water-use on sandy soils in the low-medium rainfall environment (CSP00203). The 'Sands Impacts' component of this project enables grower groups to test outcomes from the research component by applying targeted mitigation and amelioration interventions to overcome production constraints. 

• To demonstrate and refine the technique to suit the many mixed farmers on Kangaroo Island.

• To investigate the role of a range of nutrients applied both on the surface and at depth, on crops grown on sandy soils.

To assess the effectiveness of a range of soil ameliorants.

Farmers usually collect top-soil (0-10cm) samples when determining if they need to lime, but soil pH can be quite variable down the soil profile. Will a single sampling depth show up this inherent variability?

To report on the Stanton's “current strategy to set up a rotation of liming approximately one fifth of the total land base or about 300ha per year to assist in budgeting".

To assess the impact of deep ripping on crop yield in a gravelly loam soil type near Muradup, WA.

To assess the impact of deep ripping on barley and canola yield on sand over gravel and deep sand soil types in the South Stirling area of WA.

To compare and showcase a range of strategic tillage options for amelioration of shallow sandy duplex soils (Sand over clay/gravel) and to assess their effectiveness at overcoming a range of soil constraints including topsoil water repellence and Compaction and increasing crop productivity over a period of 4-5 years.

To assess the yield response in barley, canola and lupins to deep ripping over a three year period (2015 – 2017) near Broomehill, WA.

To assess the yield response in barley, canola and lupins to deep ripping over a three year period (2015 – 2017) near Broomehill, WA.

To assess the yield response to deep ripping depth on a productive sand plain near Kojaneerup, WA.

To conduct an advanced barley variety evaluation.

To conduct an alternative nutrition trial.

To evaluate the performance of Avadex Xtra on annual ryegrass in a no-till cropping system.

To conduct a barley seed dressing trial.

The aim was to compare Barley fungicide seed dressing products. To measure seedling growth, establishment, disease control and yield.

To investigate:

• the efficacy of the pre-emergent herbicide treatments on brome grass,
• the weed competitiveness of different varieties at different row spacing configurations, and
• the relative yields of the different varieties with the different herbicide applications and row spacing configurations.

To evaluate the responses of seven barley cultivars to three times of sowing (TOS): early, mid and late and assess their suitability to the Wimmera Mallee.

To evaluate the yield potential of Victorian stage 4 trial barley varieties.

To examine the value of canopy management in the Mallee environment.

To examine the value of canopy management in the Wimmera environment.

To look at canopy management in malting barley.

To compare a number of different products used to control diseases in barly in the southern Mallee and norther Wimmera.

To evaluate the effectiveness of various strategies for managing foliar diseases in separate barley (Experiment 1) and wheat (Experiment 2) experiments using foliar and fertiliser applied fungicides.

To determine the most effecient herbicide options for controlling barley grass and brome grass in wheat and barley.

To evaluate the potential of combining summer-growing perennial grasses with a cereal in a pasture cropping system in the Mallee.

To assess the response of six barley varieties treated with five different N rates at sowing.

To determine whether late sown cereal crops reqire higher rate of P.

To generate independent information for growers about newly released barley crop varieties.

To compare the performance of new and existing barley varieties and the influence of sowing time
on crop performance.

To compare the performance of seven barley varieties in a Mallee environment (Berriwillock).

To compare the performance of new and current barley varieties in the Wimmera and Mallee.

The aim of this report was to assess differing barley varieties in varied growing environments.

To conduct an on-farm barley demonstration.

To compare the performance of new and existing barley varieties in the Wimmera and Mallee.

To conduct a barley variety trial.

To investigate and identify potential new malting varieties for Victorian growers.

To provide a barley variety update.

To demonstrate the performance and effectiveness of new pre-emergen chemistry, Bayer 191, in reducing resistant ryegass populations in winter cereals.

To increase the awareness of grain marketing tools available to grain growers and to demonstrate how they can be utilised.

To determine the best technique for controlling brome grass in wheat and barley.

To compare control options for Brome grass in wheat and barley.

To determine the ROI from using a stripper front compared to a draper front.

To determine the ROI from using a stripper front compared to a draper front.