South Australian Grain Industry Trust Fund trials

This project aimed to explore different management strategies to overcome copper deficiency in cereals. The project compared the effectiveness of copper sulfate and copper chelate applied either as liquids banded at seeding or as a foliar spray. The project also evaluated the effect of different timings of application of the foliar sprays and their efficiency.
This project aimed to benefit local and South Australian farmers by establishing an independent best practice management guide for copper applications for the future.

This was the second year of a three-year trial, funded by the South Australian Grains Industry Trust (SAGIT), to evaluate the nitrogen fixation capabilities of various legume species commonly grown on Kangaroo Island.

In this second year, the trial was set up to answer the following questions:

• Which of the four legume species had fixed the most nitrogen (N) in the 2016 season?
• How much N did these legume crops fix?
• How much of the N fixed by the legume was utilised by the following crop? Concurrently, how much N was lost through leaching or denitrification?

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 test for field evidence for efficiency of fluid fertilisers.

To raise industry awareness of imi-tolerant barley as a potential tool for integrated weed management in Victoria and South Australian Mallee.

To investigate inter row sowing and no-till.

To evaluate the response of different barley varieties to various management aspects of no-till farming systems. Variables examined include row spacing, pre-emergent herbicides and nitrogen timing.

To evaluate the response of different barley varieties to various aspects of crop management. Variables examined included nitrogen timing, weed management, weed competition and row spacing.

To evaluate the tolerance of recently released and commonly grown barley varieties to metribuzin.

To inform members about airborne imagery: the taking of photographs of the ground and crops from a direct-down position. Platforms for airborne imagery for agriculture include satellites, fixed-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or “drones”).

To test a range of early maturing canola cultivars.

To report on paddock yield and seeding depth optimisation.

To verify that recommendations for maximum production in other pulse growing regions of SA are applicable under low rainfall conditions.

To provide information about understanding maps.

To inform readers about weed sensing: the use of a machine or instrument to detect a weed; a plant that shouldn’t be there

To assess the new products with a range of application strategies and compared them to other management options (tillage, zinc, starter nitrogen, deep sowing, fluid fertiliser and late sowing) which can change the impact of rhizoctonia on crop production.

To investigate the level of damage that may occur from clethodim applications and what factors might influence the degree of damage, over two seasons

To investigate the level of damage that may occur from clethodim applications and what factors might influence the degree of damage, over two seasons

To compare the performance of 3 seeding systems and 2 nutrition strategies. This is a rotation trial (funded by SAGIT) to assess the longer term effects of seeding systems and higher fertiliser input systems.

To evaluate the relative weed competitiveness of barley, bread wheat, and durum against annual ryegrass grown under different management practices including seeding rate, nutrition, variety, and row spacing.

• To investigate the effect of different nitrogen and grazing strategies on crop competition with annual ryegrass.
• To evaluate the performance of new durum varieties at different crop densities.

To identify best sowing time and fungicides strategies in new pea varieties to maximise yields and to improve recommendations from the ‘Blackspot Manager’ disease risk prediction model in different regions by incorporating data from replicated trials.

• To identify best sowing time and fungicide strategies for maximum grain yields in field peas.
• To improve the reliability of the SARDI blackspot disease prediction model and validate the blackspot predictive model ‘Blackspot Manager’ in SA by incorporating data from replicated trials.

To assess the potential of the newly released forage (PBA Hayman) and dual purpose (PBA Coogee) field pea varieties as alternatives to vetch and grain field peas.

To assess and compare the biomass accumulation and grain yields of current field pea standards, Kaspa (the predominant grain yield variety in south eastern Australia) and Morgan (a dual purpose field pea variety), as well as several current vetch variety options. 

To investigate the effect of full stubble retention compared with other stubble management methods and seeding technologies.

To evaluate the relative competitiveness of durum wheat compared to barley and bread wheat, against annual ryegrass grown under different management practices tailored to influence crop competition.

To investigate improvements for pre-emergent herbicide spray coverage in stubble retention systems.

To comment on increasing economic returns of agronomic management using precision agriculture.

To quantify and potentially exploit the variation in nutritive value of a range of cereal grains that come on to the feed market in South Australia to increase grain trading options for grain growers.

To evaluate the effect of crop stubble management and seeding system on pre-emergent herbicide behaviour and crop safety.

To investigate responses to phosphorus (P) fertiliser of common wheat and barley varieties on a P deficient soil

To compare the performance of three seeding systems and two nitrogen (N) strategies.

To compare the performance of three seeding systems and two nitrogen (N) strategies.

• To compare the performance of three seeding systems and two nitrogen strategies.
• This is a rotation trial to assess the longer term effects of seeding systems and higher fertiliser input systems on soil fertility, crop growth and grain yield and quality.

To compare the performance of three seeding systems and two nitrogen strategies

To compare the performance of three seeding systems and two nitrogen nutrition strategies.

To quantify the economic benefit to farmers of:

• applying high application rates of phosphorus (P) on moderate buffering soils (phosphorus buffering index PBI) across a range of sites with different yield potentials, and
• comparing three-four common wheat and barley varieties to assess their Phosphorus Use Efficiency (PUE).

To investigate the effect of full stubble retention compared with other stubble management methods and seeding technologies

To investigate the effect of full stubble retention compared with other stubble management methods and seeding
technologies.

To investigate the effect of full stubble retention compared with other stubble management methods and seeding technologies.

To investigate the effect of full stubble retention compared with other stubble management methods and seeding technologies.

To establish product, rates and timings suitable to achieving the most economic return for managing sulphur deficiency.

To identify management decisions that impact on blackspot in field peas and to validate disease risk predictions from Blackspot Manager.

To address a knowledge gap by evaluating dual-purpose canola varieties (both commercial cultivars and experimental lines) in the HRZ of south-east SA, comparing two times of sowing and exploring grazing management options.
 

To use NGS technology to identify a broader range of pathogens present in the diseased roots. 

To evaluate the potential of novel slower developing barley varieties to increase profitability in the higher rainfall zones of SA. 

To examine the issue of field mould in faba bean.

• Trials were implemented to compare break crop productivity and profitability on major soil types in the northern South Australian Mallee. This information will help farmers in the region to select the most appropriate break crop for their farming system.