To compare variety response with time of sowing (TOS) and nitrogen (N) management with the objective to develop variety recommendations and tactical agronomy guidelines. 

To compare variety response to time of sowing (TOS) and nitrogen (N) management to develop variety recommendations and tactical agronomy guidelines. 

To trial a number of Durum wheat varieties in a demonstration.

Assess the performance of durum grown at different plant populations under surface irrigation

Assess the performance of durum grown at different plant populations under overhead irrigation

Assess the performance of durum grown at different plant populations under overhead irrigation

To assess the impact of nitrogen (N) timing with three levels of N on durum wheat grown on surface irrigation.

To assess the impact of nitrogen (N) timing on wheat on overhead irrigation

To assess the impact of nitrogen (N) timing on durum wheat on surface irrigation

To assess the impact of nitrogen (N) rate on durum wheat on Surface irrigation.

To assess the impact of nitrogen (N) rate on wheat under Overhead irrigation.

To assess the impact of nitrogen (N) rate on durum wheat on Surface irrigation.

To assess the impact of grazing and plant growth regulation on durum wheat sown in late May.

To assess the impact of grazing and plant growth regulation on durum wheat sown in mid and late May.

To evaluate the influence of top work cultivation in faba bean stubble (using a speed till cultivator) on following crop durum yield and profitability.

To evaluate the influence of top work cultivation (speed till) on chickpea stubbles vs. direct drilling prior to a durum wheat (effect on yield and profitability).

To assess the relative importance of fungicide input for disease management in DBA Aurora and DBA Vittaroi under overhead irrigation

To assess the relative importance of fungicide input for DBA Aurora and DBA Vittaroi under overhead irrigation

To assess the impact of fungicide management strategies with and without “upfront at seeding” fungicide options

To assess the impact of fungicide management strategies with and without upfront fungicide options based on seed treatments and in-furrow fungicide application

To investigate irrigated durum wheat in an agronomy trial.

To conduct a Durum wheat agronomy demonstration,

To discuss notes on Durum wheat production.

To evaluate the effect of nitrogen timing on grain yield and quality of durm wheat varieties in the south east. 

• 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 measure the effect of crop defoliation, ryegrass, sowing rate and nitrogen timing on the grain yield and quality, of new durum varieties against current industry standards.
• To compare the effect of growth regulants on durum grain yield and quality.

To achieve:
• target yields
• target water use efficiencies
• DR1 quality grade.

Comparison of the two varieties DBA Vittaroi and DBA Aurora under various N, PGR and sowing rates

To examine appropriate management combinations of variety, nitrogen rate and timing, to achieve 13% protein and to minimise downgrading due to excessive screenings.

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 report on trial results comparing the performance of Wollaroi and Janz in the Forbes district in 1999.

Test the yield of different canola varieties.

This project aims to evaluate dryland dual-purpose canola varieties in the high rainfall zone (HRZ) (>550 mm) of the south-east of South Australia (SA).

To evaluate dryland dual-purpose canola varieties in the high rainfall zone (HRZ) (>550 mm) of the south-east of South Australia (SA).

• To measure the productivity and recovery of cereals under simulated grazing regimes.
• To determine the number of times cereals can be grazed without affecting yield.

• To measure the productivity and recovery of cereals under simulated grazing regimes.
• To determine the number of times cereals can be grazed without affecting yield.

To discuss the integration of livestock into the cropping program.

To evaluate a number of dual purpose wheat varieties at two different sowing times.

To assess new dual purpose wheat and triticale cultivars for dry matter production and grain yield in comparison with Bass oats. 

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 report on the Fit for Dual Purpose and Dual Use Long Season Wheat Project.

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

To assess the potential for the use of Dual Gold® for ryegrass control in lupins.

This project is primarily about understanding more about the size of the water bucket (Plant Available Water as a crop input),
and how that may impact our management decisions and the final result of our crops for the season.

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.

In southern Australian mixed farming systems, there are many opportunities for pasture improvement, providing positive impacts to both cropping and livestock systems. Dryland legume pastures are necessary in low to medium rainfall zones to support productive and healthy livestock, along with optimal production in crops following these pastures. The majority of pasture species used in these mixed farming systems are short-lived annuals that complete their lifecycle from winter to early summer, with dry seasonal conditions resulting in a shorter growth window between germination and senescence. This is a major issue for livestock producers in these regions due to unreliable rainfall patterns leading to fluctuating legume growth, and the subsequent impact on feed supply and quality for grazing animals.

Innovative and improved legume species and pasture systems have the potential to fill existing nutrient gaps, thus reducing supplementary feed required for optimum ruminant performance, and maintain or improve livestock productivity through growth rates, fertility or product quality.

The Dryland Legume Pasture Systems (DLPS) project aims to boost profit and reduce risk in medium and low rainfall areas by developing recently discovered pasture legumes together with innovative management techniques that benefit animal and crop production and farm logistics. A theme of the DLPS project involves ‘Quantifying the benefits of novel legume pastures to livestock production systems’ and aims to maximise the advantages that pastures provide to livestock through increased animal growth and reproduction by extending the period of quality feed and reduced supplementary feeding. The animal systems research within the project will also assess areas of understanding anti-nutritional factors and ‘duty of care’ for new pasture species, providing opportunities for improved weed management and evaluate the main benefits of novel self-regenerating pasture legumes in crop rotations on animal production, health and welfare.

This theme is a component of a five year Rural R&D for Profit funded project supported by GRDC, MLA and AWI; and involving Murdoch University, CSIRO, SARDI, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development; Charles Sturt University and grower groups.

A five-year grazing system trial was established at the Minnipa Agricultural Centre (MAC) in 2018 to examine this theme and is the main livestock field site for the DLPS trial in the southern region of Australia.

This article will report on findings from two pasture trials conducted on the lower Eyre Peninsula in the 2019-2021 growing seasons. The trials are part of the demonstration component of the Dryland Pasture Legume Systems (DLPS) project developed with the former LEADA committee/AIR EP Medium Rainfall RD&E committee to answer several questions about how pasture performance could be improved in the region. 
Demonstration 1: What is the best pasture species/ mix of species to plant in paddocks with differing soil types? 
Background 
Paddocks across the region often have soil types that vary, ie. changing from heavier flats to sandier rises, with pH varying from below 6 to above 8. Getting pasture species established and maintaining good production levels across this landscape is often challenging. 

Over the past three decades there has been a shift from integrated crop-livestock production to intensive cropping in dry areas, which has significantly reduced the resilience of farms in low to medium rainfall areas. Intensive cropping is prone to herbicide resistant weeds, large nitrogen fertiliser requirements, and major financial shocks due to frost, drought or low grain prices. 
A pilot project with MLA and AWi in WA and southern NSW has demonstrated how novel pasture legumes such as serradella, biserrula and bladder clover can improve livestock production while reducing nitrogen requirements, weeds and diseases for following crops. The extent to which these new legumes establish, grow and persist on South Australia's alkaline sandy soils requires clarification. 
The demonstration sites are primarily an extension tool, unlike research trials requiring detailed data collection. The purpose of these sites is to gather information on regional legume performance, including benefits to the crops that follow. 

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, and improve fertility through nitrogen (N) fixation. 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 needed 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.

The Dryland Legume Pasture Systems project will both develop and evaluate a range of pasture legumes together with innovative establishment techniques, measure their downstream benefits to animal and crop production and promote their adoption on mixed farms.

This trial was established in 2018 to assess a diverse range of annual pasture legumes in order to determine whether there are more productive and persistent options for the drier areas (< 400 mm) of the mixed farming zone of southern Australia. In 2019 the trial was allowed to regenerate to determine which legumes regenerated and how their performance differed from the establishment year.

The Dryland Legume Pasture Systems project will both develop and evaluate a range of pasture legumes together with innovative establishment techniques, measure their downstream benefits to animal and crop production and promote their adoption on mixed farms.