SARDI Minnipa Agricultural Centre trials

To explore the variation of PUE among varieties of wheat across a range of seasons in order to provide farmers with better knowledge of their current varieties.

Change in sowing time can have multiple effects on crop-weed competition. Delayed sowing can provide opportunities to kill greater proportion of weed seedbank before seeding the crop, but weeds that establish in late sown crops can be more competitive on a per plant basis. This is one of reasons why farmers who have adopted early seeding have reported excellent results in crop yield and weed suppression.  Therefore, it is important to investigate sowing time in combination with other practices across different rainfall zones. The review of Widderick et al. (2015) also recommended research on sowing time in many crops.  Delayed sowing can also reduce crop yield so the gains made in weed control may be completely nullified by the yield penalty.

There has been some research already on crop seed rate on weed suppression but none of these studies have investigated the benefits of higher crop density in factorial combinations with sowing time and herbicide treatments. Crop seed rate is an easy tactic for the growers to adopt provided they are convinced of its benefits to weed management and profitability.  Furthermore, growers in the low rainfall areas tend to be reluctant to increase their seed rate due to concerns about the negative impact of high seed rate on grain screenings.

This field trial at Minnipa was undertaken to investigate factorial combinations of sowing time, seed rate and herbicides on the management of annual ryegrass in barley.

To test if there were potential yield responses and possible money to be gained by increasing fertiliser rates, testing new products and other seeding techniques like fluid fertilisers. 

To test if there were residual effects on grain production from the treatments applied in 2013.

To identify the current best oaten hay variety for the Kimba area to maximise production and quality.

Farmers in the Kimba area have been producing oaten hay for export for several years. The industry has been expanding, with dedicated storage facilities established in recent years on the outskirts of Kimba. To maximise production and quality, the Buckleboo Farm Improvement Group wanted to identify the best current oaten hay variety for the Kimba area.

Barley grass continues to be a major grass weed in cereal cropping regions on the upper Eyre Peninsula (EP). Swathing a cereal crop involves cutting and collecting the cereal crop and weeds into windrows at 20 to 40% grain moisture and allowing it to dry. Having the weed seeds cut and in the windrow before the seed heads shatter and before tillers fall over (lodging), may allow greater weed seed collection when using a chaff cart or windrows. Swathing early then harvesting for weed seed collection needs further evaluation as it may provide farmers with another tool for integrated weed management, especially for barley grass that matures and sheds seed before crops ripen.

To investigate swathing early then harvesting for weed seed collection to evaluate usefulness for farmers in providing another tool for integrated weed management, especially for barley grass that matures and sheds seed before crops ripen.

To assess the potential of fluid nutrient delivery systems and disease control strategies compared to current systems.

To update the benefits of fluid delivery systems from previous research and assess the potential of fluid nutrient delivery systems and disease control strategies compared to current systems.

To update the benefits of fluid delivery systems from previous research and assess the potential of fluid nutrient delivery systems and disease control strategies compared to current systems.

These variety trials were identified as priorities by local agricultural bureau groups to evaluate commonly grown varieties, compare them to newly released varieties and provide further information on varietal performance in soil types and rainfall regions where wheat and barley National Variety Trials (NVT) are not conducted.

These variety trials were identified as priorities by local Agricultural Bureaux to compare current varieties to ones which are not commonly grown in their respective districts, and to compare varieties in soil types and rainfall regions where wheat and barley National Variety Trials (NVT) are not conducted.

These variety trials were identified as priorities by local agricultural bureau groups to evaluate commonly grown varieties, compare them to newly released varieties and provide further information on varietal performance in soil types and rainfall regions where wheat and barley National Variety Trials (NVT) are not conducted.

To determine whether adding extra nitrogen (N) at GS31 will bring benefits above the current standard practice of only applying nitrogen at or near sowing in three different Eyre Peninsula (EP) environments.

This research aims to determine in which situations extra fertilisation can bring benefits to growers in 14 different Eyre Peninsula (EP) environments.

Every season, growers need to make choices over limited resources in order to optimise their profitability. Soil type and water represent two of the key limiting resources which define the grain yield potential of a paddock. The unpredictability of growing season rainfall patterns restricts in-season fertiliser applications for EP growers, due to the associated high economic risks. As a risk management strategy, growers often apply lower rates of nutrients than required to achieve the water limiting yield potential (Sadras and Roget 2004, Monjardino et al. 2013). Therefore, less than optimum nutrient rates are applied in many instances, and maximum grain yield gains are not reached on occasions where opportunities have existed. Understanding soil water and nutrient dynamics can be useful to determine when in-season extra fertiliser applications are worth the investment in EP dryland farming systems.

This study used a subset of the Eyre Peninsula Agricultural Research Foundation (EPARF) soil moisture probe network locations to benchmark the water limited yield potential and determine the achievable grain yield of cereals crops across major soil types of EP.

These variety trials were identified as priorities by local agricultural bureau groups to evaluate commonly grown varieties, compare them to newly released varieties and provide further information on varietal performance in soil types and rainfall regions where wheat and barley National Variety Trials (NVT) are not conducted.

These variety trials were identified as priorities by local agricultural bureau groups to evaluate commonly grown varieties, compare them to newly released varieties and provide further information on varietal performance in soil types and rainfall regions where wheat and barley National Variety Trials (NVT) are not conducted.

To compare current varieties to ones which are not commonly grown in the district, and to compare varieties in soil types and rainfall regions where National Wheat Variety trials are not conducted.

To assess barley grass weed seed capture by swathing and weed seed capture in chaff dumps after harvest, to determine how effective these practices can be in contributing towards an IWM program for barley grass on upper Eyre Peninsula.

To identify the severity of K deficiency in broad-acre crops in respect to the Colwell K level in the top 10 cm of soil.

To identify the severity of K deficiency in broad-acre crops in respect to the Colwell K level in the top 10 cm of soil.

To identify the severity of K deficiency in broad-acre crops in respect to the Colwell K level in the top 10 cm of soil.

To identify the severity of K deficiency in broad-acre crops in respect to the Colwell K level in the top 10 cm of soil.

Investigate strategies for correcting K deficiency in broad-acre crops.

To identify the severity of K deficiency in broad-acre crops in respect to the Colwell K level in the top 10 cm of soil.

To identify the severity of K deficiency in broad-acre crops in respect to the Colwell K level in the top 10 cm of soil.

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.

Failure to control annual weed species that persist through cropping phases facilitates replenishment/establishment of weed seedbanks. Consequently, this maintains weed interference in subsequent years of crop production. Harvest weed seed control (HWSC) has been widely adopted in Australia since its inception over three decades ago to prevent redistribution of weed seeds across cropping fields during commercial harvesting operations (Walsh et al. 2017). Implementation of HWSC obstructs fresh seedbank inputs by subjecting the weed seed bearing chaff fraction to a treatment, such as combustion (narrow windrow burning), mechanical pulverisation (impact mills), decomposition (chaff-lining) and removal (chaff cart). Chaff-lining has been readily adopted by growers because of the low cost of modifying a harvester to confine the chaff fraction into a narrow row between stubble, or onto dedicated wheel tracks in controlled traffic farming systems (chaff-tramlining). There is a paucity of literature examining seedbank decline of important Australian weed species in chaff-lines, however a common conjecture is that a mulching effect is created by a combination of physical and chemical influences (Walsh et al. 2018). Field observations suggest that in the absence of seed decay, control failures of annual weed species and volunteer crop plants may be exacerbated. Therefore, growers urgently need information that substantiates the implications of chaff-lining to weed seedbanks.

To include the Minnipa flock within the program to help:

• educate ram buyers of the merits of ASBVs so they seek out, and buy rams from, breeders that are members of Sheep Genetics “LAMPLAN” or “MERINOSELECT”.
• encourage more breeders to become members of Sheep Genetics “LAMPLAN” or “MERINOSELECT” and to offer ASBVs on sale rams.
• encourage more breeders to use ASBVs when buying stud sires or semen.

To compare current released varieties at two locations on Eyre Peninsula, plus a demonstration at Penong.

Soil testing for N, P, K and S is a key strategy for monitoring soil fertility of cropping soils as well as for refining fertiliser application strategies for future crops. For this to be successful, the relationship between the soil test and likely response to applied nutrients needs to be well calibrated. Many of these calibrations were developed from fertiliser trials conducted over 20 years ago and have provided robust guidelines on many soil types, but mostly for cereals. Since these trials were conducted cropping systems have changed significantly and altered the face of soil fertility in the Australian grains industry. A detailed re-examination of those existing guidelines is needed to ensure they are still relevant in current farming systems.

As part of the GRDC funded MPCN2 (More Profit from Crop Nutrition) program, a review of data in the Better Fertilizer Decisions for Cropping (BFDC) database showed gaps exist for key crops, soils and regions. Most of these gaps relate to crops that are (i) new to cropping regions or are a low proportion of cropped area, i.e. break crops, (ii) emerging nutrient constraints that had previously been adequate in specific soil types and (iii) issues associated with changing nutrient profile distribution. This project (UQ00082) is closing gaps in the BFDC database using replicated trials. Trials have been established on sites selected for nutrient responses and run over multiple years to develop soil test-crop response relationships. By using wheat as a benchmark alongside a break crop, we should be able to extend the relevance of the guidelines beyond the conditions at the trial site.

On the upper Eyre Peninsula (UEP), highly calcareous soils constitute a high proportion (more than 1 million hectares) of soils used for agricultural production (Bertrand et al. 2000, Bertrand et al. 2003). The website ‘Yield Gap Australia’ (http://yieldgapaustralia.com.au/maps/) identifies that the average grain yield on Western Eyre Peninsula (WEP) and UEP is between 41 and 45% of the water limited yield potential (1.5 t/ha for WEP and 1.8 t/ha for UEP). Closing the grain yield gap for wheat on UEP presents a challenge to growers, particularly on highly calcareous soils where nutrient deficiencies are common (Holloway et al. 2001). The production of insoluble minerals through the interaction of soil calcium carbonate with soluble nutrients such as phosphorous and trace elements (Holloway et al. 2001), combined with low soil moisture conditions prevents these nutrients from being readily available to the plant (Lombi et al. 2004). Holloway et al. (1999-2003) demonstrated the possibility of providing phosphorus (P) to the plant in an available form by applying fluid P fertilisers instead of granular fertilisers at seeding.

The majority of landholders in Australia, including the western and upper Eyre Peninsula currently use granular fertilisers which require good soil moisture conditions to enable uptake of nutrients by crops. Growers and advisors have noted that highly calcareous top soils dry out quickly after rainfall events, which may contribute to poor water use and nutrient extraction efficiency, and may also be a reason why diseases such as Rhizoctonia solani have greater impact in these soils. In addition, as a risk management strategy, growers often apply lower rates of nutrients than required to achieve the water limiting yield potential (Sadras and Roget 2004, Monjardino et al. 2013). A better understanding of soil moisture, root disease and factors which influence nutrient availability and the efficacy of fertilisers are needed to increase the water limited yield potential of the highly calcareous soils (McLaughlin et al. 2013).

Field trials were conducted in 2019 to investigate these factors on the nutrition of wheat on highly calcareous soils.

To discuss the critical growth stages for maintaining sound nutrition of crops on Upper EP.

• To assess the crop production and economic outcomes from applying P at nil, replacement, 10 kg P/ha (district practice, DP) and 20 kg P/ha (double district practice, DDP) rates on 2 soil types at Minnipa.

To monitor crop production and economic outcomes from applying P at nil, replacement, average and twice average rates on both a deep sandy loam and a shallow constrained soil.

To compare current released varieties at two locations on Eyre Peninsula.

Previous work in the Mallee has shown the EM38 technology has benefited farm profit. On that basis we have commenced a demonstration on the Minnipa Agricultural Centre to validate previous Mallee outcomes.

• To investigate the potential to incorporate a mixture of perennial species into farming systems in low-rainfall areas across southern Australia.

To identify better perennial species than what is already available in low rainfall areas.

To measure comparative wheat yields in response to varying P applications on 2 soil types.

• To identify alternative perennial legumes to lucerne suitable for incorporation within cropping systems, there are at least 3 options potentially adapted to areas within the Eyre Peninsula environment.

To identify alternative perennial legumes to lucerne suitable for incorporation within cropping systems, there are possibly at least 3 options adapted to areas within the Eyre Peninsula environment.

To reinvigorate the livestock component of the EP farming system.

To report on a series of articles are from trials undertaken in 2011 on the three focus sites or funded via the
EPFS 3 project.

To assist farmers to understand what their land is capable of producing under a range of conditions and how to tailor inputs to get the most profitable outcomes.

• 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 provide data to assist in decision making when planning to use a field crop as a potential resource for grazing, hay and/or grain based on seasonal conditions, while in some cases utilising the benefits of a break crop within the cropping rotation.

To determine the potential toxicity of the fungicide P-Pickel T (PPT) to rhizobia applied as a commercial inoculant (peat and freeze-dried) on field pea (R. leguminosarum, group F) in field conditions in a soil with a low rhizobial background.