Streaky Bay SA trials

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Benchmarking water limited yield of cereal crops on major soil types across Eyre Peninsula

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.

 

SARDI Minnipa Agricultural Centre
2019 Streaky Bay SA
Research organisaton
Better prediction and management of Rhizoctonia disease in cereals

To improve the long term control of Rhizoctonia by increasing the understanding of the interactions between disease inoculum and natural soil suppressive activity and to improve the prediction and management of disease.

SARDI Minnipa Agricultural Centre
GRDC
2009 Streaky Bay SA
Research organisaton
Characterising water limited yield potential in calcareous soils of upper Eyre Peninsula

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.

SARDI Minnipa Agricultural Centre
2019 Streaky Bay SA
Research organisaton
Farmer best bet demonstrations for Rhizoctonia management

To look at the impact of break crops on Rhizoctonia inoculum in 2013 and of crop management on disease expression in the following cereal crop. 

SARDI Minnipa Agricultural Centre
2012 Streaky Bay SA
Research organisaton
Impact of fertiliser on wheat emergence under dry conditions

With larger seeding programs, increased summer weed control to conserve soil moisture and more variable autumn rainfall patterns, more growers Australia-wide are moving toward dry sowing.

On upper Eyre Peninsula in 2017 and 2018, seed was placed in the soil for many weeks with limited soil moisture, some seed still germinated but the delayed plant emergence often resulted in a lower plant establishment. This raised questions by growers about the soil factors which reduce germination and establishment.

This article summarises a pot trial which assessed the impact of DAP placement on wheat establishment on three different soil types; a red loam (Minnipa Agricultural Centre (MAC)) and two grey calcareous soils (Streaky Bay and Cungena).

 

SARDI Minnipa Agricultural Centre
2019 Streaky Bay SA
Research organisaton
Improving the early management of dry sown cereal crops

With larger seeding programs, increased summer weed control to conserve soil moisture and more variable autumn rainfall patterns, many growers Australia wide are continuing to dry-sow. More traditionally, growers may have previously ‘dabbled a little’ in dry-sowing and are observing with interest the successes and failures of dry-sowing systems.

On upper Eyre Peninsula in 2017 and 2018, seed was placed in the soil for many weeks with limited soil moisture; some seed still germinated but the delayed plant emergence often resulted in a lower plant establishment. This raised questions by EP farmers and consultants about the soil factors which influence seed germination and establishment.

Research trials were established in 2019 to assess the impact of management on seed germination and establishment on three different soil types in field trials and pot experiments; a red loam [Minnipa Agricultural Centre (MAC)] and two grey calcareous soils (Cungena and Streaky Bay) for:

  • Impact of fertiliser type (P and N) and fertiliser placement,
  • Impact of practices, herbicides and seed dressings.

 

This article reports on field trials undertaken in 2019 at three sites.

SARDI Minnipa Agricultural Centre
2019 Streaky Bay SA
Research organisaton
Proximal sensing technologies on soils and plants on Eyre Peninsula

This research was done to develop predictive formulas that can be used by growers to estimate in-season soil nutrients from soil samples taken at different depths and crop nutrient content from proximal sensing (PS) data.

The upper Eyre Peninsula (UEP) is a challenging environment for growers, due to the irregular rainfall patterns which are coupled with lower soil fertility. Additionally, calcareous soils with poor structure and low water holding capacity provide additional restrictions for plant growth, as growers currently use granular fertilisers which require good soil moisture conditions to enable the uptake of nutrients. Topsoils from calcareous soils may dry quickly after rain events, which may explain poor water use and nutrient extraction efficiency.

 

PS technologies have the potential to support grower’s nutrient management decisions by monitoring in-season soil and crop water and nutrient content (Allen et al. 2017, Arsego et al. 2017). PS uses a wide range of wavelengths to predict soil and crop nutritional status in a non-destructive, quick, and inexpensive way. PS technology is mostly limited to laboratory use. The development of small, portable PS devices may allow the use of this technology in farm paddocks in the near future. In this study, we combined different UEP trials to develop predictive models for PS for crop nitrogen, crop nutrient content and soil moisture.

SARDI Minnipa Agricultural Centre
GRDC
2019 Streaky Bay SA
Research organisaton