Early rains have brought about the establishment of Brassica plants (pictured), such as radish and canola, which are common hosts of Diamondback Moth (DBm).

West Midlands Group mixed farming systems officer, Brianna Hindle, recently spent a few days driving around the countryside identifying areas that may be prone to Diamondback moth (DBm).

Brianna placed 40 traps between Eneabba, Coorow, Calingiri, Lancelin, Jurien Bay to begin monitoring the presence of this crop-destroying insect.

Plants were identified along the roadside, then the trap was setup at the and placed. The Brassica was visually inspected for any signs of DBm larvae.

A sample of plant was taken from all sites, with each trap site located between 20 to 30km apart.

Sites were marked on the MyPestGuide Reporter app, along with photos taken of the site and Brassica plants present.

While there was evidence of DBm activity on many plants in the form of leaf damage, Brianna discovered no larvae at any sites.

The traps will be collected in a month, and samples of DBm presence on the traps will be sent to DPIRD for analysis.

Read the full article

Water repellent gravelly sands may require different management to water repellent sands to improve grain yield. An increase in gravel content can increase soil organic carbon, decrease the amount (kg/ha) of soil phosphorus and potassium and potentially increase leaching of nitrate. The sandy gravels of the Badgingarra area typically have gravelly soils in the higher parts of the landscape and deep sands in the valleys which may have different soil constraints for crop growth. This transect study was completed to quantify which factors are most important for grain yield in a sandy gravel soil.

Download PDF

To understand the financial benefit of the many ameliorations options, it is vital to know how long the productivity gains from their implementation are likely to last.  In this trial, large-scale on-farm strip trials with repeated controls using grower seeders and harvesters were applied. This trial deonstrated one-off mouldboard ploughing, rotoary spading and claying.

Download PDF

This trial aimed to evaluate early foliar disease suppression of soil applied fungicides, compare early soil disease control to a foliar only strategy, compare efficacy of different foliar fungicides on yield at a ~Z31 and Z39 applications as well as comparative of seed treatments.

Download PDF

This project investigates the use of double break crops to increase the yield of subsequent wheat crops in the Kwinana East and West port zones of the WA grain growing region through the use of field experimentation.

Download PDF

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of paired and single seeding configurations on the timely emergence of crops. While the use of paired row seeding configurations has been popular and well adopted among growers in recent years, there is little independent data to quantify the benefit of paired row seeding configurations on the timely emergence of crops over a range of seeding depths and soil types.

Download PDF

This trial aimed to establish how claying of sands alters crop nutrient management. Subsoil clays used for clay amendment of sands vary greatly in properties. The trial determined testing subsoils for key properties best ensures a positive response to investment in clay amendment. Two of the field experiments were studied at Badgingarra on a site with low levels of water repellence.

Download PDF

Three demonstration sites were established over the 4 years looking at the interaction of lime rate and cultivation in changing subsoil pH. Sites were located in Warrdarge and North Badgingarra. Spading and mouldboarding to incorporate lime are both relatively expensive methods of increasing subsoil pH and reducing non-wetting. These NACC funded demonstrations aimed to asses the effectiveness of modified one-way plough at achieving subsoil pH change.

Download PDF

The wheat varieties bred for traditional wheatbelt with the low and medium rainfall may limit yield potential when grown in the high rainfall area. Lengthening the construction period duration (CPD) of the spike growth may increase the sink size and therefore potential yield. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between yield, flowering time and the duration of spike growth period and to investigate whether yield can be improved by lengthening CPD.

Download PDF

Over the past five years considerable research has been undertaken assessing options for water repellent sands but less has been done for the gravel soils. The aim of this research is to look at soil water repellence management options for sandy gravel soils over a four year period (until December 2018). This research consisted of on-farm strip trials comprised of five different treatments for water repellence (Control, Paired row, minimal disturbance and two types of wetting agents) in combination with two cultivation treatments (modified one-way plough or no plough). The first year study showed that the adoption of a strategic tillage practice (one-way plough) provided a significant improvement in terms of crop establishment and grain yields on a moderately repellent sandy gravel.

Download PDF