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.
Omission trials are a good visual way of highlighting the importance of each nutrient. In this trial we looked at each macronutrient and its importance to canola. Soil tests run through NUlogic suggested the potential for deficiencies in nitrogen (N), sulphur (S) and possibly potassium (K). This trial was conducted in Dandaragan on sandy loam soil. The site was very responsive to nitrogen (N) fertiliser.
Potassium (K) is often supplied as topdressed MOP before seeding. However, this may not be the most effective method of application since the K may be pushed into slower-wetting inter-rows by seeding bars. In this trial, K was supplied in differing rates by topdressing MOP immediately after seeding PSPE, after emergence, or in a full NPK compound granule, Vigour, drilled at seeding with or without supplemental MOP to examine effects on germination and emergence and later grain production.
This trial looked at Serenade Prime as product to increase marketable potatoes and uniformity in tuber size through two applications during the growing season. Serenade Prime did not result in an increase of total yield but recorded an improved number of ‘marketable’ potatoes from the treatment through the reduction of smaller tubers and a higher percentage of medium sized, premium tubers. The trial was conducted near Dandaragan on sandy duplex soil.
The purpose of the canola NVT trials at Dandaragan is to provide growers and their advisors with independent information on the performance of newly released varieties of canola relative to the current commercial varieties grown in the area. The intention is to have two years of data available on the NVT website at the time each new variety is made available for commercial production. The 2016 trial was located in Dandaragan on brown grey sand to yellow brown sand at depth.
Strategic deep tillage can be used to ameliorate soil water repellence and subsoil constraints. One-way disc ploughs have a low capital cost and are relatively cheap to modify into a simple but robust tool for partial soil inversion. In this demonstration one-way disc ploughing was compared to rotary spading, a proven amelioration option for repellent sands and a number of deep ripping approaches, including some of the newer very deep rippers.
These projects aimed to address the questions "Is this paddock performing up to potential, and if not, why not?" by persuading interested growers to apply test strips of various management practices (windrows, fertilisers, lime, wetting agents, cultivation) across their paddocks and soil types. The presence or absence of visual responses to these strips should stimulate further plant, tissue and soil sampling for analyses and the total results would be interpreted by experts. Lack of participation in the diagnostic projects, considerable value was gained from opportunistic sampling and diagnostics associated with observed growth variations in paddocks from crops across windrows and from better growth patches.
This report describes results from a trial which was one of a series of trials at a range of locations, investigating the efficacy of seed dressing and fertiliser applied fungicides on the time of onset, rate of development and yield impact of wheat powdery mildew. This trial was conducted in Moora. A major concern for wheat producers is the susceptibility of several popular varieties, the time of onset of disease requiring early intervention in the cropping season and subsequent concerns over requirements for multiple foliar applications.
Increasing the pH of acidic subsoils in the West Midlands is necessary to increase crop water use and crop yields. A fast way of doing so is to mix lime into the subsoil; spading and mouldboarding are two common methods used in the West Midlands. Both methods are relatively expensive, so this trial aims to assess the effectiveness of a modified one-way plough at achieving subsoil pH change. This trial was located in Warradarge on deep sandy duplex soil.
This trial was conducted in Dandaragan to determining the value in $/ha for each weed control component in the canola crop within specific herbicide technology systems and then developing a software model to calculate the individual and cumulative value to growers of each of these elements for weed control in a “Integrated Weed Control Package”. The site experienced low starting rainfall with staggered plant emergence and then with further rainfall plot populations were within 75 to 85% of targeted plants/m2. All pests and diseases were controlled to an acceptably high level.