Maximising groundcover with crop stubble to aid climate resilience.
Retaining stubble is generally recognised as the appropriate form of post-harvest stubble management and has several key benefits including improving soil organic matter, preventing soil erosion, and helping to retain moisture. However, the challenge lies in retaining every season and particularly in good seasons with increased stubble density leading to machinery blockages, reduced crop establishment and nitrogen tie-up.
The aim of the Stubble Management Project is to identify successful strategies that optimise the benefits of retaining stubble for crop production, whilst also maintaining adequate soil ground cover to improve soil health.
A total of six demonstration sites will be established across the Northern Agricultural Region and Central Wheatbelt in Western Australia. The trial will comprise of three stubble treatments. The first treatment will act as a control, with stubble left standing. The second is machinery manipulation of stubble, such as with a stubble cruncher, and the third an application of nitrogen or biostimulant to standing stubble pre-seeding.
By monitoring these three treatments across the six sites we will begin to investigate the impact of simply leaving stubble standing against machinery manipulation or nitrogen application on key factor such as:
Stubble breakdown
Nutrient availability
Ground cover
Weeds
Nitrogen tie-up
Crop growth & yield
Commencement: 2021 | Completion: 2024
Funding body(s): Western Australian Government’s State NRM Program Project Lead Organisation: The West Midlands Group Collaborators: Corrigin Farm Improvement Group
Who is involved?
Three demonstration sites have been set up in the West Midlands region including properties in Hill River, Dandaragan and Yathroo, with another three sites established by the Corrigin Farm Improvement Group in the Central Wheatbelt region.