IFN chief agronomist Damian Jones said despite the region’s extraordinary recent rainfall, the day would provide growers with “an excellent opportunity” to see the performance of new varieties and ask questions direct with seed company representatives.
Damian said there was a bit of a mix in the trial, with the Thursday, September 17 morning focus on wheat, barley, canola and oats.
He said the afternoon would be dedicated to the pulses, and in particular, to some expanded work they are doing with faba beans.
“We have been working closely with the seed companies, and with some of the more mainstream crops, such as the wheats, we have planted new varieties alongside established ones so we can check there really are new advantages in these lines,” Damian said.
“We started planting on April 21, and the last crops went in on June 1 at our Kerang trial site.
“We really wanted to make sure we planted in line with breeder recommendations for each variety, and we did pre-irrigate, which, with the benefit of hindsight and the weather, we have had may not have been necessary,” he said.
“The canola is basically all new varieties, because that’s what canola does, and the grains are an area where we are really after some improvements — we have been doing some trial work for a number of years separate to, but along the same lines as NVT trials.”
The seed companies participating in this year’s trial field day are AGF Seeds, AGT, BASF, Intergrain, Longreach Plant Breeders, Nuseed, Pacific/Advanta Seeds, Pioneer, RAGT and Seednet.
Damian said while the pre-irrigation helped get the early planting away, the ongoing rain had created some unwanted difficulties.
He said they had been working hard since May to get things done, and often forced to walking in, or using motorbikes, and sloshing around the paddocks — then last week managed to bog the motorbike things have been so wet.
“But things look fine now, although, as you would expect, we have had a bit of root disease,” Damian said.
“A few years ago we also had some septoria challenges, but have been really vigilant in that area, and it has not been an issue for us at the moment — and it’s still a little early to expect rust, although we have been hand spraying,” he said.
“The aim of the day is to bring breeders and their experts together with farmers and their questions and concerns — and it also allows IFN to discuss the agronomy of the trials and how we do what we have done.
“And with last year’s cereal trial crops going 10 tonnes to the hectare, I like to think we are doing something right.”
Damian said IFN had also been working closely with GRDC in trials to grow irrigated faba beans — a project designed to better manage the canopy, so you are more efficient in producing beans and not just biomass.
And that will be a feature of the afternoon presentation.
The field day will be held at 407 Kerang-Koondrook Rd from 10am.
For further information and to book tickets, go to www.irrigationfn.com.au
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