South East growers have the potential to boost their yields by two tonnes a hectare to 4t/ha using long season winter wheat germplasm according to FAR Australia managing director Nick Poole.
That was the findings from the first year of the SA Crop Technology Centre site at Millicent run by FAR Australia, in collaboration with SARDI, and the MacKillop Farm Management Group and principally funded by Landmark.
Four of the 10 cultivars yielded 10t/ha or more with 651 millimetres of growing season rainfall.
These were RGT Accroc, RGT Calabro and DS Bennett, as well as Annapurna, not yet commercially available in Australia.
It was the highest performer at 10.61t/ha.
With the exception of DS Bennett which is classified Australian Soft Wheat all are red grained feed wheats.
Mr Poole says by “pushing the boundaries” and sowing in mid-April and harvesting in early January at the site, they have achieved some excellent results.
But it was clear sowing spring wheats in April was too early as they were badly affected by frost.
A similar evaluation has been running in Tas for the past three years, helping farmers identify hyper yielding cultivars and develop an agronomic package to maximise these yields.
He says the SA site is also giving them the opportunity to trial overseas material not part of many wheat breeding programs in Australia that focus more on releases for the low to medium rainfall areas.
Mr Poole says the early sowing did have some pitfalls with increased disease pressure from septoria tritici blotch and leaf rust.
Sixteen of the 17 cultivars benefited from fungicide protection with SQP Revenue having a 4.65t/ha yield benefit from being treated.
High input management with an extra 60 kilograms/ha of nitrogen and two extra fungicides did not significantly increase grain yield though, compared with the standard treatment of three fungicides at growth stage 31-32, GS39 and GS65 and 120kg/ha of N applied in August.
Mr Poole puts the lack of response to extra N down to good paddock history with the site being a canola crop in 2017 and lucerne prior to that.
“To achieve the yields we need a whole management package and good rotations with inherent fertility,” he said.
The SA Crop Technolgy Centre will continue in 2019, which will enable the long season germplasm to be evaluated across multiple seasons and include more work on plant nutrition and growth regulators.
“When growers are getting $400/t you can see very quickly how higher yields can increase profitability” he said.
Crop Tech Centre provides answers
Local growers will reap the rewards of the SA Crop Technology Centre at Millicent with increased confidence to chase higher yields, according to Landmark Naracoorte agronomist James Heffernan.
In high rainfall areas yield is the profit driver in cropping, whereas in medium to low rainfall zones it is cost of production, so if we are spending an extra $100 a hectare down here to get two to three tonnes of yield it can pay,” he said.
“It comes down to the risk management around these high inputs and understanding the phenology of the plant.”
Mr Heffernan says the four-hectare site hosted by the Gilbertson family has also been great value for more than 40 Landmark agronomists, who visited the site multiple times last season, inspecting more than 900 wheat and barley plots.
“A few years ago we thought 10t/ha was more of an anomaly but if we can focus on growing the right varieties in the right paddocks we should be able to get there more often than not,” he said.
The results will be discussed at a grower meeting in Furner on March 6.