Mallee Sustainable Farming

August 24, 2021June 17, 2022

AWI Improving sheep nutrition core samples

Improving sheep nutrition through assessment of regional feed base deficiencies

Background

The low rainfall Mallee of NSW, Victoria and SA covers around 7 million hectares and is an important wool-growing region, with 70% of farmers running mixed farming enterprises.

Mallee Sustainable Farming (MSF) has identified a knowledge gap that exists around feed and nutrition values in the low rainfall zone. Feedback from MSF members has identified the need for a better understanding of the digestibility, energy value and mineral content of a number of low rainfall pastures, in addition to a range of crop types not traditionally considered for grazing.

Farmers are looking to build flock numbers or reintroduce sheep, however, to manage risk and seasonal variability there needs to be flexibility in grazing management and more information available to address nutritional deficiencies in low rainfall pastures and alternative grazing crops such as pulses.

The aims of this project are:

Identify the nutritional value and mineral content of a range of Mallee pastures and grazing crops.
Develop a dataset of the nutritional value and mineral content of low rainfall pastures for use by producers and industry.
Increase producer confidence in making sheep management decisions by using the data in Lifetime Ewe Management training delivered in low rainfall regions.

Podcast

In this MSF Farm Talk Podcast Episode, Hamish Dickson, Principal Livestock Consultant, AgriPartner Consulting discusses:

Launch Podcast

How feed varies in different environments and why this project is so important for Mallee farmers.
The types of pastures we will be targeting and what we are measuring in this project.
The key differences we need to be mindful of when it comes to animal health and nutrition in low rainfall environments.
The benefits of being part of a Lifetime ewe group and what farmers can get out of it.
Plus more!

Methodology

The six different pasture types have been sampled throughout the year at various Mallee locations. Each pasture sample was analysed by feed test to provide a comprehensive analysis of feed quality. Each of the tabs provides a summary of the Crude Protein, Metabolsable Energy and Digestibility of the “green” and “dry” components of each pasture type at different sample times throughout the season. Please contact the project team to access a comprehensive analysis report for each sample than contains the following data:
• Moisture
• Dry Matter
• Crude Protein
• Neutral Detergent Fibre,
• Digestibility (of Dry Matter and of Organic Dry Matter)
• Metabolisable Energy
• Water Soluble Carbohydrates
• Acid Detergent Fibre
• Minerals: (Boron, Calcium, Chloride, Copper, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, Phosphorous, Potassium, Sodium, Sulphur, Zinc, Cobalt, Molybdenum, Selenium)

For Further information please contact MSF:

Contact

This project is monitoring the annual pasture growth and quality cycle for six pasture options available to Mallee farmers. The following pasture options were monitored in 2020 and 2021

2020

2021

2020 Results

Winter Barley
Within Quadrant Dry Matter 1500 kg/ha

Winter Lucerne
Within Quadrant Dry Matter 2200 kg/ha

Winter Field Peas
Within Quadrant Dry Matter 600 kg/ha

Winter Veldt Grass
Within Quadrant Dry Matter 4000 kg/ha

Winter Vetch
Within Quadrant Dry Matter 1200 kg/ha

Winter Regen Medic
Within Quadrant Dry Matter 1350 kg/ha

2021 Results

Winter Barley
Within Quadrant Dry Matter 990 kg/ha

Winter Lucerne
Within Quadrant Dry Matter 1470 kg/ha

Winter Field Peas
Within Quadrant Dry Matter 1350 kg/ha

Winter Veldt Grass
Within Quadrant Dry Matter 1300 kg/ha

Winter Regen Medic
Within Quadrant Dry Matter 1000 kg/ha

June 24, 2021December 20, 2021

Lentil Varieties for the Northern Mallee, Pinnaroo

Trial Methodology

The trial was sown on the 15th of May. Each variety was sown at the seeding rates specified in the table below. The trial was sown with a tyned seeder fitted with paired row Root Boot. Granulock Z was supplied as starter fertliser at 50 kg/ha. All varieties were inoculated with a group E/F Tagteam Granular. Simazine (200 g/ha), Diuron (200 g/ha) were applied as pre-emergent herbicides and were incorporated before sowing (IBS).

Pinnaroo Lentil Trial Results
Lentils produced excellent grain yields in 2020 with PBA Jumbo2 topping the trial with 3.4 t/ha.
PBA Highland, PBA Bolt, GIA Leader and PBA Hurricane all had similar grain yields.
Grain yields of PBA Hallmark and PBA Kelpie were significantly less than PBA Jumbo2, PBA Highland and PBA Bolt.

Acknowledgement
This virtual field day has been developed as part of the Mallee Sustainable Farming (MSF) project:
“Facilitating enhanced knowledge sharing of Mallee sustainable farming practices”
This project is supported by the Mallee Catchment Management Authority (CMA), through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

The research featured in this virtual field day was completed as part of the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) funded project:
• Understanding the implications of new traits on the adaption, crop physiology and management of pulses in the southern region (DAV00150)
This trial was managed by Frontier Farming Systems and Agricultural Victoria

April 20, 2021June 22, 2021

Sandy Soils – Sands Impact Validation Trial, Ouyen 2020

Background

Sub-optimal productivity is commonly reported for the deep sands that make up 20 to 30% of the cropping soils in the low rainfall Victorian Mallee region. Diagnosis of local constraints have pointed to low fertility and the physical restriction of rooting depth as the most likely constraints to production on sands in the Victorian Mallee. To explore this further, a trial was established at Ouyen in 2017 to investigate the potential the interactions between crop water use, physical disturbance by rotary spading, and the incorporation of organic amendments.

Methods

Treatments
Six different types of organic matter were incorporated to a depth of 30 cm depth in 2017 using a one pass spade and sow operation (Table 1). Each organic amendment was applied at a rate which supplied 2.5 t/ha of carbon, but varied in carbon:nitrogen (C:N) ratio. Spaded organic matter treatments were also compared to spading only, spaded urea (supplying equivalent quantity of N as vetch hay) and a non-spaded control.

Management
The trial was sown to barley in 2017 with subsequent years rotating between wheat and barley. Each season the trial received DAP S Z (16:17:0:8; 0.5%Zn) @ 62.5 kg/ha at seeding and 47 kg/ha of Ammonium Sulphate and a foliar application of copper, zinc and manganese was applied during tillering.

Treatment	Application Rate (t/ha)	C:N Ratio	Treatment N Input (kg/ha)
Spaded Vetch Hay	6	16:1	156
Spaded Oaten Hay	5.9	72:1	35
Spaded Vetch + Oat Hay	3.3 + 2.7	25:1	102
Spaded Chicken Litter	6.8	16:1	218
Spaded Compost	15.8	10:1	252
Urea	0.34	N/A	156
Spaded control	Nil	N/A	–
Non-spaded control	Nil	N/A	–

Table 1

Results

2020 Grain Yield

Here was a 0.75 t/ha increase in grain yield in 2020 between the non-spaded control and all other treatments which were spaded in 2017. There was no significant difference between spaded treatments, therefore there was no effect of organic matter in 2020.

Cumulative Yield Benefit (2017-2020)

Spading chicken litter compost in 2017 has provided increased grain yield by 3.4 t/ha relative to the on-spaded control. The effect of spading was 1.3 t/ha, therefore the long term yield benefit of the application of 6.8 t/ha chicken litter was 2.1 t/ha. The next most effective organic matter source was compost while on-farm organic matter sources such as vetch hay has provided not provided long term benefit over and above spading.

The research featured in this virtual field day was completed as part of the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) funded project:
• Increasing production on sandy soils in the low-medium rainfall areas of the southern region.
The trials are a collaboration between Frontier Farming Systems and Mallee Sustainable Farming, CSIRO and UniSA.

April 20, 2021June 22, 2021

Sandy Soils – Sands Impact Validation Trial, Tempy 2020

Background

There is considerable interest in strategic deep tillage (e.g. deep ripping, spading) with or without agronomic amendments (fertilisers, organic matter) to overcome physical constraints and increase water and nutrient supply within the profile of Mallee sandy soils. To investigate the potential benefits of deep ripping and the inclusion of organic matter (OM), a replicated trial was established near Tempy in 2019.

Methods

Treatments
The trial comprised of five treatments to compare deep ripping only with inclusion plates and OM addition. All deep ripping treatments were implemented to a depth of 50cm with a tine spacing of 56cm. The OM used was a chicken litter compost blend, applied at 5t/ha (https://www.peatssoil.com.au), in the treatments listed in Table 1.

Management
The trial was sown to barley in both 2019 and 2020. Each season the trial received DAP S Z (16:17:0:8; 0.5%Zn) @ 62.5 kg/ha at seeding and 47 kg/ha of Ammonium Sulphate and a foliar application of copper, zinc and manganese was applied during tillering.

	Depth cm	Treatment
Control (undisturbed)	–	–
Deep ripping	50	with rigid shank (Tilco)
Deep ripping	50	with inclusion plate (Tilco) operating 150mm below soil surface
Deep ripping	50	with inclusion plate (Tilco) plus OM surface applied
Deep ripping	50	with OM deep placed behind the ripping shank

Table 1

Results

2020 Grain Yield

Deep ripping with inclusion plates and/or OM applied produced a significantly higher grain yield than the undisturbed control in 2020. The grain yield of the deep ripping only treatment was not significantly higher than the control in 2020.

Figure 1: Grain yield from the Tempy site in 2020

Cumulative Yield Benefit (2017-2020)

All treatments increased the quantity of grain grown in 2019 and 2020 by at least 1.5 t/ha, relative to the undisturbed control. However, there is no significant difference in cumulative grain yield between the ripping treatments.

March 2, 2021December 20, 2021

Chickpea Varieties for the Northern Mallee, Pinnaroo

Trial Methodology

The trial was sown on the 15^th of May. Each variety was sown at the seeding rates specified in the table below. The trial was sown with a tyned seeder fitted with paired row Root Boot. Granulock Z was supplied as starter fertliser at 50 kg/ha. All varieties were inoculated with a group N Tagteam Granular. Simazine (200 g/ha), Diuron (200 g/ha) and Balance (80 g/ha) were applied as pre-emergent herbicides and were incorporated before sowing (IBS).

Pinnaroo Chickpea Trial Results
Desi Chickpea types PBA Striker and PBA Slasher were the highest yielding varieties with grain yields of 2.8 t/ha
Both varieties were higher yielding than the large Kabuli chickpea varieties Kalkee and PBA Monarch
The striker also had a significantly higher grain yield than PBA Magnus but did not differ significantly from the other varieties

March 1, 2021June 20, 2023

Chickpea Varieties for the Northern Mallee, Werrimull

Trial Methodology

The trial was sown on the 4^th of May. Each variety was sown at the seeding rates specified in the table below. The trial was sown with a tyned seeder fitted with paired row roots boots. Granulock Z was supplied as starter fertliser at 50 kg/ha. All varieties were inoculated with a group N Tagteam Granular. Simazine (200 g/ha), Diuron (200 g/ha) and Balance (80 g/ha) were applied as pre-emergent herbicides and were incorporated before sowing (IBS).

The trial has shown differences between varieties for grain yield, however there was no effect of fungicide application.

Early flowering and maturing PBA Monarch (2.61 t/ha) and PBA Striker (2.58 t/ha) were the varieties with the highest grain yields.

Genesis Kalkee, a mid-late flowering and late maturing variety had a grain yield of 2.33 t/ha, closely followed by the mid flowering and mid maturing varieties CBA Captain and PBA Royal with mean grain yields of 2.33 t/ha and 2.34 t/ha respectively.

February 22, 2021December 20, 2021

Deep Ripping Pulse Crops at Kooloonong 2020

Trial Methodology

Four separate trials were established to quantify the response of Lentil, Chickpea, Lupin and Faba bean varieties to deep ripping on a deep sandy soil. The trial site was located near Kooloonong in the Victorian Mallee.
Deep ripped treatments were ripped to a depth of 500 mm with using a Tilco A66 tynes spaced 56 cm apart.
All trials were sown on the 26th of April 2020.

Lentil

Lentil Variety

• PBA Bolt
• PBA Jumbo2
• PBA Hallmark XT
• PBA Highland XT
• PBA Kelpie XT (1721)
• GIA Leader (GIA1701)
• GIA 2005
• GIA 2001

Chickpea

Chickpea Variety

• PBA Striker
• PBA Slasher
• CBA Captain (CICA 1521)
• PBA Magnus (CICA 1352)
• PBA Royal
• Genesis ® 090
• Genesis ® Kalkee
• D13233

Lupin

Lupin Variety

• PBA Jurien
• PBA Bateman
• Mandelup
• Coyote

Faba bean

Faba bean variety

• PBA Samira
• PBA Marne
• PBA Bendoc
• AF12025

February 2, 2021June 19, 2023

Area Wide Weed Management Summer Weeds

Non-phenoxy options for use with optical sprayers in summer fallow

Location: Yatpool, Victoria.

Phenoxy herbicides are at high risk of causing off-site damage to susceptible crops such as horticulture, therefore Sunraysia farmers are extremely cautious when using such phenoxy herbicides which is to the detriment of weed control.

We have compared six products registered for use in optical sprayers to investigate alternative herbicides to phenoxy products. Treatments were applied at 100 L/Ha with very course droplets. The weed spectrum at this site was Sow Thistle, Lesser Sow Thistle and Paddy Melons.

Documented are 360 degree split-view tours of each treatment plot visualising a comparative of pre-spray in the left viewer and three weeks post spray in the right viewer. The tours are accompanied by still images captured of weeds at three weeks post-treatments for each plot.

This trial was established on Tuesday December 15, 2020.

Treatments	Active Ingredients
Crucial 4L/ha	CRUCIAL @ 4.0 L/ha (600g/L glyphosate)
Biffo 10L/ha	BIFFO @ 10.0 L/ha (200g/L glufosinate-ammonium)
Amicide Advance 700 at 4.8L/ha	AMICIDE ADVANCE 700 @ 4.8 L/ha (700g/L 2,4-D present as the dimethylamine and monomethylamine salt)
Amitrole T at 8L/ha	AMITROLE T @ 8.0 L /ha ( 250g/L Amitrole + 220g/L Ammonium Thiocyanate)
Alliance 4L/ha	ALLIANCE @ 4.0 L /ha (250g/L amitrole + 125g/L paraquat as dichloride)
Crucial 1.8L/ha + Terrad’or 40g + Banjo 1L/ha	CRUCIAL @ 1.8 L (600g/L glyphosate) + TERRAD’OR @ 40 g (700g/kg Tiafenacil) + BANJO @ 1.0L/ha adjuvant (725 g/L Methyl ester (canola oil))

Observations

Crucial has shown to be the most effective treatment within the trial demonstrating fast brown out within 2 – 3 weeks.
Biffo has also displayed strong results, although a little bit of green at the base of the plants is visible in the still images below but mostly browned out after the 3 week post spray period.
Eventually Amicide Advance gave total weed control across the trial plot but took additional time to work than Crucial and Biffo treatments.
Generally poor level of control displayed within the Amitrole T. Suppression but no death of the paddy melons. Sow thistle in this plot is hard to differentiate from the control as the control as the control was maturing and browning out naturally.
Possible suffered from contact issues with the direction of travel clearly evident in sow thistle with brown down the front of the plant but some green plant remained on the back of the sow thistle. No control evident of paddy melon with this treatment.
Similarly, to Alliance where droplet contact point is visible but not total control of the whole plant. Hard to reconcile against the excellent job of crucial on its own, although half the rate applied.

Untreated Control

Treatment: Crucial 4L/ha

Crucial has shown to be the most effective treatment within the trial demonstrating fast brown out within 2 – 3 weeks.

Treatment: Biffo 10L/ha

Biffo has also displayed strong results, although a little bit of green at the base of the plants is visible in the still images below but mostly browned out after the 3 week post spray period.

Treatment: Amicide Advance 700 at 4.8L/ha

Eventually Amicide Advance gave total weed control across the trial plot but took additional time to work than Crucial and Biffo treatments.

Treatment: Amitrole T at 8L/ha

Generally poor level of control displayed within the Amitrole T. Suppression but no death of the paddy melons. Sow thistle in this plot is hard to differentiate from the control as the control as the control was maturing and browning out naturally.

Treatment: Alliance 4L/ha

Possible suffered from contact issues with the direction of travel clearly evident in sow thistle with brown down the front of the plant but some green plant remained on the back of the sow thistle. No control evident of paddy melon with this treatment.

Treatment: Crucial 1.8L/ha + Terrad’or 40g + Banjo 1L/ha

Similarly to Alliance where droplet contact point is visible but not total control of the whole plant. Hard to reconcile against the excellent job of crucial on its own, although half the rate applied.

Acknowledgments
This project is supported through funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program and the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation.

February 1, 2021December 20, 2021

SAGIT Deep Ripping Trial Tour Pinnaroo

2020 Virtual Tour at Pinnaroo, South Australia.

Deep ripping to enhance production on Mallee sandy soils.

Mallee Sustainable Farming with funding from the South Australian Grain industry trust (or SAGIT) are investigating methods to improve the deep ripping process conducted by Frontier Farming Systems

January 15, 2021February 9, 2022

SAGIT Deep Ripping Trial Tour Woodleigh

Deep ripping to enhance production on Mallee sandy soils.

Mallee Sustainable Farming with funding from the South Australian Grain industry trust (or SAGIT) are investigating methods to improve the deep ripping process conducted by Frontier Farming Systems

2020 Virtual Tour at Woodleigh, South Australia.