Category: Pulse Agronomy

About the Trial

A trial site was established near Ouyen in the Victorian Mallee on a deep sand dune soil.  Deep ripping was undertaken in April to a depth of 50cm.  The deep ripper was fitted with Tilco A66 tynes spaced at 56 cm apart.  Crops were sown on two dates: 2^nd May and 1^st June 2022.  At each sowing time four varieties of Chickpeas and Lentils were sown (Table 1)

Seasonal Conditions

Timely crop establishment was achieved with over 100 mm falling during the critical April – May sowing window.  The site experienced a relatively dry winter period with just 60 mm of rainfall recorded from June to August.  Extremely high levels of rainfall were received during spring with 300 mm of rain falling from September to early November with 126 mm of this received during October.  Due to the sandy texture of the soil, waterlogging was not a problem, however the growing season was extended three weeks longer than normal.  This made disease control difficult, and some level of disease was present in the crop.

Results: Lentil

Deep ripping increased lentil grain yield by 0.7 t/ha (Figure 1).  The grain yield of PBA Bolt was 0.7 t/ha less than the other varieties included in the trial.  As a single factor, delayed had only a minor impact chickpea grain yield in the very wet 2022 season.

When all three factors were combined there was a yield gap of 2 t/ha between the best and worst treatments (Figure 2).  PBA Bolt sown early without deep ripping resulted in the worst yield outcome of the trial (0.4 t/ha), while late sown PBA Jumbo2 with deep ripping produced the best grain yield (2.4 t/ha.)

Results: Chickpea

Deep ripping increased chickpea grain yield by 0.7 t/ha (Figure 3).  Desi varieties CBA Captain and PBA Hattrick had a 0.6 t/ha advantage over the Kabuli varieties Genesis 090 and PBA Magnus.  As a single factor, delayed had only a minor impact chickpea grain yield in the very wet 2022 season.

When all three factors were combined there was yield gap of 1.6 t/ha between the best and worst treatments (Figure 4).  For example, sowing Desi chickpeas early following deep ripping resulted in a grain yield of 2.9 t/ha while sowing Kabuli chickpeas late into un-ripped soil resulted in a grain yield only 1.3 t/ha.

Acknowledgements

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, through funding from the Australian Governments’ National Landcare Program.

About the Trial

Six commercial lentil varieties were sown at Loxton in 2022 (Table 1).  Each variety was sown at three seeding rates to target plant populations of 60, 90 plants and 120 plants m².  Each treatment combination was sown at two Times of Sowing (TOS): 5^th May and the 26^th of May.

Results

Crop emergence

The emerged plant population was 20-25% higher than the target population for all plant density treatments (Table 2).  Seeding rates were calculated using a field germination rate of 80%, therefore most of the planted seeds emerged.  This is most due to the excellent soil moisture present at both sowing times following 88 mm of rainfall falling in April-May.  There was no difference in emergence between varieties within each target plant population.  There was also no difference in lentil emergence between the two sowing times.

Grain Yield

GIA Thunder was the highest yielding variety, with an average yield of 4.2t/ha across all treatments (Figure 1).  The grain yield of GIA Thunder was significantly better than the other five varieties at TOS 1 and was superior to all varieties except GIA Lightning at TOS 2.  PBA Kelpie had the lowest grain yield of all varieties at TOS 1, however it produced similar yields to the other varieties except GIA Thunder at TOS 2 (Figure 2)

Time of sowing generally had no impact in lentil yield in 2022 at Loxton, due to the very wet and cool spring which extended the growing season.  The target plant population did effect grain yield, but only at TOS 2.  Lentil grain yield increased in linearly from 3.3 t/ha for 60 plants m² to 3.9 t/ha for the 120 plants m² treatment at the later sowing date.

Grain Losses

Grain losses were greater with earlier sowing with 2.5 times more pods dropped and 3.2 times more seed shattered in the TOS 1 than in the TOS 2 treatments.  The greatest seed losses were measured in PBA Kelpie, which experienced particularly bad seed shattering (Figure 3). Seed losses via pod drop were also higher in PBA Kelpie than in the other lentil varieties.  GIA lightning had lower seed shatter than other varieties, however pod drop was similar between all varieties with the exception of PBA Kelpie.  

Acknowledgements

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, through funding from the Australian Governments’ National Landcare Program.

About the Trial

Pre-emergent herbicides were applied on 4^th May 2022 prior to sowing vetch (Timok) and lentils (GIA Lightning) at Loxton (Table 1). 

Each herbicide was applied at a district application rate or double the standard district rate (high) and are summarized in Table 1.  Herbicides were also applied as either an Incorporated By Sowing (IBS) or Post Sowing Pre-Emergent (PSPE) application. Both crops were also sown either shallow (approximately 2.5 cm) or deep (approximately 5 cm) depth.

Results

The trial was implemented into a moist seedbed with approximately 30 mm of rain falling in the month prior to sowing.  A further 50 mm of rain was received in the four weeks post sowing. Furthermore, 275 mm of rainfall occurred during the critical spring period which coincided with flowering and podding, extending the growing season of both crops by approximately three weeks later than normal . The protracted growing season may have allowed for some compensatory growth where early crop damage occurred.

Lentils

The application method of how herbicide was applied had the greatest impact on the level of damage to lentils.  Herbicide damage assessments completed six weeks post sowing showed that applying group 5 herbicides IBS (Metribuzin, Diuron, Terbuthylazine) was less damaging than when they were applied PSPE (Figure 1).  Terbuthylazine (e.g. Terbyne Extreme®) applied IBS caused significantly less damage than the other herbicides.

Based on the 6 week assessment, the level of damage was similar between all herbicides when applied PSPE.  Fomesafen (Reflex®) which is a group 14 herbicide, showed high and equivalent levels of damage irrespective of being applied IBS or PSPE.  The depth of seeding of the crop (2.5 cm or 5 cm) did not have a significant effect on the level of herbicide damage to lentils in 2022.

There was no grain yield penalty when each herbicide was applied IBS at the at the lower rates (Figure 2).  However, a PSPE application of diuron at the low rate or applying any herbicide PSPE at the high rate resulted in a yield penalty of between 25 – 50%.  There was not any effect of sowing depth on lentil grain yield in 2022.

Vetch

Early damage symptoms in vetch were also minimized where Group 5 herbicides (Metribuzin, Diuron, Terbuthylazine) were applied IBS rather than PSPE (Figure 3).  Damage symptoms were highest where metribuzin, diuron and terbuthylazine (Terbyne Extreeme ®) where applied PSPE at high rates.  Similar to lentils, Fomesafen (Reflex ®) exhibited similar levels of damage when applied through IBS or PSPE at either low or high rates. 

Deeper sowing of vetch (5 cm) slightly reduced damage symptoms relative to sowing shallow (2.5 cm) when metribuzin and terbuthylazine were applied at low rates (Figure 4).  However, sowing depth did not affect the level of damage observed for the other herbicide treatments.

Dry matter yield penalties were highest where Metribuzin, Diuron, Terbuthylazine were applied PSPE at the high rate (Figure 5).  In these treatments dry matter production was reduced by 35 – 40%.

Acknowledgements

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, through funding from the Australian Governments’ National Landcare Program.

About the Trial

The trial compared nutritional treatments for lentil, chickpea and barley grown on a sandy soil with and without deep ripping.  There were 7 nutrient treatments (Table 1) applied to the following varieties:

• Lentil: GIA Lightning
• Chickpea: Genesis 090
• Barley: Titan AX

  Barley plots also received 70 kg/ha UAN (~30 kg N/ha) applied in crop at early tillering.

All nutrient x crop treatments were applied to plots with and without deep ripping.  The soil was ripped to a depth of approximately 50 cm using Tilco straight shank tynes. 

The trial was replicated on two soil types within the paddock: A deep sandy soil located on the top of a dune, and a sandy loam soil located in the swale between sandy dunes.  Soil properties for each soil can be found here

Results

Deep ripping had the biggest impact on the productivity of lentils, chickpea and barley grown on the sandy soil.  The benefit from deep ripping was consistent across all three crops with an extra 1.2 t/ha of grain grown following deep ripping.  However, on the loam soil, deep ripping was not beneficial in any crop.

There were some small benefits from nutrition treatments, however these effects were mixed in terms of crop type and soil type.  There was approximately 0.7 – 0.8 t/ha grain yield response from applying 50 kg/ha MAP relative to the nil fertiliser treatment in lentils and barley.  The rate of response was similar across both soil types, which equated to a rate of return of approximately 15 kg/grain for each one kilogram of MAP applied.  In barley, the addition of sulphate of ammonia (SOA) also improved grain yield, but only on the sandy soil type. 

The application of trace elements alone did not influence the productivity of any crop or soil type.  However, when trace elements were applied in combination with SOA to barley on the un-ripped sandy soil, this combination produced superior grain yields to all other nutrition treatments.  This complete nutrition package also closed the yield gap between ripped and un-ripped soil.  However, given the extremely high growing season rainfall experienced at the site in 2022, it is probable that barley yields were nitrogen limited.  Grain protein levels in barley were 10 – 10.5% which further indicates grain yields reached a nitrogen limited yield potential, which possibly capped the yield benefit achieved by deep ripping in barley.

Acknowledgements

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, through funding from the Australian Governments’ National Landcare Program.