ob Atkinson with the team from the NSW DPI at the Field Day event held in Canowindra at “The Pines” in 2017.
Around 120 famers and people from the local agricultural industry attended last Friday’s Spring Field Day that was held in Canowindra.
The event was broken down to three main topics – pulse agronomy, wheat agronomy and cover crops – which were staged at three different venues. GRDC and NSW DPI funded trials within the local area were showcased across each topic.
Event organiser Colin McMaster said it was a successful event, with many areas covered. “At the Pulse Agronomy session, Helen Burns and Jason Condon from NSW DPI discussed the impact of sub-surface acidification on pulse crop production. Acid throttles are commonly occurring between the 5-10cm depth interval, and have been identified to have a negative impact on pulse crop performance,” he said.
He said management options were dis- cussed, and the use of Lime was recommended to increase pH to 5.5 on the topsoil (0-10cm depth), as this both ameliorates the acidification and helps to prevent acid throttles to develop at the 5-10cm depths.
Pulse nodulation was also a key topic, with various delivery systems (liquid, granular and peat), phosphorus nutrition and new elite strains of rhizobium being evaluated from a GRDC funded project by Belinda Hackney.
At the cover crops session, Stuart McDonald discussed why he is interested in cover crops, and what he has learnt with his travels as part of his Nufield Scholarship. “I presented results from the GRDC funded cover crop project, which evaluated various cover crop species and spray-out timings on soil water accumulation and infiltration, soil nutrients status and other soil health aspects,” Mr McMaster said.
The Wheat Agronomy session evaluated crop performance amongst various wheat variety and sowing times, by Peter Matthews.