Development of crop management packages for early sown, long season wheats in the Southern region

The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is a statutory corporation established under the Primary Industries Research and Development Act 1989. It is subject to accountability and reporting obligations set out in the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. It is responsible for planning, investing in and overseeing research and development, and delivering improvements in production, sustainability and profitability across the Australian grains industry.

Over the past four decades growers have tended to plant their wheat crops earlier, while the rate of development of the most popular cultivars has become faster. It is likely that any earlier sowing will advance flowering excessively and reduce yields with the currently available wheat cultivars. Opportunities for sowing before mid April are relatively frequent, but new slow developing cultivars are required. Initial data from the GRDC project CSP00178 shows that long season wheats sown in March or early April have an average yield advantage of about 15% over spring types sown later across the southern region. This yield advantage, plus a general emphasis on early sowing and greater use of dual purpose cereals has driven much interest in long season spring and early maturing winter cultivars. Breeding companies are developing long season cultivars with suitable disease resistance and quality traits, potentially adapted across the southern region.

The GRDC seeks to understand crop management packages for early sown, long season wheats that optimise productivity, profit and risk, in the southern grains region, specifically Victoria and South Australia. Long season wheats will be of greatest benefit to mixed farms due to their grazing potential, and large farms with extensive cropping programs because of the logistical benefits of early sowing. In the long term, up to 20-30% of the wheat area across the southern region might be planted to long season cultivars on average. This proposed three and a half year investment, starting early 2017, will deliver field experimental data over three seasons and knowledge for the development of management practices for early sown long season varieties and advanced breeding lines close to release, which are needed to reduce the risk of crop failures and ensure rapid adoption. The indicative GRDC budget is up to $1.66 million.

By June 2020, growers and advisers in the southern region, specifically Victoria and South Australia, have access to sound agronomic knowledge and supporting data allowing them to exploit early sowing opportunities with long season wheats, including an understanding of the optimum time of sowing for new cultivars, risks and impact of drought during vegetative stages, potential threats from weeds, disease and pest, opportunities for grazing, and nitrogen management and crop density recommendations. The initial target is the adoption of 120,000 ha long season wheat cultivars across the southern region by 2025.

This outcome will depend upon the release of well-adapted cultivars, along with validation and extension activities conducted by other GRDC projects, grower groups, seed companies and other third parties to deliver crop management practices to growers and advisers.