New research could help growers make better use of water in dry seasons by giving them the knowledge to vary inputs according to different soil properties in their paddocks.
Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia (DAFWA) senior researcher David Hall said the ‘Agronomy Jigsaw’ project in the Esperance region aimed to help growers make better use of inputs and rainfall, and improve production efficiency.
DAFWA, the South East Premium Wheat Growers Association (SEPWA) and Precision Agronomics Australia (PAA) are involved with the three-year project, which is also funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).
Mr Hall said PAA was conducting geophysical surveys of farms with the aim of developing management zones.
“The idea is to vary inputs according to these management zones and in doing so improve efficiencies of crop production,” he said.
“These techniques used in these surveys - Electromagnetic Induction and Gamma Radiometrics - can tell us about underlying soil properties which can help us predict the amount of water available to plants in the soil.
“This information is particularly useful when managing inputs in dry seasons and has the potential to help farmers improve their use of available water.”
Mr Hall said the amount of water available to crops could also be increased by increasing root depth.
“The project has a number of field trials using soil ameliorants, such as gypsum and lime, to increase ‘plant available water’ and, potentially, water use efficiency,” he said.
The Agronomy Jigsaw project complements other GRDC-funded research in WA aiming to help farmers make better use of inputs and rainfall by identifying different management zones in paddocks
The Kellerberrin-based Wallatin Wildlife and Landcare Group is hosting a project, funded by the GRDC and CSIRO, to help growers in the central and eastern grainbelt identify and diagnose poor performing areas of paddocks.
CSIRO principal research scientist Michael Robertson said identification of poor performing areas could help growers decide whether to reduce inputs in these areas, which often also made poor use of available water.
“If the grower decides the soil constraints in these poor performing areas are worth overcoming, they may choose to use a soil ameliorant to address the problem,” he said.
Dr Robertson said research in the first 18 months of the project had found soil acidity to be the biggest cause of poor crop productivity.
“The location of acidity in the soil profile determines whether the grower can address the problem – if the acidity is too far down in the soil profile liming will not be effective,” he said.
Dr Robertson said the project was now testing management options in trials at Greenhills, Kellerberrin, Beacon and Bodallin, in conjunction with four grower groups.
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