Response by Stylosanthes hamata and S. scabra to phosphate on three soils in the north-Kimberley of Western Australia

Legume herbage mass was maximized after two or three years application of 50 kg/ha double superphosphate for both Verano and Fitzroy on Red earth soils and for Fitzroy on Yellow lateritic soils. There was increased production of Verano up to the maximum fertilizer level. Both varieties responded in the second year to residual P following application in the first year but there were no responses in subsequent years

Sheep Updates 2008 - part 3

This session covers fiveteen papers from different authors: CONTROLLING FLY STRIKE 1. Breeding for Blowfly Resistance - Indicatoe Traits, LJE Karlsson, JC Greeff, L Slocombe, Department of Agriculture & Food, Western Australia 2.A practical method to select for breech strike resistance in non-pedigreed Merino flocks, LJE Karlsson, JC Greeff, L Slocombe, K. Jones, N. Underwood, Department of Agriculture & Food, Western Australia 3. Twice a year shearing - no mulesing, Fred Wilkinson, Producer, Brookton WA BEEF 4. Commercial testing of a new tool for prediction of fatness in beef cattle, WD HoffmanA, WA McKiernanA, VH OddyB, MJ McPheeA, Cooperative Research Centre for Beef Genetic Technologies, A N.S.W. Deptartment of Primary Industries, B University of New England 5. A new tool for the prediction of fatness in beef cattle, W.A. McKiernanA, V.H. OddyB and M.J. McPheeC; Cooperative Research Centre for Beef Genetic Technologies, A N.S.W. Dept of Primary Industries, B University of New England, C N.S.W. Dept of Primary Industries Beef Industry Centre of Excellence. 6. Effect of gene markers for tenderness on eating quality of beef, B.L. McIntyre, CRC for Beef Genetic Technologies, Department of Agriculture and Food WA 7. Accelerating beef industry innovation through Beef Profit Partnerships, Parnell PF1,2, Clark RA1,3, Timms J1,3, Griffith G1,2, Alford A1,2, Mulholland C1 and Hyland P1,4,1Co-operative Research Centre for Beef Genetic Technologies; 2NSW Department of Primary Industries; 3 Qld Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries; 4The University of Queensland. SUSTAINABILITY 8. The WA Sheep Industry - is it ethically and environmentally sustainable? Danielle England, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia 9. Overview of ruminant agriculture and greenhouse emissions, Fiona Jones, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia 10. Grazing for Nitrogen Efficiency, John Lucey, Martin Staines and Richard Morris, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia 11. Investigating potential adaptations to climate change for low rainfall farming system, Megan Abrahams, Caroline Peek, Dennis Van Gool, Daniel Gardiner, Kari-Lee Falconer, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia SHEEP 12. Benchmarking ewe productivity through on-farm genetic comparisons, Sandra Prosser, Mario D’Antuono and Johan Greeff; Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia 13. Increasing profitability by pregnancy scanning ewes, John Young1, Andrew Thompson2 and Chris Oldham2; 1Farming Systems Analysis Service, Kojonup, WA, 2Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia 14. Targeted treatment of worm-affected sheep - more efficient, more sustainable, Brown Besier, Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia 15. Improving Weaner Sheep Survival, Angus Campbell and Ralph Behrendt, Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovatio

Crop Updates 2001 - Cereals

This session covers forty two papers from different authors: PLENARY 1. Planning your cropping program in season 2001, Dr Ross Kingwell, Agriculture Western Australia and University of Western Australia WORKSHOP 2. Can we produce high yields without high inputs? Wal Anderson, Centre for Cropping Systems, Agriculture Western Australia VARIETIES 3. Local and interstate wheat variety performance and $ return to WA growers, Eddy Pol, Peter Burgess and Ashley Bacon, Agritech Crop Research CROP ESTABLISHMENT 4 Soil management of waterlogged soils, D.M. Bakker, G.J. Hamilton, D. Houlbrooke and C. Spann, Agriculture Western Australia 5. Effect of soil amelioration on wheat yield in a very dry season, M.A Hamza and W.K. Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 6. Fuzzy tramlines for more yield and less weed, Paul Blackwell1 and Maurice Black2 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2Harbour Lights Estate, Geraldton 7. Tramline farming for dollar benefits, Paul Blackwell, Agriculture Western Australia NUTRITION 8. Soil immobile nutrients for no-till crops, M.D.A. Bolland1, R.F. Brennan1,and W.L. Crabtree2, 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2Western Australian No-Tillage Farmers Association 9. Burn stubble windrows: to diagnose soil fertility problems, Bill Bowden, Chris Gazey and Ross Brennan, Agriculture Western Australia 10. Calcium: magnesium ratios; are they important? Bill Bowden1, Rochelle Strahan2, Bob Gilkes2 and Zed Rengel2 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, UWA 11. Responses to late foliar applications of Flexi-N, Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm 12. A comparison of Flexi-N placements, Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm 13. What is the best way to apply potassium? Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, CSBP futurefarm 14. Claying affects potassium nutrition in barley, Stephen Loss, David Phelps, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm 15. Nitrogen and potassium improve oaten hay quality, Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm AGRONOMY 16. Agronomic responses of new wheat varieties in the northern wheatbelt, Darshan Sharma and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 17. Wheat agronomy research on the south coast, Mohammad Amjad and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 18. Influence of sowing date on wheat yield and quality in the south coast environment, Mohammad Amjadand Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 19. More profit from durum, Md.Shahajahan Miyan and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 20. Enhancing recommendations of flowering and yield in wheat, JamesFisher1, Senthold Asseng2, Bill Bowden1 and Michael Robertson3 ,1AgricultureWestern Australia, 2CSIRO Plant Industry, 3CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems 21. When and where to grow oats, Glenn McDonald, Agriculture Western Australia 22. Managing Gaidner barley for quality, Kevin Young and Blakely Paynter, Agriculture Western Australia PESTS AND DISEASES 23. Strategies for leaf disease management in wheat, Jatinderpal Bhathal1, Cameron Weeks2, Kith Jayasena1 and Robert Loughman1 ,1Agriculture Western Australia. 2Mingenew-Irwin Group Inc 24. Strategies for leaf disease management in malting barley, K. Jayasena1, Q. Knight2 and R. Loughman1, 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2IAMA Agribusiness 25. Cereal disease diagnostics, Dominie Wright and Nichole Burges, Agriculture Western Australia 26. The big rust: Did you get your money back!! Peter Burgess, Agritech Crop Research 27. Jockey – winning the race against disease in wheat, Lisa-Jane Blacklow, Rob Hulme and Rob Giffith, Aventis CropScience 28. Distribution and incidence of aphids and barley yellow dwarf virus in over-summering grasses in WA wheatbelt, Jenny Hawkes and Roger Jones, CLIMA and Agriculture Western Australia 29. Further developments in forecasting aphid and virus risk in cereals, Debbie Thackray, Jenny Hawkes and Roger Jones, Agriculture Western Australia and Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture 30. Effect of root lesion nematodes on wheat yields in Western Australia, S. B. Sharma, S. Kelly and R. Loughman, Crop Improvement Institute, Agriculture Western Australia 31. Rotational crops and varieties for management of root lesion nematodes in Western Australia, S.B. Sharma, S. Kelly and R. Loughman, Crop Improvement Institute, Agriculture Western Australia WEEDS 32. Phenoxy herbicide tolerance of wheat, Peter Newman and Dave Nicholson, Agriculture Western Australia 33. Tolerance of wheat to phenoxy herbicides,Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and Mario F. D\u27Antuono, Agriculture Western Australia 34. Herbicide tolerance of durum wheats, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and David Nicholson, Agriculture Western Australia 35. Herbicide tolerance of new wheats, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and David F. Nicholson, Agriculture Western Australia BREEDING 36. Towards molecular breeding of barley: construction of a molecular genetic map, Mehmet Cakir1, Nick Galwey1, David Poulsen2, Garry Ablett3, Reg Lance4, Rob Potter5 and Peter Langridge6,1Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, UWA, 2Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Qld, 3Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW, 5SABC Murdoch University, WA, 6Department of Plant Science University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond SA 37. Toward molecular breeding of barley: Identifying markers linked to genes for quantitative traits, Mehmet Cakir1, Nick Galwey1, David Poulsen2, Reg Lance3, Garry Ablett4, Greg Platz2, Joe Panozzo5, Barbara Read6, David Moody5, Andy Barr7 and Peter Langridge7 , 1Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, UWA, 2Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Warwick, QLD,3Agriculture Western Australia, 4Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW, 5VIDA Private Bag 260, Horsham VIC, 6NSW Dept. of Agriculture, Wagga Wagga NSW, 7Department of Plant Science, University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond SA 38. Can we improve grain yield by breeding for greater early vigour in wheat? Tina Botwright1, Tony Condon1, Robin Wilson2 and Iain Barclay2, 1CSIRO Plant Industry, 2Agriculture Western Australia MARKETING AND QUALITY 39. The Crop Improvement Royalty, Howard Carr, Agriculture Western Australia 40. GrainGuardÔ - The development of a protection plan for the wheat industry, Greg Shea, Agriculture Western Australia CLIMATE 41. Rainfall – what happened in 2000 and the prospects for 2001, Ian Foster, Agriculture Western Australia 42. Software for climate management issues, David Tennant,Agriculture Western Australia CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR CONTACT DETAIL

Response by Stylosanthes hamata and S. scabra to phosphate on three soils in the north-Kimberley of Western Australia

Legume herbage mass was maximized after two or three years application of 50 kg/ha double superphosphate for both Verano and Fitzroy on Red earth soils and for Fitzroy on Yellow lateritic soils. There was increased production of Verano up to the maximum fertilizer level. Both varieties responded in the second year to residual P following application in the first year but there were no responses in subsequent years

Grain size distribution: computation, interpretation and utilisation for minimising small grain screenings in cereals

Small grain screenings, grain narrower than 2 mm, is a major constraint to profits from rainfed wheat and barley crops grown in Australia and overseas. Drying and warming climate as predicted for most parts of WA wheatbelt is likely to further increase this risk. Screenings for a variety can be higher for any one of three reasons; inadequate average grain weight, faulty grain shape and grain position effects due to asynchronous kernel growth. Kernel weight, the traditionally used parameter for classifying cultivars has often failed and we have previously proposed the use of the Grain Size Distribution (GSD) for overcoming this limitation. We now have developed functions in the R Statistical System ready for placing in public domain that cereal breeders and agronomists can use. The new set of scripts is usable irrespective of whether the distribution data was collected using a physically grading machine such as Sortimat or an electronically measuring machine such as Single Kernel Characterisation Systems (SKCS). In this paper, we will demonstrate i) how these functions can be used to calculate the parameters of the GSD; ii) how the GSD can be used to separately capture the defects of size, shape and position of kernels; iii) the strategies that breeders can use from the resulting information for screening breeding material; and iv) strategies on how agronomists and farmers can use the GSD parameters for matching inputs and crop management levels of new varieties in order to minimise the risk of small grain screenings

Cereal crop emergence and early root establishment in acidic sandy subsoil ameliorated with lime and gypsum

Lime application on its own had no effect on crop emergence but high rates of gypsum slowed plant emergence by 2 days. Application of lime with gypsum, however, eliminated the negative emergence impact of gypsum by reducing the number of days required to achieve 75% plant emergence which could be an advantage especially in farming areas that are sown dry and/or receive a small rainfall event during sowing. Increasing the lime rate increased total root length by up to 14-fold through the production of secondary and fine root systems which may allow young seedlings to grow their roots into comparatively moist subsoil. This can be advantage where the crop experiences a dry spell following germination. Early seedling emergence and enhanced root growth were achieved due to an increase in soil pH and a decrease in Al concentration where lime increased pH of acidic subsoil but gypsum did not. Combined application of lime and gypsum was found to be more efficient than applying either lime or gypsum alone

Cereal crop emergence and early root establishment in acidic sandy subsoil ameliorated with lime and gypsum

Lime application on its own had no effect on crop emergence but high rates of gypsum slowed plant emergence by 2 days. Application of lime with gypsum, however, eliminated the negative emergence impact of gypsum by reducing the number of days required to achieve 75% plant emergence which could be an advantage especially in farming areas that are sown dry and/or receive a small rainfall event during sowing. Increasing the lime rate increased total root length by up to 14-fold through the production of secondary and fine root systems which may allow young seedlings to grow their roots into comparatively moist subsoil. This can be advantage where the crop experiences a dry spell following germination. Early seedling emergence and enhanced root growth were achieved due to an increase in soil pH and a decrease in Al concentration where lime increased pH of acidic subsoil but gypsum did not. Combined application of lime and gypsum was found to be more efficient than applying either lime or gypsum alone

Recurring lime applications to fix acidity in the whole soil profile

Unlimed soil was acidified in the subsurface by almost a pH unit over 23 years. Once-off lime application in 1994 was not sufficient to move any alkalinity from lime to the subsurface soil. Soil that was limed three times over the 23-year period had higher soil pH throughout the top 30 cm. These soils had a soil pH higher than 5.5 in the top 10 cm, thus allowed movement of alkalinity to the subsurface soil. A large proportion of applied lime was stratified in the top few centimetres of the soil especially where lime was recently applied at higher rates (e.g., South Burracoppin site) and it is possible to improve soil pH of the whole profile through incorporation. The long-term benefit of surface liming to boost the grain yield was clear, however, deep re-incorporation of undissolved in situ lime (without any new application) was able to increase grain yield further within a cropping season

Phenotypic characterisation of colour stability of lamb meat

A study was undertaken, using 2701 overwrapped loin samples aged for 5 days and subjected to a simulated retail display (SRD) for 3 days; sourced from lambs in the Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation information nucleus flock, born 2007-2009. The ratio of reflectance of light in the wavelengths of 630 nm and 580 nm (oxy/met) was measured daily during the SRD, using a Hunterlab spectrophotometer. A series of linear mixed models was fitted to the oxy/met and time data to compare 4 breed types and identify relevant covariates, of 19, using a forward selection process. Breed type, pH at 24 h post slaughter and Linoleic acid concentration (LA) were the most important factors and covariates, in that order. Merino breed type, high pH and high LA reduced colour stability. Fitting a spline model to predict the time for oxy/met to reach a set value, represents an alternative to comparing oxy/met at a set time, for describing colour stability

Quinoa agronomy in Western Australia

AgriFutures Australia funded a research project with the objective of transitioning quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) from a niche/cottage/organic crop to wider adoption across Australian broadacre farming environments and to develop variety options. We undertook field evaluation of quinoa advanced lines in combination with different sowing dates and seed rates at Kununurra in the north, Manjimup in the south west and at six locations in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia. Results demonstrated that quinoa could yield well in both irrigated and rainfed conditions. The line BEW performed better at Kununurra under irrigated conditions when sown in mid April with a seed rate of 1-3 kg/ha (up to 2.0 t/ha) and at Geraldton under rainfed conditions sown in early June with a seed rate of 2.5 -5 kg/ha (3.0 t/ha). BEW is expected to be released as a new variety at the national level by 2021. Medusa seems to perform better than BEW in southern WA. The varieties tested showed sensitivity to frost and high temperature (daily maximum above 35C) at flowering to seed development stages, and to head sprouting at maturity