Economic Trade-Offs of Novel Forage Use in Livestock Production Systems: Insights from Australia

Globally, livestock are a major component of agricultural systems and natural resource management, as well as an important contributor to nutrition and livelihoods, but are often undervalued (Herrero et al., 2009). In Australia, livestock production systems occupy half of the available land and contribute to ~50% of gross agricultural production. The main livestock systems are beef cattle grazing at low intensity in the arid and semi-arid regions of northern and central Australia; and sheep flocks integrated in crop-livestock systems in the temperate zone of southern Australia (Bell et al., 2014). Despite increased physical productivity (changes in outputs relative to inputs) in both sectors, real incomes have declined due to adverse terms of trade (Ash et al., 2015). Pressures are compounded by increasing public scrutiny on environmental performance and need to develop sustainable production practices. This situation has renewed the focus on improving the efficiency of current livestock systems, and coupling improvements in profitability to improvements in the natural resources. Diversifying feeding systems to overcome deficiencies in energy or nutrient supply can increase productivity and profitability, along with resource-use efficiency (Ash et al., 2015). In the north, irrigated forage crops have been identified as an avenue for promoting productivity through faster finishing of cattle, increased beef quality and reduced pressure on rangelands. In the south, plantings of forage shrubs have the potential to improve animal performance, economic returns and environmental management. With better understanding of the economic trade-offs and riskiness involved in the use of novel forages in livestock production systems, there is the opportunity to better design and deliver diversification options

Making Decisions to Identify Forage Shrub Species for Versatile Grazing Systems

Grazing systems in many parts of the world face large challenges, including a declining natural resource base (e.g. soil fertility), marked fluctuations in feed production across seasons and years, climate change (including the contribution of greenhouse gases from livestock), and market demands for sustainable and ethical production systems. The ‘Enrich’ project was established in Australia (Revell et al. 2008; Bennell et al. 2010) within this broad context of emerging challenges to explore the potential of using Australian native perennial shrub species as part of the feedbase for sheep and cattle in southern Australia. The underlying rationale was to: add perennial shrub species into the existing annual-based pasture feedbase so that the forage system could tolerate extended dry periods but provide green edible plant material during periods where a ‘feed gap’ would otherwise exist; be productive on marginal soils where other productive options are limited (Masters et al. 2010); and have a positive effect on gut function and health (Vercoe et al. 2007); i.e. a versatile grazing system. This paper outlines the research approach that was taken, and reports on a ‘decision tree’ to prioritise species from an initial large list, based on a wide range of plant characteristics and how they can be used in a grazing system

Improving the Feeding Value of Dryland Lucerne in Australia

Lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) is the most widely grown perennial legume species in southern Australia. Within Australian farming systems it plays an important role in the provision of high-quality feed for livestock, nitrogen fixation and dewatering soils to reduce watertable recharge and dryland salinity (Cocks 2001). The majority of lucerne varieties have been developed for the areas with high rainfall or supplementary irrigation. The new challenge is to develop lucerne cultivars specifically for dryland mixed farming systems in temperate and mediterranean climate zones (Humphries and Auricht, 2001). Persistence in these environments and feeding value to sheep are critical selection traits. In this paper we compare nutritive traits of 35 commercial and experimental accessions of lucerne, sampled during the vegetative phase, and test the hypothesis that there will be significant differences between the accessions for in vitro dry matter digestibility (DMD), crude protein (CP), acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and hemicellulose

Direct and ozone-mediated forcing of the Southern Annular Mode by greenhouse gases

We assess the roles of long-lived greenhouse gases and ozone depletion in driving meridional surface pressure gradients in the southern extratropics; these gradients are a defining feature of the Southern Annular Mode. Stratospheric ozone depletion is thought to have caused a strengthening of this mode during summer, with increasing long-lived greenhouse gases playing a secondary role. Using a coupled atmosphere-ocean chemistry-climate model, we show that there is cancelation between the direct, radiative effect of increasing greenhouse gases by the also substantial indirect—chemical and dynamical—feedbacks that greenhouse gases have via their impact on ozone. This sensitivity of the mode to greenhouse gas-induced ozone changes suggests that a consistent implementation of ozone changes due to long-lived greenhouse gases in climate models benefits the simulation of this important aspect of Southern Hemisphere climate

Sheep Updates 2007 - part 4

This session covers eight papers from different authors: GRAZING 1. The impact of high dietary salt and its implications for the management of livestock grazing saline land, Dean Thomas, Dominique Blache, Dean Revell, Hayley Norman, Phil Vercoe, Zoey Durmic, Serina Digby, Di Mayberry, Megan Chadwick, Martin Sillence and David Masters, CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, Faculty of Natural & Agricultural Sciences, The University of Western Australia, WA. 2. Sustainable Grazing on Saline Lands - outcomes from the WA1 research project, H.C. Norman1,2, D.G. Masters1,2, R. Silberstein1,2, F. Byrne2,3, P.G.H. Nichols2,4, J. Young3, L. Atkins1,2, M.G. Wilmot1,2, A.J. Rintoul1,2, T. Lambert1,2, D.R. McClements2,4, P. Raper4, P. Ward1,2, C. Walton5 and T. York6 1CSIRO Centre for Environment and Life Sciences, Wembley, WA 2CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity. 3School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia. 4Department of Agriculture and Food WA. 5Condering Hills, Yealering. 6Anameka Farms, Tammin. MEAT QUALITY 3. Development of intramuscular fat in prime lambs, young sheep and beef cattle, David Pethick1, David Hopkins2 and Malcolm McPhee3,1School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, 2NSW Department of Primary Industries, Cowra, NSW,3NSW Dept. of Primary Industries, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 4. Importance of drinking water temperature for managing heat stress in sheep, Savage DB, Nolan JV, Godwin IR, Aoetpah A, Nguyen T, Baillie N and Lawler C University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia EWE MANAGEMENT TOOLS 5. E - sheep Management of Pregnant Merino Ewes and their Finishing Lambs, Ken GeentyA, John SmithA, Darryl SmithB, Tim DyallA and Grant UphillA A Sheep CRC and CSIRO Livestock Industries, Chiswick, NSW B Turretfield Research Station, SARDI, Roseworthy, SA 6. Is it important to manage ewes to CS targets? John Young, Farming Systems Analysis Service, Kojonup, WA MULESING 7. Mulesing accreditation - Vital for Wool\u27s Future, Dr Michael Paton, Department of Agriculture and Food WA, 8. Mulesing Alternatives, Jules Dorrian, Affiliation Project Manager Blowfly Control Australian Wool Inovatio

Shifts in diversification rates and host jump frequencies shaped the diversity of host range among Sclerotiniaceae fungal plant pathogens

The range of hosts that a parasite can infect in nature is a trait determined by its own evolutionary history and that of its potential hosts. However, knowledge on host range diversity and evolution at the family level is often lacking. Here, we investigate host range variation and diversification trends within the Sclerotiniaceae, a family of Ascomycete fungi. Using a phylogenetic framework, we associate diversification rates, the frequency of host jump events and host range variation during the evolution of this family. Variations in diversification rate during the evolution of the Sclerotiniaceae define three major macro‐evolutionary regimes with contrasted proportions of species infecting a broad range of hosts. Host–parasite cophylogenetic analyses pointed towards parasite radiation on distant hosts long after host speciation (host jump or duplication events) as the dominant mode of association with plants in the Sclerotiniaceae. The intermediate macro‐evolutionary regime showed a low diversification rate, high frequency of duplication events and the highest proportion of broad host range species. Our findings suggest that the emergence of broad host range fungal pathogens results largely from host jumps, as previously reported for oomycete parasites, probably combined with low speciation rates. These results have important implications for our understanding of fungal parasites evolution and are of particular relevance for the durable management of disease epidemics

Crop Updates 2002 - Weeds

This session covers fifty eight papers from different authors: 1. INTRODUCTION Vanessa Stewart, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE INTEGRATED WEED MANAGEMENT IWM system studies / demonstration sites 2. Major outcomes from IWM demonstration sites, Alexandra Douglas Department of Agriculture 3. Integrated weed management: Katanning, Alexandra Douglas Department of Agriculture 4. Integrated weed management: Merredin, Vanessa Stewart Department of Agriculture 5. Long term resistance site: Get ryegrass numbers low and keep them low! Peter Newman and Glen Adams Department of Agriculture 6. Using pastures to manage ryegrass populations, Andrew Blake and Natalie Lauritsen Department of Agriculture Weed biology and competition 7. Understanding the weed seed bank life if important agricultural weeds, Sally Peltzer and Paul Matson Department of Agriculture 8. Consequence of radish competition on lupin nutrients in wheat-lupin rotation, Abul Hashem and Nerys Wilkins Department of Agriculture 9. Consequence of ryegrass competition on lupin nutrients in a wheat-lupin rotation, Abul Hashem and Nerys Wilkins Department of Agriculture 10. Brome grass too competitive for early sown wheat in a dry year at Mullewa, Peter Newman and Glenn Adam Department of Agriculture Crop establishment and weed management 11. Seeding rate, row spacing and herbicides for weed control, David Minkey Department of Agriculture 12. Effect of different seeding methods on wheat and ryegrass, Abul Hashem, Glen Riethmuller and Nerys Wilkins Department of Agriculture 13. Role of tillage implements and trifluralin on the effectiveness of the autumn tickle for stimulating annual ryegrass emergence, Tim Cusack1, Kathryn Steadman1 and Abul Hashem2,1Western Australia Herbicide Resistance Initiative, UWA; 2Department of Agriculture, 14. Timing of autumn tickle in important for non-wetting soils, Pippa Michael1, Peter Newman2 and Kathryn Steadman 2, 1Western Australia Herbicide Resistance Initiative, UWA, 2Department of Agriculture 15. Early investigation into weed seed burial by mouldboard plough, Sally Peltzer and Alex Douglas Department of Agriculture 16. Rolling post-emergent lupins to improve weed emergence and control on loamy sand, Paul Blackwell, Department of Agriculture and Dave Brindal, Strawberry via Mingenew IWM tools 17. Crop topping in 2001: How did we do? Peter Newman and Glenn Adam Department of Agriculture 18. Wickwipers work! Peter Newman and Glenn Adam Department of Agriculture 19. Wild radish and ryegrass seed collection at harvest: Chaff carts and other devices, Michael Walsh Western Australia Herbicide Resistance Initiative, UWA and Wayne Parker Department of Agriculture 20. Improving weed control in grazed pastures using legumes with low palatability, Clinton Revell, Giles Glasson Department of Agriculture, and Dean Thomas Faculty of Agriculture, University of Western Australia Adoption and modelling 21. Grower weed survey, Peter Newman and Glenn Adam Department of Agriculture 22. Agronomist survey, Peter Newman and Glenn Adam Department of Agriculture 23. Ryegrass RIM model stands the test of IWM field trial data, Alister Draper Western Australia Herbicide Resistance Initiative, UWA and Bill Roy, Western Australia Herbicide Resistance Initiative, UWA Agricultural Consulting and Research Services 24. Multi-species RIM: An update, Marta Monjardin1,2, David Pannell2 and Stephen Powles 1, 1Western Australia Herbicide Resistance Initiative, UWA, 2 ARE, University of Western Australia 25. RIM survey feedback, Robert Barrett-Lennard and Alister Draper Western Australia Herbicide Resistance Initiative, UWA 26. Effect of historic input and product prices on choice of ryegrass management strategies, Alister Draper1 and Martin Bent2, 1Western Australia Herbicide Resistance Initiative, UWA, 2Muresk Institute of Agriculture 27. Living with ryegrass – trading off weed control and economic performance, Martin Bent1 and Alister Draper2 , 1Muresk Institute of Agriculture, Curtin University, 2Western Australia Herbicide Resistance Initiative, UWA HERBICIDE RESISTANCE 28. Glyphosate resistance in WA and Australia: Where are we at? Paul Neve1, Art Diggle2, Patrick Smith3, Mechelle Owen1, Abul Hashem2, Christopher Preston4and Stephen Powles1,1Western Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative, University of Western Australia, 2Department of Agriculture, 3CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, 4CRC for Australian Weed Management and Department of Applied and Molecular Ecology, Waite Campus, University of Adelaide 29. We need you weeds: A survey of knockdown resistance in the WA wheatbelt, Paul Neve1, Mechelle Owen1, Abul Hashem2 and Stephen Powles1 1Western Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative, University of Western Australia, 2Department of Agriculture 30. A test for resistance testing, Mechelle Owen, Tracey Gillam, Rick Llewellyn and Steve Powles,Western Australia Herbicide Resistance Initiative, University of Western Australia 31. In field testing for herbicide resistance, a purpose built multi-treatment spray boom with results from 2001, Richard Quinlan, Elders Ltd 32. Advantages and limitations of a purpose built multi-treatment spray boom, Richard Quinlan, Elders Ltd 33. Group F resistant wild radish: What’s new? Aik Cheam, Siew Lee Department of Agriculture, and Mike Clarke Aventis Crop Science 34. Cross resistance of Brodal® resistant wild radish to Sniper®, Aik Cheam and Siew Lee, Department of Agriculture 35. Managing a biotype of wild radish with Group F and Group C resistance, Aik Cheam, Siew Lee, David Nicholson, Peter Newman Department of Agriculture and Mike Clarke, Aventis Crop Science HERBICIDE TOLERANCE 36. Herbicide tolerance of new wheat varieties, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and David Nicholson, Agriculture Western Australia 37. Response of barley varieties to herbicides, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper, Department of Agriculture 38. Tolerance of barley to phenoxy herbicides, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper, Department of Agriculture and Chad Sayer, Nufarm Australia Limited 39. Response of Durum wheats to herbicides, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper, Department of Agriculture 40. Response of new field pea varieties to herbicides, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and David Nicholson, Department of Agriculture 41. Herbicide tolerance of Desi chickpeas on marginal soil, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and David Nicholson, Department of Agriculture 42. Herbicide tolerance of newer lupin varieties, Terry Piper, Harmohinder Dhammu and David Nicholson, Department of Agriculture 43. Herbicide tolerance of some annual pasture legumes, Clinton Revell and Ian Rose, Department of Agriculture 44. Herbicide tolerance of pasture legumes, Andrew Blake, Department of Agriculture HERBICIDES – NEW PRODUCTS/PRODUCT USES; USE 45. Knockdown herbicides do not reliably kill small grass weeds, Peter Newman and Glenn Adam, Department of Agriculture 46. ‘Hair Cutting’ wheat with Spray.Seed®: Does it work? Peter Newman and Glenn Adam, Department of Agriculture 47. ‘Haircutting’: Does the number one cut work? Robert Barrett-Lennard1 and Jerome Critch2,1WA Herbicide Resistance Initiative, University of WA, 2Student, University of WA 48. Hammer EC (Carfentrazone-ethyl): A mixing partner for glyphosate to enhance the control of difficult broadleaf weeds, Gordon R. Cumming, Crop Care Australasia 49. Marshmallow control in reduced tillage systems, Sam Taylor, Wesfarmers Landmark 50. Herbicide options for summer germinating marshmallow, Vanessa Stewart, Department of Agriculture 51. Dual Gold® safe in a dry year at Coorow, Peter Newman and Glenn Adam, Department of Agriculture 52. The effect of glyphosate, paraquat and diquat as a crop topping application on the germination of barley, John Moore and Roslyn Jettner, Department of Agriculture 53. Herbicide options for melon control, Vanessa Stewart, Department of Agriculture 54. Herbicide options for the control of Chloris truncate (windmill grass) Vanessa Stewart, Department of Agriculture 55. Allelopathic effects of crop, pasture and weed residues on subsequent crop and pasture establishment, Stuart Bee1, Lionel Martin1, Keith Devenish2 and Terry Piper2, 1Muresk Institute of Agriculture, Curtin University of Technology, Northam, Western Australia, 2Centre for Cropping Systems, Department of Agriculture WEED ISSUES 56. Role of Roundup ReadyÒ canola in the farming system, Art Diggle1, Patrick Smith2, Paul Neve3, Felicity Flugge4, Amir Abadi5 and Stephen Powles3, 1Department of Agriculture; 2CSIRO, Sustainable Ecosystems; 3Western Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative; 4Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture; 5Touchstone Consulting 57. ’Weeds for Feed’ and livestock enterprise structures: A feasibility study and farmer survey in the north-easern wheatbelt, Duncan Peter and Stuart McAlpine, Department of Agriculture and Liebe Group, Buntine 58. e-weed, Vanessa Stewart, Agriculture Western Australi

Crop Updates 2002 - Geraldton

This session covers twenty seven papers from different authors: 1. Taking the Why out of Wyalkatchem – the new widely adapted wheat variety, Steve Penny Jr, Department of Agriculture 2. Future wheat varieties, Robin Wilson, Iain Barclay,Robyn McLean, Robert Loughman, Jenny Garlinge, Bill Lambe, Neil Venn and Peter Clarke Department of Agriculture 3. Maximising wheat variety performance through agronomic management, Wal Anderson, Raffaele Del Cima, James Bee, Darshan Sharma, Sheena Lyon, Melaine Kupsch, Mohammad Amjad, Pam Burgess, Veronika Reck, Brenda Shackley, Ray Tugwell, Bindi Webb and Steve Penny Jr Department of Agriculture 4. Cereal rust update 2002 – a new stem rust on Camm wheat, Robert Loughman1and Robert Park2 1Department of Agriculture, 2University of Sydney 5. Influence of nutrition and environmental factors on seed vigour in wheat, Darshan Sharma, Wal Anderson and Daya Patabendige, Department of Agriculture 6. Cereal aphids and direct feeding damage to cereals, Phil Michael, Department of Agriculture 7. A decision support system for control of aphids and BYDV in cereal crops, Debbie Thackray, Jenny Hawkes and Roger Jones, Department of Agriculture and Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture 8. Summary of 2001 weather and seasonal prospects for 2002, David Stephens, Department of Agriculture 9. Towards a management package for grain protein in lupins, Bob French, Senior Research Officer, Department of Agriculture 10. Lupin genotypes respond differently to potash, Bob French and Laurie Wahlsten, Senior Research Officer and Technical Officer, Department of Agriculture 11. Time of harvest for improved seed yield of pulses, G. Riethmuller and B. French, Department of Agriculture 12. Comparing the phosphorus requirement of field pea and wheat, M. Bolland and P. White, Department of Agriculture Western Australia 13. Field pea variety evaluation, T. Khan, Department of Agriculture Western Australia 14. Diamondback moth (DBM) in canola, Kevin Walden, Department of Agriculture 15. WA blackleg resistance ratings on canola varieties for 2002, Ravjit Khangura, Martin J. Barbetti and Graham Walton, Department of Agriculture 16. The effect of single or multiple spray treatments on the control of Diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) and yield of canola at Wongan Hills, Françoise Berlandier, Paul Carmody and Christiaan Valentine, Department of Agriculture 17. Perennial pastures in annual cropping systems: Lucerne and beyond, Roy Latta and Keith Devenish, Department of Agriculture 18. Nutrition in 2002: Decisions to be made as a result of last season, Bill Bowden,Department of Agriculture 19. Profitability of deep banding lime, Michael O\u27Connell, Chris Gazey and David Gartner, Department of Agriculture 20. Economic comparisons of farming systems for the medium rainfall northern sandplain, Caroline Peek and David Rogers, Department of Agriculture 21. The use of Twist Fungus as a biosecurity measure against Annual Ryegrass Toxicity (ARGT), Greg Shea, GrainGuard Coordinator and George Yan, Biological and Resource Technology 22. Major outcomes from IWM demonstration sites, Alexandra Douglas, Department of Agriculture 23. Understanding the weed seed bank life of important agricultural weeds, Sally Peltzer and Paul Matson, Department of Agriculture 24. Seeding rate, row spacing and herbicides for weed control, David Minkey, Department of Agriculture 25. Improving weed control in grazed pastures using legumes with low palatability, Clinton Revell and Giles Glasson, Department of Agriculture, Dean Thomas, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Western Australia 26. Group F resistant wild radish: What’s new? Aik Cheam1, Siew Lee1and Mike Clarke2, 1Department of Agriculture WA, 2Aventis Crop Science 27. Knockdown herbicides do not reliably kill small grass weeds, Peter Newman and Glenn Adam, Department of Agricultur

Scientific drilling projects in ancient lakes: integrating geological and biological histories

Sedimentary sequences in ancient or long-lived lakes can reach several thousands of meters in thickness and often provide an unrivalled perspective of the lake's regional climatic, environmental, and biological history. Over the last few years, deep drilling projects in ancient lakes became increasingly multi- and interdisciplinary, as, among others, seismological, sedimentological, biogeochemical, climatic, environmental, paleontological, and evolutionary information can be obtained from sediment cores. However, these multi- and interdisciplinary projects pose several challenges. The scientists involved typically approach problems from different scientific perspectives and backgrounds, and setting up the program requires clear communication and the alignment of interests. One of the most challenging tasks, besides the actual drilling operation, is to link diverse datasets with varying resolution, data quality, and age uncertainties to answer interdisciplinary questions synthetically and coherently. These problems are especially relevant when secondary data, i.e., datasets obtained independently of the drilling operation, are incorporated in analyses. Nonetheless, the inclusion of secondary information, such as isotopic data from fossils found in outcrops or genetic data from extant species, may help to achieve synthetic answers. Recent technological and methodological advances in paleolimnology are likely to increase the possibilities of integrating secondary information, e.g., through molecular dating of molecular phylogenies. Some of the new approaches have started to revolutionize scientific drilling in ancient lakes, but at the same time, they also add a new layer of complexity to the generation and analysis of sediment core data. The enhanced opportunities presented by new scientific approaches to study the paleolimnological history of these lakes, therefore, come at the expense of higher logistic, communication, and analytical efforts. Here we review types of data that can be obtained in ancient lake drilling projects and the analytical approaches that can be applied to empirically and statistically link diverse datasets for creating an integrative perspective on geological and biological data. In doing so, we highlight strengths and potential weaknesses of new methods and analyses, and provide recommendations for future interdisciplinary deep drilling projects