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AN unexpected rainy start to the 18th annual YP AG Farmer Technology Day did not deter more than 100 people from attending the Bute trial site last Wednesday, August 30.
While there was little rain forecast for the day, attendees found themselves moving in and out of the marquee for shelter.
YP AG agronomy manager Darryn Schilling welcomed the audience to the showcase of YP AG’s trial work.
He thanked the YP AG Research and Development team tireless efforts putting together such an informative line-up of trials, as well as having them displayed in such a professional manner.
“Many thanks also to our co-operating farming clients, Mark and Paul Rundle of Rundle Farming,” Darryn said.
“We have been very lucky having a run of such good co-operators who assist with site selection, and the many demands we place on them to have such a fantastically presented site ready for today.
“These trials are a collaboration of finding answers to local farming issues, getting the best out of our herbicides, in terms of application and preventing the onset of resistance, and looking forward into the future, to see what can be done with problems arising in the district.”
Darryn introduced southern Yorke Peninsula agronomist Ryley Newbold, who took the group through the effects of herbicides, both pre- and post-emergent, on disc seeding systems and knife points or press wheels.
The effect of these herbicides in the different seeding systems depends on a lot of factors, including rainfall after the herbicide application, soil type, and soil throw from the individual seeding system.
The most important aspect is to ensure good separation of the seed from the herbicide, Ryley said.
With fewer herbicide options available in a disc system, the key to successful weed management involves using the right
pre-emergent herbicides, optimising crop competition and rotation of herbicide groups to prevent resistance.
Dom Meaney from YP AG Maitland then worked through the influences of pre-emergent herbicides, sowing depth and speed on crop establishment, vigour and yield.
A range of treatments was done on short and long coleoptile wheats, assessing the two most mobile pre-emergent herbicides, Luximax and Overwatch, and the effect they had on the respective varieties.
A couple of rain delays and impromptu discussions in the marquee were not enough to deter the audience from listening to Dom complete his presentation.
With assistance from representatives from seed companies AGT, Intergrain and LongReach Plant Breeders, Darryn went through an in-depth presentation of the current and future cereal varieties available to YP growers.
Cereal variety breeding is continually evolving, with many exciting new lines coming through the pipeline.
Whether it be marketing advantages like that offered by Alestar Barley, the herbicide tolerance traits found in Titan AX and Neo Barley, or just new high-yielding conventional barleys, it got the attendees thinking about what upgrades they could be making.
Similarly in the wheat varieties, there were different advantages like agronomic breeding for longer coleoptiles, herbicide tolerance (such as Soaker wheat) or varieties which might be used to combat disease, like Brumby wheat, which has excellent resistance to wheat powdery mildew, a major issue on northern Yorke Peninsula.
With the morning session done and dusted, or more precisely, done and muddied, lunch was served in the marquee.
Pioneer Seeds gave an update about their new naming of canola, as well as the new herbicide tolerant technology Optimum Gly and its fit in the rotation when growing canola.
A previous presentation from Clear Grain Exchange, during one of the rain delays, was also discussed at length by growers over lunch.