This project will build capacity by supporting a University of Adelaide PhD project investigating the genetic diversity and invasion origins of exotic snail lineages infesting Australian grains crops. The project is critical to inform the on-farm management of major pest snails, while simultaneously developing long term capacity for the grains industry, based in SA, in the genetics, diagnostics, ecology and management of exotic pest snails.
Field and pot experiments will be conducted to improve understanding of factors influencing establishment under low soil moisture and to provide guidelines on how to address the risks associated with dry sowing. Field trials will be conducted at three sites in the Mid North to examine the effects of crop type and sowing depth on crop establishment, growth and yield with dry sowing. Pot trials will examine effects of intermittent rainfall on seed survival and establishment in different crops. This project is a co-investment, with the SA Drought Hub providing 50% of the total funding.
Improved nitrogen management is a common goal for many growers, given its importance in optimising yields and the associated costs. Utilising available data sources is central to this improvement and recent development in grain protein sensing has shown potential for targeting N inputs spatially. This project will assess the utility of this data for improving N applications.
This project will provide management strategies that mitigate frost risk for lentil by assessing the ability of lentils to recover following frost events when supplied with frost tolerance promoting products, including hormones to enhance flower recovery and bactericides to act as antimicrobial agents, compared to without these products. This project is a co-investment with GRDC providing 50% of the total funding.
This project aims to demonstrate how commercially available nitrogen management strategies can help to improve on-farm emissions intensity through local replicated plot trials, along with assessing the productivity and economic impacts.