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Summary
The SA Variety Sowing Guide was produced and delivered to South Australian growers and the wider industry in spring 2014, 2015 and 2016. This guide is produced to provide growers with independent information on varietal performance, and key agronomic and disease resistance traits for wheat, durum, barley, oats, triticale, canola, field pea, lentil, faba bean, chickpea, lupin and vetch. As well as reporting information on herbicide tolerance traits of cereal pulse varieties.
Background
The SA grain growing industry covers a range of different growing regions and conditions. Growers across the state are seeking to plan their cropping operation to maximise returns based on a range of factors including crop variety.
Research Aims
The core objectives of the project were to:
• Annually collate the most up-to-date information on South Australian grain varieties to provide the industry with the tools to make informed decisions for their grain growing operations.
• Give South Australian grain growers access to independent variety selection information.
In The Field
Breeding companies, pathologists and the wider GRDC National Variety Trial network were consulted annually to generate the information for the SA Variety Sowing Guides in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Results
The 2015, 2016 and 2017 SA Variety Sowing Guides were distributed to all SA grain producers through the GRDC GroundCover mailing list reaching 6700 growers, advisors and agricultural merchandisers.
Additionally, the guide was posted on the SARDI/PIRSA and GRDC web sites with links to other sites such as NVT online.
More than 2000 copies were also printed and distributed to seed retailers and commercial agronomists through the Wingfield-based company, Seed Distributors, with costs fully absorbed by this company.
The SA Variety Sowing Guide continued to receive high levels of recognition from South Australian growers, with the recent 2017 GRDC grower survey indicating that 100 per cent of growers in SA recognised the publication as a source of variety selection information.
Project Participants
South Australian Research and Development Institute: Andrew Ware, Rob Wheeler, Sarah Day, Amanda Pearce, Larn McMurray, Charlton Jeismann, Stuart Nagel, Sue Hoppo and Kenton Porker.
The Problem
South Australian growers and advisors need a guide to make annual variety selections for the winter cropping season.
The research
Information collected through the GRDC National Variety trials, plant breeders, pathologists and SARDI officers is collated to create the annual guide.
More information
Andrew Ware, SARDI
T: 0427 884 272
E: [email protected]
Value for Growers
The SA Crop Variety Sowing Guides have assisted growers and advisors to make informed decisions on the selection of the appropriate varieties for their locality, giving them information on the relative yield performance, pathology traits and key agronomic characteristics of commercially available varieties.
The 2017 guide can be found at:
https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/all-publications/publications/2016/12/sa-sowingguide2017
Previous years are available at:
https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/all-publications/crop-variety-guides
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