WRI Seminar – Sarah Day, SARDI

Abstract:

Pulse crop production has expanded into the low rainfall cropping regions of South Australia in the last decade, as adoption of direct drilling and continuous cereal cropping has increased the need to include break crops. Faba bean, chickpea, lentil, vetch and lupin production in the low rainfall zone has increased since 2012, with the largest increases in area sown to chickpea, lentil and vetch. Whilst growers in low rainfall regions have increased their production area to pulses, the challenge of best management strategies for resource and economic efficiency remains. The decision to grow a break crop is generally done with a whole systems approach, as break crops can be utilised to address the issues and constraints that arise from continuously cropping cereals. The choice of break crop is made depending on the reason for growing a break crop, crop end-use, fit into the sowing program and farming system, financial risk, paddock selection, and soil type. The ability to control foliar disease in pulse crops needs to be carefully considered prior to growing these crops and an integrated approach is essential. The results from time of sowing trials gives growers more confidence in deciding when to sow each pulse crop, and variety selection to suit their individual seeding program.

Sarah Day is an early career researcher based at the Clare Research Centre, has a background in mixed farming systems and has worked across South Australia in GRDC-funded pulse agronomy and breeding evaluation projects with SARDI since 2015. More recently Sarah’s research has focused on pulse break crop variety selection and agronomic management strategies for low rainfall environments in the southern region, working on GRDC-funded Southern Pulse Agronomy and Validation, and low rainfall break crop validation projects.

Register for the Webinar at

https://adelaide.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vzblOQ1OT7u4CFqM5iW5Wg