Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia
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Testing feed is vital for feed budgeting
No full textA little knowledge of the nutritional value of your supplementary feeds can save you a lot of money and hassle.
In dry seasons, it is likely that farmers will need to start supplementary feeding earlier than usual. The higher requirement for supplementary feeds over dry seasons means accurate feed budgeting becomes increasingly important to minimise feed wastage, for weaner survival, and to maintain stock at the right condition score (CS) for joining
Mesquite and its control: Prosopis species and hybrids
No full textMesquite (all Prosopis species and hybrids) are declared pests in Western Australia (WA). This factsheet describes the nature of the plant with links to requirements landowners/occupiers must adhere to and pest control methods
Western Australian soil groups - a diagnostic key to identify soils in Western Australia (5th edition)
No full textThe aim of the Western Australian soil groups (WA soil groups) is to classify soils of Western Australia into a limited set using criteria that are easy to recognise in the field. It is a general-purpose classification with a focus on agronomic and rangeland grazing potential. The WA soil groups are designed for WA needs. It complements the Australian Soil Classification (ASC) by grouping the continuum of soils into a limited set of soil types, which simplifies soil variability for generalists, allows soil surveyors to create standardised soil-type legends for mapping products and permits further analyses of spatial data for land evaluation. The WA soil groups are each assigned a ‘closest matching ASC’ in the WA digital soil information system to introduce a generalist audience to the official Australian soil classification without needing to understand technical details.
This report documents the WA soil groups and the procedure used to classify them, and provides: a method to identify soils using soil morphology information from field investigations standardised common names for soils of WA a standardised and definitive classification for statewide soil observations and soil mapping data.
Central to this report is a diagnostic key to distinguish profiles into one of 12 soil supergroups and then into one of 155 soil groups. The key is an instruction set that must be followed sequentially, from the top down. Soil features that act as classification criteria in the key are stratified by fixed depth increments deemed important to the growth of annual and perennial crop roots. These criteria are explicit, being either present, absent or not diagnostic. Each criterion within the key is explicitly defined to help with classification. The combination of soil features present or absent makes the key definitive – every adequately described soil can be classified and named.
This fifth edition includes major changes and extra detail. The suite of classes available now encompass the complete range of soils found throughout WA. Previous editions listed common soils relevant for the rain-fed and irrigated agricultural land in the south-west without explicitly defining all aspects of their morphology. The addition of numerous calcareous soils and shallow soils broadens the utility of the classification to rangelands and the arid interior. The expansion of classes of ironstone gravel soils better distinguishes these soils across south-west WA. Changes in this edition improve alignment with the ASC.
An accompanying report (Resource management technical report 430) is being prepared to assist users of the diagnostic key by providing additional information to cross-reference the soil identification using visual aids, descriptive text, location maps and soil management information
Species by time of sowing trial in Chapman Valley, Western Australia
No full textIn 2023 a trial investigating the response of 11 crop species to sowing time was established in the northern grain belt of Western Australia, at Chapman Valley. There are many studies of sowing time effects on each crop species in separate trials, but this trial is unique because it compares several crop types, including eight legume broadleaf species: albus lupin, angustifolius lupin, vetch, lentil, field pea, desi chickpea, kabuli chickpea and faba bean to canola, wheat and barley. By sowing each of these crop species at two sowing dates the aim of the trial in 2023 was to provide growers with data from which to inform decisions on when to change species sown, relative to sowing opportunities.
In 2023 yield of Vixen wheat was 2.6 t/ha when sown on May 24 and 2.4 t/ha when sown on June 14. From the May sowing time Maximus barley yielded 107% of the wheat, Invigor 4520P canola 57%, and legumes ranged 20% (Genesis 090 kabuli chickpea) to 80% (Butler field pea). From the June sowing time Maximus barley yielded 86% of the wheat, Invigor 4520P canola 45%, and legumes ranged 35% (Genesis 090 kabuli chickpea) to 69% (Butler field pea).
The trial will continue in 2024, with wheat sown over each plot to assess legacy effects on wheat. Key observations will focus on nitrogen and water, to assess Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) and Water Use Efficiency (WUE) on the different crop type x sowing time combinations
Ascochyta blight disease and its management in faba beans
No full textThis factsheet summarises the symptoms, disease risk, infection cycle and control measures for Ascochyta blight (Ascochyta fabae) in faba bean compared to the diseases, Alternaria and Cercospora
Barley grass and its management in crops
No full textBarley grass is a common name for Hordeum glaucum and H. leporinum. Barley grass is a major crop weeds species because the seed is readily dispersed, it is renowned for rapidly germinating in autumn, and post-emergent herbicide control options are limited. It can also act as an alternate host for cereal diseases and can develop resistance to herbicides.
The rapid germination of the species after rainfall gives barley grass the potential to act as a green bridge for cereal root rot disease
Manage crop weeds at harvest
No full textThis management strategy provides an opportunity to control weed seed set in the pasture and during harvest. The strategy physically removes viable seed from the paddock by collecting weed seed and grazing crop residues.
Weed seed removal at harvest can be achieved in 2 ways:
1. collecting weed seeds from the system to prevent them being spread across the paddock or farm
2. grazing weed contaminated crop residue and pastures
Cucumber mosaic virus and its management in narrow leafed lupins
No full textCucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is a seed- and aphid-borne virus that infects narrow-leafed lupins. Western Australian (WA) grainbelt regions most at risk are the high rainfall zones of the northern and central agricultural region and the south coastal region.
The principal infection source for lupin crops is sowing infected lupin seed
Russian wheat aphid and its management in wheat and barley
No full textRussian wheat aphid is found worldwide and has spread throughout all major grain growing countries. In Australia, Russian wheat aphid is present in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Western Australia, where it was first detected in 2020.
In Western Australia, Russian wheat aphid is found in low, medium, and high rainfall areas.
Presence of Russian wheat aphid in Western Australia is not an international trade issue and there are no trade implications for the grain industry, as bulk grain is not a host for Russian wheat aphid
Strategic deep tillage and crop rotation for improving productivity of non-sodic heavy soil in the low rainfall regions of Western Australia
No full textNon-sodic heavy soil in the low rainfall regions of Western Australia can be dense and poorly structured with alkaline clay in the subsoil, which prevents root exploration and potentially restricts grain yield. A 4-year long (2020-2023) field experiment was established near Bencubbin in 2020 to investigate whether the loosening of dense soil layers with a strategic deep ripping followed by a summer crop, super sweet sudan (SSS) forage sorghum and crop species of varying root architecture (barley, canola, chickpea, and vetch+oat), or fallow in 2021 can increase barley root exploration in the subsurface soil layers and yield in subsequent years (2022 and 2023). The results showed that deep ripping and SSS had no significant impact on barley grain yield in 2021, 2022 and 2023 compared to no ripping and without SSS. Barley grain yield in 2022 was significantly increased following fallow, chickpea and canola compared to following vetch+oat and continuous barley. In 2023, barley grain yield showed no significant difference due to extremely dry conditions. We concluded that deep ripping in this dense, non-sodic, heavy soil might have limited benefit on crop root exploration or yield. Summer crops such as SSS could be grown to fill the feed gap for grazing without significantly affecting the yield of the crops in the following years. Keeping the land fallow or growing break crops (e.g. canola/chickpea) might be beneficial for increasing cereal crop yield compared to continuous barley