Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 4413 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 197 — Autumn 2017 The Southern irrigated cereal and canola achieving target yields project aims to increase irrigated cereal and canola production by improving grower and adviser knowledge of: l  high yielding cereal and canola varieties for irrigated systems so growers can select the best variety for their location and irrigation system l  specific agronomy management that will improve production and profitability of cereals and canola under irrigated systems (and increase water use efficiency). The project has been conducted over six nodes (locations) in the southern irrigation regions. The three core research sites are Murrumbidgee (Yanco Agricultural Institute or Leeton Field Station), Murray Valley (Rice Research Australia Pty Ltd, Jerilderie) and north west Victoria (Kerang). The three satellite research locations are Lachlan, south east South Australia and Tasmania. An irrigated canola experiment was conducted at NSW DPI's Leeton Field Station in 2016 to evaluate the effect of variety and nitrogen interactions on canola grain yield, grain quality (oil content) and crop lodging (tables 1 and 2). The experiment was conducted on a self-mulching grey clay soil with barley as the previous crop. The plots were sown into dry soil on 18 April 2016 and irrigated up the following day. The plant population target was 40 plants/m2 but all varieties established better than expected and the average plant population was just over 50 plants/m2 . The experiment was harvested on 26 November 2016 using a small plot header. There was a total of 567 mm of rain from sowing until the end of October, which gave the crop adequate moisture during the growing period. The crop received approximately 6.9 ML/ha of water during the growing season (irrigation in April and in-crop rainfall). Soil testing showed a starting nitrogen level of 56 kg N/ha and there was an estimated 50 kg N/ha of in-crop mineralisation during the growing season. Prior to sowing, 150 kg/ha of MAP, 150 kg/ha of Gran-AM and 220 kg/ ha of urea (providing a total of 150 kg N/ha) was applied 40 mm deep. Based on trial results, the optimum nitrogen application rate when targeting 4.0 t/ha of canola was 200 kg N/ha. Table 1. Canola varieties evaluated in the irrigated canola experiment at Leeton in 2016. Canola variety evaluated under irrigation, Leeton 2016 Pioneer® 45Y25 RR AV-Garnet Hyola® 575CL Pioneer® 45Y88 (CL) ATR-Gem Hyola® 600RR Pioneer® 44Y89 (CL) Nuseed GT-50 Hyola® 559TT ATR-Bonito Nuseed Diamond Victory® V3002 Treatment Total applied (kg N/ha) Pre-sowing fertiliser (kg N/ha) Urea at visible bud (kg N/ha) Low 150 150 0 Medium 200 150 50 High 250 150 100 Very high 300 150 150 Table 2. Nitrogen treatments evaluated in the irrigated canola experiment at Leeton in 2016.