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 4420 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 197 — Autumn 2017 BARLEY SEED RATE AND IRRIGATION FREQUENCY Differences between the nitrogen treatments were already visible in mid-August, only eleven days after the application of urea at the tillering stage. l  In a wet winter like 2016 the decision to irrigate a barley crop increased grain yield and grain quality but resulted in reduced water productivity. l  The average grain yield across the experiment was 6.3 t/ha, with the highest yield of 8.0 t/ha achieved from the 50 kg/ha seed rate with one irrigation and topdressed with 326 kg/ha of urea. l  The lower seed rate of 50 kg/ha improved grain quality and reduced lodging with no negative impact on grain yield. l  The waterlogged treatment (ponded for 48 hours) used an additional 0.41 ML/ha or 55% more water in one irrigation than the treatment that was ponded for only five hours. One of the more difficult decisions growers have to make each spring is to decide where to use their irrigation water to get the best returns. Brian Dunn, Tina Dunn, Craig Hodges and Chris Dawe NSW Department of Primary Industries, Yanco GROWERS often face the dilemma of having an established winter cereal crop in the ground and not knowing whether to give it one or more spring irrigations or to save the water for use elsewhere. In 2016, an experiment was conducted at NSW DPI’s Leeton Field Station to investigate the irrigation water requirements of a barley crop and the impact of plant density, nitrogen, irrigation intensity and waterlogging have on grain yield and quality, water use and productivity. Two seed rates were included to determine the impact of plant density on grain yield and grain quality under different crop moisture stress scenarios. The barley variety, La TrobeA was direct drilled at two seed rates, 50 and 80 kg/ha seed, with 125 kg/ha DAP into a moist uncultivated self- mulching heavy clay soil. The 50 and 80 kg/ha seed rates produced plant populations of 90 and 160 plant/m2 respectively. QUICK TAKE