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 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 7616 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 195 ­ – Rice R&D 2016 Brian Dunn, Tina Dunn, Craig Hodges and Chris Dawe NSW Department of Primary Industries, Yanco Agricultural Institute T HE project Rice variety nitrogen and agronomic management commenced in July 2015 to investigate the agronomy, phenology and nitrogen management of all current varieties and new varieties as they near release. The aim of the project is to provide growers with improved agronomic information enabling them to make better management decisions, which lead to increased regularity of high grain yields and water productivity, with reduced risk. To provide reliable and robust recommendations to growers, data must be acquired for all rice varieties covering different regions, soil types, sowing methods and multiple seasons. ‘Variety by nitrogen’ agronomy experiments will be conducted each season with extensive measurement of rice establishment, growth, grain yield, yield components, lodging, grain quality and phenology. Results from each year’s experiments will be combined to establish a large database of information on all rice varieties across a range of seasons and growing environments. Each season’s results will be used to assess current agronomic recommendations for each variety and modify recommendations when required, to provide growers with improved agronomic management packages. 2015–16 results Six variety experiments were established in the Murrumbidgee and Murray valleys covering a range of soil types across aerial, drill and delayed permanent water sowing and management methods (Table 1). A range of nitrogen rates and application timings was included in the experiments. Grain yield Grain yield results for each variety, averaged over nitrogen rates, are presented Investigation of management for current rice varieties will improve information for growers, so they can consistently achieve high grain yields and water productivity. QUICK TAKE l  This project is assessing all new varieties prior to release so a variety-specific agronomic package of best management practice is available to growers. l  The recommended sowing dates for current varieties have been updated using 2015–16 phenology results from this project and data from previous seasons collected in the NIR and remote sensing project. l  Nitrogen rate and timing recommendations will be fine-tuned for current varieties and available for new varieties upon their release. l  Seedling vigour and percentage of seed established will be further investigated to assess sowing rates and establishment recommendations for all varieties. l Tina Dunn and Erika McAlister placing single grains in rows at 2.5 cm depth in seedling vigour field experiment. IMPROVED RICE VARIETY MANAGEMENT INFORMATION