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 4423 IREC Farmers' Newsletter No. 197 — Autumn 2017 grain retention and increased screenings. The interaction between irrigation treatment and nitrogen topdressing (Figure 3) shows that as the nitrogen topdressing rate increased, the percentage of screenings increased considerably more for the rainfed treatment, than the two irrigated treatments. Grain quality impacts the grade of the grain and therefore its value. At harvest the LA1 grade was paying $165/t and the F1 grade $138/t; but these values were variable with location and dropped soon after harvest and there were limited buyers for LA2 and LA3 grades. All of the rainfed treatments and many of the other treatments achieved the F1 grade. The primary reason for this was low protein levels at the low nitrogen rate treatments and high screenings at high nitrogen rates. Only three of the 24 treatments achieved LA1 grade and they were all close to the limits and the results do not give confidence of continuing to meet this grade. Seed rates influence the end result The 2016 winter season was particularly wet with many commercial cereal crops suffering from severe waterlogging during winter. The experimental site has acceptable surface drainage and soil structure, which resulted in little surface water ponding on the plots for any extended period of time, thus high grain yields were still able to be obtained. The wet winter also resulted in the cereal crops having very shallow root systems, so when evapotranspiration rates started to increase in the spring and rainfall slowed, the crops quickly became moisture Yenda Producers Co-operative Society Ltd General Merchant, Fertilizer Spreading Yenda Branch: (02) 6961 3300 Fruit & Case Branch: (02) 6968 1268 Leeton Branch: (02) 6953 9000 Griffith Branch: (02) 6966 8900 YENDA James Mann 0427 5666 73 Harriet Brickhill 0418 2873 18 Steven Serafin 0427 5666 92 Peter Norbiato 0467 6810 07 Rachel Ward 0409 7196 07 GRIFFITH Peter Hill 0427 5666 50 Dean Andrighetto 0427 5666 69 Mitchell White 0427 5666 98 Geoff Bray 0427 5666 65 Paul Geddes 0427 5666 76 LEETON Sam McGrath 0427 5666 53 Elizabeth Munn 0427 5666 56 Josh Hart 0427 5666 71 Geoff Miller 0427 5666 91 Suppliers of all growers’ requirements Fertilisers | Chemicals | Fertiliser Spreading | Cartage Agronomic Advice | Horticultural Advice | Animal Health Advice Fuels & Oils | Fencing Materials | Hardware | On Farm Fuel Delivery stressed. One irrigation (Treatment 2) did not produce a large increase in grain yield, but the benefit was obvious in grain quality, particularly at high nitrogen rates. Grain quality is a very important component in profitability, with poor grain quality often being severely penalised in the marketplace. Many growers use higher seed rates than required with the current recommended seed rate for barley of 60–90 and 70–110 kg/ha, with partial and full irrigation respectively. The results in this experiment are an example of a lower seed rate producing equivalent grain yield with the added benefits of improved grain quality and reduced lodging. If the winter was drier with the barley becoming more moisture stressed it would be expected that the benefits of the lower seed rate would have been even more pronounced. Seeding rate recommendations for irrigated barley should be reviewed following further research conducted over seasons with a range of irrigation intensities. Acknowledgements This research is part of the Irrigated cereal and canola varieties achieving target yields (DAN00198) project, which is co-funded by the NSW DPI and the Grains Research and Development Corporation. Further information Brian Dunn Research Agronomist (Irrigation) T: 02 6951 2621 E: [email protected]