A GRAINS Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) legume project in South Australia will feature 33 trials sown this year.
In its second year, the legume project aims to address the 40 per cent yield gap between average grain legume yields and water-limited yield potential and drive its closure through supporting growers with extension of best practice grain legume agronomy.
Contributing research organisations for the project include the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), the University of Adelaide and the Department of Primary Industries and Regions.
One of the research trial plots will be in the South East at Millicent.
Other sites are at Tooligie, Hart, Loxton, Lameroo, Melrose, Riverton, Maitland, Bute, Pinnaroo, Kimba and Wangary.
“This year’s trials program is looking at the economic impact of various management options for grain legume crops, including diseases, weeds and herbicide use,” said project research co-ordinator, Sarah Day, of SARDI.
“Other areas of focus are soil amelioration, including deep ripping, and reducing pod loss.
“There are also some lentil and field pea variety trials going into some locations to increase the understanding of how these cultivars are adapted to expanding areas.”
Ms Day said the trials are specific to a region and have been designed to answer questions being asked by growers at the local level.
“GRDC invested in this project for that particular reason – to address the need for more refined grain legume crop management approaches for different regions.”
