What matters more? Crop sequence or seeder?
October 7, 2020
Can we get away with a single break crop if we throw enough ‘aggressive agronomy’ at a ryegrass population? Are expensive herbicides worth the money? What is better, disc or tyne?
Why were the batsmen tampering with the ball, shouldn’t that be the bowler’s job?
These are all questions that were being asked by a local project committee of growers and advisers, and there was only one way to answer them.
Enter Tony Swan from CSIRO. He and his team embarked on a massive, long-term research effort in Temora NSW, working with FarmLink Research to make it happen. The trial ran from 2014 to 2017 and the preliminary results are in.
And the winner is…
DIVERSITY. (Insert a fist pump from Professor Steve Powles here!)
Diverse crop rotations, including a double break, premium herbicides, with some extra crop competition courtesy of barley thrown in, and we have a winner. This diverse crop rotation smashed ryegrass numbers down from 1864 plants/m2 to 145 plants/m2 in just three years, and it was also the most profitable rotation.
Article courtesy AHRI. Link the full article can be found here