Friday 13 July 2012
Australia
Crop grazing
USING crop grazing, how far can grain growers extend the flowering window to reduce yield losses from frost, while not unduly exposing later flowering crops to drought near the end of the growing season?
To help answer this question and determine optimum crop management for crop grazing, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is funding trials in frost-prone areas of Western Australia’s Great Southern region.
The research was initiated after the GRDC’s Regional Cropping Solutions Network (RCSN) in the Albany Port Zone identified frost as a research priority for local growers.
The three sites involved in the project include:
•A crop grazing site at Dumbleyung;
•A site to assess crop grazing versus ungrazed crops at Newdegate;
•Value-adding to a crop grazing trial near Katanning, to measure the effects of grazing crops and the impact on the frost window and frost damage to crops.
More information about GRDC RCSNs can be found at
www.grdc.com.au/rcsg or contact GRDC western panel chairman Peter Roberts on 0428 389 060, or facilitators Julianne Hill on 0447 261 607 and Cameron Weeks on 0427 006 944.
Source: farmonline.com.au
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