Best Practice for early sowing opportunities

Full description

A workshop held in Wudinna by the South Australian Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SA Drought Hub) in August 2021 identified early sowing as a priority topic for the Hub’s Minnipa Node, which covers the upper Eyre Peninsula (EP). The workshop was attended by growers, industry organisations, farmer groups, researchers and community members. As a result, the ‘Best practice for early sowing opportunities’ project, led by AIR EP and delivered by SARDI Minnipa Agricultural Centre, was developed to extend the results of the SAGIT investment into “Improving the early management of dry sown cereal crops” (EPFS Summary 2021, p. 76).
The key findings from the SAGIT research project (2019-2021) were:
• Greater plant establishment was achieved with fertiliser placed 3 cm below the seed.
• Lower plant establishment occurred when urea was placed with the seed.
• If fertiliser separation cannot be achieved due to seeding systems, then MAP (10:22) with the seed is a safer option than DAP (18:20) with the seed.
• New long coleoptile wheats may provide another option for early plant establishment and vigour in areas where soil moisture is available up to 10 cm deep.
• It is important to sow seed at a depth sufficient for utilising soil moisture for germination.