Grain growers had the opportunity to discuss all things pulses with Agriculture Victoria’s Jason Brand and Audrey Delahunty at the BCG Main Field Day which was held on 12 September at the group’s main research site at Narraport.
Highlighted was the research being conducted on lentil herbicide tolerance and the impact of frost on pulse production.
The lentil variety tolerance to Brodal Options® (diflufenican) trial provided the background to the session, which is funded by BCG members through their membership.
Lentil crop damage following applications of Brodal Options® have been anecdotally reported on occasions with white blotching being evident on plants. Therefore, the trial aims to assess if the visual damages that occur result in a yield penalty, and whether this correlates to specific varieties or the timing of application.
Mr Brand explained that a calculated decision needs to be made when considering the difference in yield between spraying and not.
“You need to consider how much the weeds are going to cost you, compared to how much the herbicide damage is going to cost,” he said.
This trial will continue to be monitored by the BCG team for the rest of the season.
Frost tolerance and impact on pulse crop production was the focus of Ms Delahunty presentation where she reminded all attendees about the damage that can result, remembering back to the vegetative frosts experienced in 2015. In that year, Hurricane lentils were perceived to have been affected to a greater extent.
In trials Ms Delahunty is conducting at Ouyen this year, different time and duration of frost events as well as different varieties are being assessed to understand those varieties and growth stages most susceptible.
“We are creating frost chambers that are a Styrofoam box with some dry ice, to simulate a frost event at different times and durations,” she said.
“That way we can target the different growth stages, which are flowering, early podding, mid-podding and late podding.”
Initial results are indicating that lentils have good loss recovery mechanisms after experiencing a frost at flowering, but Ms Delahunty highlighted that one of the major issues with frost in lentils in the down grade in quality.
You can hear more from Mr Brand on the Wednesday 26 September at the Southern Pulse Agronomy trial site at Curyo from 1.30pm, with a second event also scheduled for Wednesday 10 October in Nhill. For more information about these events please visit the BCG website at www.bcg.org.au.
This article was published in the Stock and Land, 20 September 2018.
