CHOOSING the optimal sowing time for wheat according to variety can go a long way in boosting yield potential in frost prone environments.
That was the message from Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) research officer Ben Biddulph at the Corrigin Farm Improvement Group Trials Update recently.
Mr Biddulph was involved in trials at Brookton and Dale in 2015 and 2016, which compared the performance of wheat varieties at different times of sowing under frost.
Randomised block trials were planted at eight different sowing times in frost-prone areas of the trial sites.
At the 2015 Brookton trial site 29 frost events were recorded from July to October, while at the 2016 Dale trial site there were 57 events.
Mr Biddulph said results showed while it was impossible to avoid the effects of frost completely, varieties matched to their optimum sowing window performed better than others.
“There was no clear way that any of the type of sowing missed frost,” he said.
“They all got hit with frost and most of our frost damage levels started out at about 80 to 90 per cent from the earlier times of sowing down to about 30 to 40pc in our later times of sowing.
“But we did get a huge spread of yield from two tonnes, up to close to 4t just by matching that sowing time by variety.”
Mr Biddulph said growers should be sowing longer maturity wheat varieties when early opportunity arises, rather than the more commonly used mid-season wheat varieties.
He said this would ensure adequate biomass was accumulated above and below the ground and was converted into grain yield while managing frost risk.
“If you’re going to plant wheat in that late April to early May window, you shouldn’t be planting your Mace or your Scepters, their main fit is in that mid to late-May window.
“In the early window that’s where the winter wheats dominate, so this is where Wylah dominated, where Yipti (performed well) and that’s where Magenta has that fit in early May, and then Mace.
“If you are going to sow early, sow a long wheat variety, Winters before May, your longs in that early May window and your mids in that mid-May window, or don’t sow wheat.”
Mr Biddulph said while there seems to be a trend towards sowing as early as April, it was not always the best option.
“At the end of the day, finishing seeding first doesn’t always mean winning, particularly at the end of the year and particularly when we have seasons like 2016,’’ he said.
“2016 was a severe frost year but we can manage our varieties from type of sowing a little bit better, there’s a lot more potential that we can pull out of the system than what we’re getting.”
