YUNA growers will have more certainty about canola seeding depths following the establishment of a new local trial.
Dubbed the Canola Seeding Olympics, the trial was aimed at testing different seeding equipment and sowing depths on canola establishment rates.
Three grower bars were tested - a John Deere 1830 bar with 15 inch tine spacings, DBS bar with 12 inch tine spacing and single grower chute and a modified DBS bar with 12 inch spacings with splitters and wide press wheel.
McIntosh and Son also featured its demo Morris Contour 2 model with a 40 foot bar, 12 inch spacing, double shoot with a Morris 9365 Aircart.
More than 60 attendees saw firsthand the four bars at work, planting the Pioneer 43Y23 canola variety at depths of 1centimetres, 3cm and 5cm at a seeding rate of 1.8 kilograms/hectare with 70kg/ha of Agstar fertiliser.
Trial manager Belinda Eastough said one of the biggest risks of growing canola in the northern Wheatbelt was not achieving high enough plant numbers when sowing into marginal soil moisture.
"Last year Yuna received significant summer rains and sowing canola deeper to chase moisture was an option," she said.
"However, growers were faced with the dilemma of how to effectively establish canola when there is good soil moisture at depth but rapidly drying top soil at the time of sowing."
Ms Eastough said following the Yuna Farm Improvement Group (YFIG) establishment field walk in June last year, it became evident local research was needed to help growers confidently make the decision to sow canola deeper than the traditional 1-3cm soil depth.
YFIG chairman Brady Green said the Council of Grain Grower Organisations-funded trial was valuable to help local growers with these decisions.
"Canola break crops are an important tool for integrated disease and weed management as well as having rotational benefits," he said.
Plant counts will be undertaken later this month at the trial site to check crop establishment.
