NEW lupin variety PBA Jurien is a hot favourite this season, with plenty of growers giving the variety a go.
PBA Jurien is an early flowering and maturity sweet lupin variety released this year.
It has been shown to offer significant yield improvements across most lupin growing areas in Australia and has resistance to phomopsis, anthracnose, grey spot and superior tolerance to metribuzin compared to PBA Barlock.
Landmark Mingenew profit share principal Anthony Smyth said there had been very strong interest in PBA Jurien as local trial work undertaken by Mingenew Irwin Group showed very positive yields.
He said availability had been tight and only six of the 30 tonnes of PBA Jurien ordered through Landmark Mingenew was available, with 12-15 of his clients being among the lucky ones to access seed.
Lupin plantings in general in the area were slightly back on previous years but Mr Smyth said it was still a very important rotation crop for the sandplain country around Mingenew.
"It is a bigger wheat and canola planting this year for our growers, but with the lupin price holding firm the new variety means that there had been very strong interest from our clients," he said.
Mr Smyth said the variety was doing well, with growers spraying to target broadleaf and grass weeds.
"Due to the high use of treated seed, there's no disease present and knockdown insecticides has kept grub activity at bay."
Mingenew grower Jared Heitman is already impressed with the PBA Jurien's vigour over PBA Barlock.
This season, Mr Heitman is growing a 1860 hectare mix of PBA Jurien, PBA Barlock and PBA Coromup at Arena Farm, a 5000ha farm that he runs with parents Donald and Julie and partner Roxanne Eylward.
The farm is split with a rotational mix of 2000ha wheat, 220ha canola, 220ha oats and the lupins.
The remainder is a mix of tagasaste and perennial pastures for their 1300 head of Meridale sheep, which Ms Eylward manages.
Soils vary across the farm from yellow sand plain, to sand over gravel, a few areas of deep sand, gravel and what Mr Heitman refers to as "gutless sands" where the tagasaste is grown.
Mr Heitman said due to the varied conditions, the family conducted their own on-farm trials to test new crop varieties before they were seeded commercially.
"We are really chasing a tall lupin variety that yields well, so PBA Jurien could fit well on our farm,"he said.
"The fact that Jurien is also an early maturing variety also helps, as the PBA Barlock crop was really affected by the dry finish in 2015, with lower than average yields of 1.6 tonnes/ha on 213 millimetres of growing season rainfall."
So far, Mr Heitman said he was very happy with how the variety was performing.
"PBA Jurien is already showing good vigour and even a pre-emergent application of metribuzin and Brodal (diflufenican) hasn't really slowed it down with minimal burn compared to PBA Barlock," he said.
"The real proof won't be until the pods form on the primary which will begin to give us an indication of how it will perform."
He said germination of PBA Barlock crop this year had also been heavily affected with numbers as low as 50 per cent, while PBA Jurien and PBA Coromup had faired significantly better.
He said past experience in growing lupins had shown that the crop needs a shock to pod up well.
"In wetter years, lupins tend to bulk up their biomass rather than putting the energy into podding,"he said.
"When this happens the crop needs a dry spell at the right time to shock it into podding."
Mr Heitman said manganese deficiency was a particular problem as roots struggled to access the micro-nutrient in dry finishes
He said he hoped applying manganese upfront at seeding would help, but was also considering a foliar application.
"I would definitely put on a foliar application if there's a dry spell when podding, as it is really crucial at pod formation," he said.
For 2016 one of the big changes on the farm was the removal of 30 kilometres of internal fencing, increasing the average paddock size from 100ha to 600ha.
Seeding preparation began in late March where Mr Heitman began deep ripping 1600ha of wheat and canola paddocks.
The family has only began deep ripping in the past three years after several dry years to improve access to soil moisture.
Spading with a trail unit has also been employed to hit non-wetting soil issues and 3 tonne/ha of lime was incorporated through the top 30 centimetres of the soil profile to alter pH levels from 5 to 5.9.
Mr Heitman said the family also invests significantly in a chemical program to ensure good weed control and reduce the risk of herbicide resistance.
Prior to seeding, 1.5 litres/ha of Roundup Ultramax was applied in the lupin paddocks, along with a pre-emergent application of propyzamide and metribuzin. This was followed by a post-emergent application of Brodal, simazine and metribuzin.
"The way we look at it is that our chemical spend now sets us up for the next 10 years," Mr Heitman said.
"We are fortunate to be in a good, reliable area so we can invest in farm improvements such as chemicals, quality machinery and our on farm trials to further boost our productivity," he said.
Canola variety 43Y23 was sown on April 19, followed by the lupins a week later.
The family aim for a 2.5t/ha crop so match their fertiliser rates accordingly, using 55kg/ha of BigPhos manganese and 100kg/ha of 2:1super potash. The lupin seed was also seed dressed to protect against black leaf spot.
Mr Heitman said they generally stored their lupins on farm, and have a 2000t capacity of on-farm storage in silos and grain sheds.
About 45t of lupins are kept for their Meridale flock, with the excess sold domestically throughout the year.