THE Liebe Group has been investigating the potential benefits that post-emergent deep ripping can bring to farming systems in the northern agricultural region of WA.
The project, 'Demonstrating the benefits of soil amelioration and controlled traffic practices across a broad range of soil types in Western Australia' has been led by the West Midlands Group through investment by the Grains Research and Development Corporation.
Liebe Group is conducting one of four new demonstration sites implemented this year with host grower Dylan Hirsch on his property at Latham.
Situated on a sandplain soil, the site has compaction present between 20 and 40 centimetres and an ameliorated topsoil with an approximate pH of 6, with increasing acidity at depth.
The trial was designed to include four treatments, unripped (control), ripping one week post seeding, ripping three weeks post seeding and ripping six weeks post seeding or GS30 (whichever comes first).
All ripping treatments were implemented when the soil moisture was ideal and minimal fracturing or clodding was observed.
While comparing initial plant counts, results have shown a promising trend.
Although none of the treatments showed significant difference from the control, the two to three leaf timing did have significantly fewer plants per square metre than the five to six leaf timing and the eight leaf-stem elongation timing.
Observations of the trial site indicated that the two to three leaf ripping treatment, many of the plants were buried and lacked the necessary bulk and vigour to grow out of the damage.
While the larger plants in both the five to six leaf ripping treatment and the eight leaf to stem elongation ripping treatment coped better with the disturbance and grew out of the disturbance rapidly, it was to the point where differences between these two treatments and the control are now minimal.
Moving forward, the Liebe Group will continue monitoring to investigate the impacts of these activities on yield results, or if the increased access to water and nutrients will allow the ripped treatments to recover and match or even exceed the performance of the control.
Results from this trial will be published at the end of the season.
- Contact the Liebe Group for more information on 9661 1907.
