Wheat variety decisions made easier with new variety guide
Additions have been made to the former wheat variety guide that will make variety selection easier for Western Australian grain growers.
The updated, recently-released 2018 Wheat variety sowing guide for Western Australia features new tools and information, along with a profile of several new varieties.
The guide is produced by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, with support from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).
It draws on results from the GRDC’s National Variety Trials (NVT), the department’s agronomy trials from across the state’s agricultural area and information from commercial breeders and agronomists.
The guide enables growers to compare the performance of different varieties across a range of environments and understand the strengths and weaknesses of each.
While a number of varieties out-yielded the benchmark variety, Mace, in recent NVT trials, it is important for growers to consider whether changing to a newer wheat variety would bring any real advantage over older wheat varieties.
While yield is important, disease tolerance, quality and other factors play a large part in growing a successful wheat crop.
In selecting a new variety, it should have a yield and disease rating equal to or better than the currently sown varieties, provide diversity or risk mitigation, and it should suit the current requirements.
When making variety selections, growers should use the guide to compare the performance of wheat varieties across a range of environments and yield groups.
Across the grades, differences between varieties and their yields are most obvious in the higher yielding environments.
Information contained in the guide will help growers to choose the highest yielding variety for their environment, while highlighting each variety’s potential agronomics and disease issues.
The guide features a selection of fact sheets as a quick reference for 22 common and recently-released varieties, as well as a disease update, suggested sowing times and an overview of variety agronomy management and herbicide tolerance.
It also includes updates of classifications from Wheat Quality Australia.
The guide also includes an overview of the performance and characteristics of new varieties Chief CL Plus, Cutlass, LRBP Arrow, LRBP Havoc, Ninja, Scepter and Tungsten.
To access the PDF version of the guide, refer to 2018 Wheat variety sowing guide for Western Australia on the department’s website. A hard copy will be mailed out to subscribers of the GRDC’s GroundCover magazine in September.
For more information contact Development Officer Georgia Trainor, Northam on +61 (0)8 9690 2083.