The Department of Agriculture and Food’s online tool to help assess and manage frost risk, Flower Power, was a discussion point for northern grain growers at a recent field walk.
DAFWA wheat agronomy researcher Christine Zaicou-Kunesch said this week’s Yuna Farm Improvement Group field walk (24 June) included an early sown wheat crop which had flourished to the booting stage under a warm and wet start to the season.
“The Mace crop was dry sown in mid-April and emerged with the unexpected but useful rains on the Anzac Day weekend, with more than 120mm recorded following seeding,” Ms Zaicou-Kunesch said.
“While cooler winter days will slow down development over winter, flowering in the area is expected to start in the next few weeks and the crop will be vulnerable to frost events.”
Ms Zaicou-Kunesch discussed with the group how the Flower Power tool – an outcome of the wheat agronomy project supported by DAFWA and the Grains Research and Development Corporation – could assist decisions on variety sowing time and seeding order to reduce the risk of frost and heat stress.
“Flower Power helps predict wheat flowering times of up to three different varieties at the same time and the risk of frost or heat stress in a targeted location,” she said.
A new function added in response to industry feedback enables the program output to be printed, allowing the information to be taken back into the paddock for discussion.
Ms Zaicou-Kunesch also discussed how daily temperatures, vernalisation (cold temperature) and day length can influence when a variety will reach flowering.
“For example our research indicates that while Calingiri and Fortune are similar and with similar vernalisation requirement, they differ in their day length sensitivity,” she said.
“This will partly explain why growers observe that Calingiri wheat had a better fit in their environment at Yuna than Fortune wheat.”
Other topics covered at the field walk included an update from Elders agronomist Belinda Eastough, who discussed with the group the importance of understanding plant development and leaf numbers to ensure they limit damage from phenoxy type herbicides and optimal timing of nitrogen application.
The group also visited a mouldboard ploughing site to look at wheat growth and another site to discuss different options for early radish control in wheat.
Flower Power and can be accessed via DAFWA’s website agric.wa.gov.au by searching for ‘flower power’.
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