Improving the early management of dry sown cereal crops

With larger seeding programs, increased summer weed control to conserve soil moisture and more variable autumn rainfall patterns, many growers Australia wide are continuing to dry-sow. More traditionally, growers may have previously ‘dabbled a little’ in dry-sowing and are observing with interest the successes and failures of dry-sowing systems.On upper Eyre Peninsula in 2017 and 2018, seed was placed in the soil for many weeks with limited soil moisture; some seed still germinated but the delayed plant emergence often resulted in a lower plant establishment. This raised questions by EP farmers and consultants about the soil factors which influence seed germination and establishment.Research trials were established in 2019 to assess the impact of management on seed germination and establishment on three different soil types in field trials and pot experiments; a red loam [Minnipa Agricultural Centre (MAC)] and two grey calcareous soils (Cungena and Streaky Bay) for:Impact of fertiliser type (P and N) and fertiliser placement,Impact of practices, herbicides and seed dressings.This article reports on field trials undertaken in 2019 at three sites.