Life Sciences Commons^™

Swathing Field Crops In The South-West, R Snowball

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Swathing is a long established method of haarvesting field crops, especially in parts of Europe and North America. It involves cutting the crop when the seed is nearly mature and laying it in a swath or windrow to dry. when the crop has dried it is harvested using conventional harvesting machinery with a pick-up attatchment.

On the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, an area prone to strong moist sea breezes, swathing barley is a common practice. More farmers along Western Australia's south coast are also swathing barley to reduce losses from conventional harvesting. Pod shattering losses of lupins and field …

Increasing Wheat Yields Through Breeding, B R. Whan, R. Gilmour

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

With the current 'cost price' sueeze facing Australia's farmers, the development of new higher yielding varieties is moe important that ever. By growing higher yielding varieties, farmers can increase their returns at virtuakky no additional cost: for example a wheat variety that produces 5 per cent extra yield from 1 t/ha crop returns about an additional $8/ha. Farmers can therefore increase their production by growing improved varieties.

Yellow Spot Of Wheat, R Loughman, J. M. Wilson, R. E. Wilson

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Yellow spot is a serious leaf disease of wheat in Western Australia. It also occurs in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. Yellow spot can appear as a severe leaf blight but generally the disease does not have the rapid epidemic development of wheat rust diseases. It builds up more slowly and is not as obvious in the crop, while caising appreciable yield loss.

Wheat Growth On Saline Waterlogged Soils, E G. Barrett-Lennard

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Studies of the growth of plants on salt-affected soils have focused maily on the effects of salt. However, many salt-affected soils are also subject to waterlogging. Glasshouse experiments conducted by the Department of Agriculture have shown that although wheat growth is not greatly reduced by low levels of salt under well drained conditions, under waterlogged conditions such levels of salt can have a severe effect.

Row Spacing And Cereal Crop Yield, R N. Burch, M. W. Perry

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Cereal growers in western Australia have, traditionally, burned cereal stubbles. Burning stubble residues reduces weed seed populations and fungal pathogens, but its main purpose has been to eliminate straw which might cause blockages od seeding machinery and por see-bed preparation in the time critical seeding operation.

In 982, the Department of Agriculture began a project to determine whether wider spaced rows also depressed cereal yields in Western Australia. This article summarises some of the important results from that work.