A healthy, full head of grain,
nothing better than that for a
grower, but unless you plant
at the right time, you won't get
that.
And to work out sowing times,
you need good phenology data.
So growers can easily get
information about yield ratings and
disease resistance when cultivars
are released to the market, but not
cultivar phenology.
Usually this relies on multiple
years of field experiments in
different sites, different
environments.
And we also didn't have a method
that is quantitative and objective
and agreed upon by industry that we
can use to describe cultivar
phenology.
So we rely on terms like slow
winter and mid-fast spring.
But they don't really accurately
describe how different cultivars
behave in different environments.
In a drive to deliver more accurate
modelling of flowering times,
the Grains Research and Development
Corporation has embarked on
an ambitious and intensive research
investment.
So this project, it's not just
another set of time of sowing
experiments.
The GRDC National Phenology
Initiative is improving the existing
APSim next year model for wheat and
barley development so that we can
parameterise it with a controlled
environment, phenotype data,
molecular markers and or genomic
data. And this will allow us
to simulate time
of sowing in different environments
at the point the cultivars are
released to the market.
So with this improved modelling,
we don't need to rely on several
years of field experiments anymore
to know a cultivars
phenology in a different
environment.
The National Phenology Initiative is
a highly collaborative and cross
disciplinary undertaking,
partnering with La Trobe University,
CSIRO,
Western Australia's Department of
Primary Industries and Regional
Development, New South Wales
Department of Primary Industries,
Plant and Food Research New Zealand,
the South Australian Research and
Development Institute and the
Statistics for the Australian Grains
Industry Program, another GRDC
investment. Field data
will be collected twice weekly over
two years from sites in Western
Australia, South Australia, Victoria
and New South Wales.
One of the most important things a
grower needs to know about new
cultivars is the speed at which
they mature.
This allows them to sow at the
optimum time to maximise
yields and minimise losses.
So if we can sow on time and have
our cultivars flaring on time,
we minimise the risk of yield
losses due to frost and heat risk
and we maximise our potential yield.
Critical to the research is the
testing across a wide range
of Australia's diverse environments
to measure the effects of day length
and the amount of cool weather the
crops are exposed to.
That is between minus one
and 16 degrees.
So the speed at which wheat and
barley develop in the field is
a factor of photoperiod.
So length and light interception
and also the vernalisation
requirements.
So development speed will vary
depending on where they're grown,
which environment. The
controlled environment phenotype
similar to the field experiments
will have the same phenology panel
of 96 genotypes.
The difference being the researchers
are assessing genotype phenology
in four specific controlled
environments, looking at short
and long day conditions in
combination with plus or minus
vernalisation.
The phenotypic data that's collected
in these experiments, such as
emergence date, leaf numbers
over time and thermal time
to heading will be used by
the modellers as input parameters
to then simulate a time of
flowering.
Once the model is parameterised
with a controlled environment
phenotypic data, we're then using
the field validation data to test
and validate the model so those two
components of the project go hand in
hand.
PhD student Max Bloomfield
is managing the controlled
environment phenotyping at La
Trobe University.
And so this phenotype data
is what is the input into the
APSim model and
so it's really
important because we need to have
good data that parameterises as is
the model. And so we've got short
or long days with or without
vernalisation.
And we do this because
along with temperature,
photoperiod and vernalisation,
the environmental drivers of
development in wheat and barley.
This wheat/barley combination is a
first for the National Phenology
Initiative, according to the South
Australian Research and Development
Institution's barley specialist.
We don't typically have the spread
in flowering time in our barley
cultivars.
We have a much wider spread in our
wheat cultivars.
So that actually allows us to sow
early, often in our wheat cultivars,
because we have a wider range of
winter germplasm.
But I think some of the interesting
things we're seeing out of this this
trial program is that the spring
wheats are developing much quicker
than barley from some of the earlier
sowing dates.
And then as we get to the later
sowing dates in May, June, the
barley is now much quicker than
wheat.
These observations are even more
meaningful when compared across
years. The same trials will run
in 2019,
providing another layer of valuable
data.
If you just compare those two years
here in South Australia in
autumn last year we had quite a warm
autumn.
So what that meant for the winter
wheat to the wheats that required
vernalisation, they took quite
a long time to accumulate their cool
period, their cold requirement,
whereas in 2020 we actually
had quite a cold autumn
and May, June, where they saturate
the vernalisation requirement very
quick. And what that's actually
meant is that they're actually
flowering maybe seven to 10
days quicker than they were in
2019. So that really shows to us
that the genetic by environment
interactions that we really have to
understand and that's why we have
these field trials.
It's also why germplasm from CSIRO
and overseas sources has been
included in the trials.
Historically, Australian barley
breeding programs have included
material that is narrow in
its diversity and development.
So we really want to include the
alternative types from CSIRO.
And even now the lines coming
out of Europe, which are less
responsive to photoperiod because
as we move to earlier sowing, these
are some of the developmental types
that Australian growers will need.
When the first phase of research is
complete, this unique tool
will be available online from 2022,
enabling planning for the 2023
season.
For growers, sowing at the
optimal time and having their crop
flower at the optimal time is really
one of the easiest ways that they
can ensure optimal yields on their
property. So if we can provide them
a tool that can give them this
information as soon as a new
cultivar is released to market,
we're giving them the best chance
they can to achieve high yields.
The GRDC Phenology Initiative
will also assist growers and
advisers to deal with the challenges
of climate change.
Not only do growers have to select
which cultivars to sow on farm
over their sowing period each year,
those conditions will change every
year. And we're also dealing with a
changing climate that's going to
have greater impacts down the road.
So this tool is going to help inform
those cultivar selection and sowing
time decisions in their environment.
For the team of researchers, it's
demanding but rewarding
work.
So I've been working on the National
Phenology Initiative for two years
now, leading the Victorian field
trials. And it's really exciting to
be involved in a project that's
developing such a crucial and
important tool for growers and
advisers to use. It's
straightforward, easy to use, and
it's been designed for you.
So all this work has gone into the
tool for you.