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Pulses, 19 Apr 2024
On-farm trials key to growing mungbean production
The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has initiated a $3.6 million project aimed at enhancing mungbean cultivation across Queensland and New South Wales. This four-year initiative, led by Censeo Field and Lab in partnership with the Australian Mungbean Association, the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI), and CSIRO, seeks to establish over 150 on-farm trials from north Queensland to the NSW border. The project responds to the needs of growers and advisers, focusing on improving the profitability and understanding of mungbean cultivation within local farming systems. Mungbeans have emerged as a profitable summer legume option, driven by their reliability, yield potential, and strong global demand, with prices averaging $1200 a tonne over five years. Despite this potential, many growers lack confidence in the specific agronomic and management practices required for successful cultivation. Through this extensive network of trials, the project aims to build grower expertise and provide practical insights into the crop's performance across diverse environments, thereby boosting both skill development and mungbean production in the region.
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Pulses, 08 Apr 2024
Balancing the bitter-sweetness of lupins to increase their consumption
Chunsheng Xiao is applying innovative science to understand the molecular basis of the bitter alkaloids in narrow leaf lupin in pursuit of developing ‘bittersweet’ lupins. The aim is to retain the bitter alkaloids in the plant’s vegetative parts as a means of pest defence whilst disrupting the translocation of the alkaloids to the seed.
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Pulses, 03 Apr 2024
Novel flowering genes to expand lupin production
Genetic bottlenecks often arise in the domestication of crop species and narrow-leafed lupin is a unique case. Modern varieties are dominated by one flowering gene, which has limited its role in cropping systems. A dedicated team is building on their train of discovery for lupins to mine genetic resources for more flowering variability to ultimately deliver better adapted narrow-leafed lupins for Australian growers.
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Pulses, 18 Mar 2024
Project to optimise nutrition for WA pulse crops
Western Australian grain growers are set to benefit from new fertiliser guidelines aimed at optimizing the growth of newly adapted pulse crops, including chickpeas, field peas, lentils, faba beans, vetch, and lupins. This three-year research project, a collaboration between the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) and Living Farm, seeks to enhance growers' profitability by providing tailored nutrition recommendations for phosphorus, potassium, and sulphur. Living Farm's agronomy and operations manager, Kathryn Fleay, emphasized that the project would generate crucial updated information on the nutrient requirements of a variety of grain legumes, aiding growers and advisors in making informed decisions. Through a combination of glasshouse experiments, field trials, and paddock-scale trials utilizing new technologies, the project aims to develop and validate fertiliser response curves specific to Western Australia's agricultural conditions.
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Pulses, 18 Mar 2024
Lupins to be fortified for disease resistance
Renewed vigour is being applied to narrow-leafed lupin development with a major cross institutional project upping the ante for disease resistance. Four high priority diseases will be the focus of the investment with the aim of investigating new means of increasing the speed and accuracy of screening, identifying new genes and developing new molecular genetic tools for breeders.
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Pulses, 14 Feb 2024
New broadacre summer pulse crop for Queensland and northern NSW
The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), in collaboration with the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) and the Woods Group, is spearheading projects to promote pigeonpea as a promising broadacre summer pulse crop in Queensland and northern NSW. Building on prior research that highlighted pigeonpea's potential beyond a trap crop for cotton, these initiatives aim to transform pigeonpea into a key summer pulse for the region. Rebecca Raymond, GRDC's grower relations manager for the north, emphasized the need for a resilient summer pulse crop suited to the arid and warm areas of southwest Queensland and northwest New South Wales.
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Pulses, 31 Jan 2024
New push to sweeten soybean plantings
From a project instigated by a mayor in Queensland’s tropics to a new industry development officer further south, there is a push to reinvigorate the soybean industry in the northern region.
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Pulses, 30 Jan 2024
HALO project shines light on Broomehill nitrogen needs
New pasture legume options for grain growers are being trialled in regions of need through HALO – the Harvestable Annual Legume Options project – under the mantle of WA Agricultural Research Collaboration. Growers in the Broomehill region are one of the first to benefit from sites evaluating newly developed species with improved adaptation.
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Pulses, 29 Jan 2024
Grains projects get off the ground for research collaboration
Two new GRDC-invested projects, exploring lupin disease resistance and annual legume options, will deliver additional rotation options for WA growers contributing to the profitability of farming systems. They are part of the WA Agricultural Research Collaboration, which brings together seven research and extension partners within WA.
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Pulses, 23 Jan 2024
Fine-tuning legume agronomy to benefit SA growers
Pod drop caused by strong winds is one of the biggest challenges faced by South Australian lentil growers, who frequently report losses of up to 0.5 tonnes per hectare due to wind events prior to harvest.