Key points

• While pulses are highly profitable in many areas, there are still some regions that have had mixed success
• A new CSIRO-led national GRDC investment aims to narrow the water-limited yield gap of chickpeas, lentils, faba beans and narrow-leafed lupins

A new national research program aims to better match pulse varieties and management to soil and climate in a bid to reduce the 40 per cent gap between average pulse yields and yield potential.

Historically, pulse crops have been encouraged as a disease break for cereal-dominated rotations, with the ability to fix nitrogen a welcome bonus. More recently, demand for pulses has seen increased prices and, in some areas, pulse crops have taken over as the central pillar of the rotation, with cereal crops providing a disease break and replenishing ground cover.

Yet, there are still some regions that have had mixed success with pulse production and are considered high-risk.

Yield gap

The pulse yield gap has been consistently and reliably estimated at about 40 per cent by GRDC-invested research across Australia. The latest analysis by CSIRO used a combination of crop modelling and experiments to confirm these estimates were appropriate in the northern region.

To understand the constraints and better match pulse crops to different environments, GRDC has invested in the National Pulse Agronomy project.

The CSIRO-led GRDC investment will focus on maximum yield formation under different seasonal conditions across Australian farming systems.

CSIRO will partner with teams led by Professor Daniel Rodriguez at the University of Queensland’s Centre for Crop Sciences, Mark Richards at the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Dr Jason Brand at Agriculture Victoria, Professor Victor Sadras at the South Australian Research and Development Institute and Mark Seymour at the Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.

The aim is to find which crop management levers to pull to narrow the water-limited yield gap of chickpeas, lentils, faba beans and narrow-leafed lupins, using a combination of experimentation and crop simulation modelling.

Starting in the winter of 2022, the project will run a series of detailed and satellite field trials with commercial pulse varieties to benchmark yield potential.

The project’s main goal is to investigate yield formation in these indeterminate crops and identify how crop timing – including sowing date and the length of reproductive stage – can be used to manage or avoid yield-limiting environmental stressors such as temperature or water stress.

It will investigate the efficiency of nitrogen fixation in stressed plants and evaluate its role in achieving the crop water-limited yield potential.

Management packages

Crop modelling will be integrated with the detailed experimental work to expand and test the results across a range of environments. Ultimately, it will deliver appropriate variety by management (GxM) packages with information about different profit/risk scenarios.

The  aim is to find which levers to pull to narrow the water-limited yield gap of chickpeas, lentils, faba beans and narrow-leafed lupins, using a combination of experimentation and crop simulation modelling.

For this purpose, and to continually enhance the underlying science within crop models – Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) Next Generation – validation datasets will be fed into the APSIM Initiative.

Importantly, the project will deliver consistent protocols for pulse researchers using standardised measurements applied across pulse crops. The project will link with GRDC’s independent regional pulse crop development and extension investments and GRDC’s farming systems research projects and aims to help build capacity and skills in the pulse sector.

It is intended that, by 2026, growers and agronomists will have an improved understanding of pulse growth and development across a range of environments. This will enable better matching of pulse varieties with soil and climate to maximise yield and profit, with manageable risk in Australian cropping systems.

More information: Dr Fernanda Dreccer, 0408 885 137, fernanda.dreccer@csiro.au