issue 169, march april 2024
This page shows the articles in issue 169, march april 2024 of GroundCover. As articles are developed and published online, the list below will grow until all articles are available.
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Re-imagining heat tolerance traits in wheat
Issue 169, March-April 2024 - 26 Apr 2024New ways to select for heat tolerance in wheat are under development in four new projects that are mining wheat’s heat-responsive biochemical processes using advanced phenotyping technology
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Why GRDC invested in the Herbicide Innovation Partnership in 2015
Issue 169, March-April 2024 - 24 Apr 2024Australian grain growers face a significant challenge, with weeds causing an estimated annual loss of $3.3 billion, approximately $146 per hectare. This issue, the most costly for global crop production, is exacerbated by a dramatic decline in new herbicide development and increasing herbicide resistance.
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Liming and spading trial shows value of strategic tillage
Issue 169, March-April 2024 - 22 Apr 2024Given the slow rate at which surface-applied lime moves into untilled soil, strategic tillage has been considered the best way to correct subsurface acidity within a reasonable time frame. Now, the results of a four-year study indicate spading could improve soil pH and increase lentil yields across a range of liming rates and spading speeds.
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Maximising yield – by the numbers
Issue 169, March-April 2024 - 19 Apr 2024At a recent GRDC Hyper Yielding Crops field day, crop ecologist Professor Victor Sadras spoke about the critical period, and its role in grain production. Professor Sadras says that yield is a function of grain number, and that grain number is defined in a species-specific critical window.
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Help never far away in the wide-ranging agronomy network
Issue 169, March-April 2024 - 17 Apr 2024Maintaining a healthy balance between professional and personal lives is essential for career longevity and to prevent burnout. It is also vital to develop and maintain networks of people who can provide support and advice when needed. These are the main messages from both established agronomists and relative newcomers who are successfully carving out a career in the field.
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Weed control a key focus as new season gets underway
Issue 169, March-April 2024 - 15 Apr 2024Each year, GroundCover™ follows a group of growers from across Australia as they manage the cropping season. In this first instalment for 2024, staff writers introduce this year’s participants.
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Optimistic outlook on more profitable, sustainable pathway
Issue 169, March-April 2024 - 12 Apr 2024Opening the Adelaide Grains Research Update, GRDC managing director Nigel Hart outlined the organisation’s key investment areas aimed at ensuring Australian growers continue to improve profitability and sustainability. These investments are worth close to $230 million this year, covering issues both on-farm and off.
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‘Legume leader’ set to share 40 years of lupin experience
Issue 169, March-April 2024 - 10 Apr 2024The concept of crop champions is an extension and development tool that has delivered over history and now is being applied through an extensive GRDC supported Grower Group Alliance project to promote legume production. Learn a little about one of the ‘Legume leaders’, Ed Naisbitt, set to share his 40 years of lupin production experience.
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Balancing the bitter-sweetness of lupins to increase their consumption
Issue 169, March-April 2024 - 08 Apr 2024Chunsheng 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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Lessons for navigating resistance storms
Issue 169, March-April 2024 - 05 Apr 2024The annual Crop Protection Forum, convened by the Australian Herbicide Research Initiative, is a key event where scientists, agronomists and growers come together to share the latest in advances for weed, insect and disease management. Titled the ‘Storm of resistance’, the 2023 event brought urgency to addressing the matter with integrated management systems and novel approaches.