NatioNal variety trials supplemeNt - Grains Research ...

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Change for the better Introduction 2 Tom Giles By Tom Giles Ground Cover is brought to you by growers and the Australian Government through the publisher, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC). GRDC: 02 6166 4500, fax 02 6166 4599 Write to: The Editor – Ground Cover, PO Box 5367, Kingston ACT 2604 Publishing Manager: Ms Maureen Cribb, GRDC, 02 6166 4500 Coretext: 03 9670 1168, fax 03 9670 1127, editor@coretext.com.au, www.coretext.com.au Managing editor: Brad Collis Editor: Emma Leonard, 08 8834 1233 Production editor: Victoria Amy Advertising sales: Max Hyde, Hyde Media Pty Ltd, 03 5792 1314, fax 03 5792 1359, max@hydemedia.com.au Advertising is subject to terms and conditions published on the rate card, available from Hyde Media, and on the website www.coretext.com.au Circulation: Ms Maureen Cribb, 02 6166 4500 Printing: Cadillac Printing, Adelaide ISSN 1039-6217 Registered by Australia Post Publication No. NAD 3994 Disclaimer: This publication has been prepared in good faith by the GRDC on the basis of the information available to us at the date of publication, without any independent verification. Neither the Corporation and its editors nor any contributor to this publication represent that the contents of this publication are accurate or complete; nor do we accept any responsibility for any errors or omissions in the contents, however they may arise. Readers who act on information from Ground Cover do so at their own risk. The Corporation and contributors to Ground Cover may identify products by proprietary or trade names to help readers identify particular types of products. We do not endorse or recommend the products of any manufacturer referred to. Other products may perform as well as or better than those specifically referred to. Copyright: © All material published in the Ground Cover supplement series is copyright protected and may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the GRDC. All pesticide applications must accord with the currently registered label for that particular pesticide, crop, pest and region. Cover photo by Paul Jones Yield is an important component of a grain business’s profitability. Selecting varieties that produce the best yield for a particular market from the same inputs is good business management. An economic assessment by Haydn Kuchel, Australian Grain Technologies, of the new and benchmark wheat varieties grown in National Variety Trials (NVT) in South Australia highlighted a $100 per hectare difference in income between top and bottom varieties. The assessment used yield data from each SA NVT site plus the data for screenings, and protein and hectolitre weight to calculate a relative return for each variety. It also took into account quality classification for each variety and inputs used at each site, including fungicide. Not only did this analysis indicate a large difference in margin, it also showed that in some regions selecting a wheat variety classified Australian Hard (AH) rather than Australian Prime White (APW) was costing growers income. This type of analysis demonstrates why it is important for growers to carefully consider their variety choices. The objective of the NVT program is to provide an independent variety evaluation program that accelerates the adoption of superior varieties. ‘Superior’ refers to varieties with improved yield, quality, disease resistance or a combination of these attributes. A recent grower survey commission by the GRDC, the sole funder of the NVT, identified positive uptake of new varieties of all major winter crops. For example, over the past five years 89 per cent of respondents (1203 grower participants) had grown a new winter cereal variety and 44 per cent a new variety of pulse. Sixty per cent reported that new grain varieties are meeting their expectations well. The majority of respondents were aware of NVT, but only between 28 and 30 per cent attend field days and use NVT Online resources to assist their variety selection decisions. I encourage all growers to take advantage of the NVT resources when selecting varieties. NVT Online (www. nvtonline.com.au) is regularly reviewed and improved. In the past 12 months visits to the website have increased by about 28 per cent and page use has increased by 15 per cent compared to the previous year. Both figures indicate more growers are realising the value of NVT Online. To help increase use of NVT resources, the GRDC commissioned a pilot series of one-day workshops in the Southern Region. Titled ‘Variety selection and NVT – putting science into selection’, these workshops were rated highly by over 90 agronomists, consultants and plant breeders who attended the workshops. Since the previous NVT Ground Cover Supplement in 2008 there have been some other substantial changes to the NVT program. Perhaps the most significant is the use of fungicides to control disease in NVT trials and the establishment of regional NVT Advisory Committees. Value-adding to NVT through the variety-specific agronomy projects run across all three GRDC regions is another important initiative. These trials aim to reduce the risk and improve the reliability of varieties when grown under different management practices. Working with the NVT management team and Grower Advisory Committees the NVT program will continue to evolve and respond to the needs of Australian grain growers. □ More information: Tom Giles, manager trial operations, GRDC, 02 6166 4500, tom.giles@grdc.com.au Supplement edited by Emma Leonard
How NVT works NVT is a national program providing comparative crop variety testing using standardised trial management and data generation, collection and dissemination By Tom Giles Since the GRDC established the National Variety Trials (NVT) in 2005, the program has expanded and developed. While the size of the program has evolved, the underlying principles remain the same. The aim of the NVT is to generate independent information for growers about newly released varieties of winter field crops relative to the current commercial varieties grown in their area. Although the total number of trials sown is much the same, the number reported increased to 653 in 2011, of which 91.7 per cent were published, compared to only 82.3 per cent in 2005. This difference reflects the seasonal conditions experienced in these years. Each year NVT trials are conducted on about 300 properties across Australia. The NVT program includes 10 broadacre crops – wheat, barley, oats, triticale, canola, chickpeas, faba beans, lentils, field peas and lupins. Central to the success of the NVT program has been good communication between all parties involved in delivering the program (Figure 1) and the application of agreed protocols for trial management and for data generation, collection and dissemination. Submitting varieties The NVT is a voluntary system and all plant breeders are invited to submit seed for testing. Nominated lines must meet the NVT acceptance criteria of seed being available at a commercial scale for growers to purchase after two years of NVT testing. After a variety is released by a breeding company it can remain in the NVT testing process for up to five years, depending on the popularity of the variety with growers in a region. After five years, varieties that constitute less than three photo: Paul Jones Good communication has been central to the success of NVT program. Independent service providers run NVT trials in different regions based on a set of standard national protocols. Scott Boyd (left) and Don McCaffery from NSW DPI check data for the NVT wheat trial site at north west of Parkes, NSW. FIGURE 1 The operational structure of the National Variety Trials program Service Agreement Service Providers NVT Management committee (Service provider representatives) Material Transfer Agreement per cent of deliveries are withdrawn. Thus, NVT trials contain three types of breeding material: lines that are within two years of commercial release; lines that are being repeated for a second year, sometimes referred to as retentions; and released varieties. It is rare for a line or variety to be tested at every NVT location but entries are not restricted by state boundaries. However, few Queensland varieties are grown in Western Australia. Commercial varieties that are widely grown in a region are used as comparisons against which other material in NVT can be benchmarked. The commercial varieties grown at each site include those used as market classification quality standards. GRDC ACAS Limited • Trial management • Data collection • Data dissemination • NVT manager GROWERS NVT Advisory Committees Participation Agreement Breeding Programs Trial management The objective of the NVT is to provide unbiased information on variety performance across different environments. All trial management and data handling is run to a rigid timetable in order to rapidly deliver accurate information to assist growers with variety selection decisions. Standard outcome-based protocols have been established for NVT trial site selection and management. However, service providers have the flexibility to use fertiliser and pesticides as required. They can also apply district practices as recommended by the NVT Advisory Committees (see page 4). Following a review, commissioned by the GRDC, and to take account of the most common disease treatment practices 3 NVT structure and operation
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