Sown: 25 April 2024
Harvested: 16 December 2024
Rotation position: 2022- Wheat; 2023- Canola
Soil type & management: Grey clay; speed disced 1 pass (5-8cm depth) and Kelly chained

The Germplasm Evaluation Network (GEN) is a FAR Australia ‘Industry Innovations’ initiative that tests crop variety performance across FAR Australia’s national network of Crop Technology Centres. GEN sites test variety performance with and without fungicide. FAR Australia provides the control varieties and breeders enter their chosen lines for evaluation.

Objectives:
To assess the yield performance of a range of winter and spring wheats, managed with and without fungicide against four regional controls (BigRed, RGT Cesario, RGT Accroc & Illabo), sown in late April in the Gnarwarre (VIC) HRZ environment.

Key Points:

• With very dry conditions in May and June following establishment and grain fill punctuated with only one large rainfall event crops were frequently drought stressed in 2024.

• Four winter red feed wheats produced the highest yields under these dry conditions, these were RGT Accroc, which unusually had no stripe rust in the 2024 trial, Big Red, Triple 2 and AGFWHWW2 (formerly FAR WW2).

• There was a significant yield interaction (<0.001) between variety and fungicide application, with the badly stripe rust affected varieties (Mammoth, TA0109 & RGT Cesario giving significant yield increases to fungicide.

• Varieties which had lower levels of stripe rust infection (5-15% infection in the untreated) Brighton (V14051-172) and Avoca (L12049-044) gave no response to fungicide, indicating that even in untreated scenarios there was sufficient green leaf for soil water available.

• Mammoth, a slow spring wheat (APW) when fungicide protected significantly outyielded, Brighton winter wheat (AH) and Avoca spring wheat (AH) and Stockade (APW).

• Stockade (APW) despite little Septoria tritici blotch infection (STB) and no stripe rust in 2024 was inferior to Brighton (AH).

Please click HERE to access the full results document.

Please click the News & Media button below to view all of our recent News & Media articles, including other provisional harvest results.