GROWERS need to replace old varieties of wheat which have been superseded by superior breeds, according to the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
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The topic was discussed by DPIRD research officer Dion Nicol at the Grains Research Update, Perth, recently, during a presentation on wheat variety performance and insights from the 2019 season.
Dr Nicol said last year's season was pretty tough across a wide range of areas, but the Grains Research and Development Corporation-funded National Variety Trials had given them insight into which varieties are a bit tougher themselves.
"Traditionally, low-yielding conditions were difficult to get statistically significant differences, but the improvement in statistical methods and the uniformity of many of the trials meant the results were very clear," Dr Nicol said.
"No doubt the yield gains of the varieties have also contributed to this clarity."
With the late start to the season and then many areas receiving little rain after mid-July, it would be expected to see the yield results simply favouring short maturity wheats.
While the new short-maturity variety Vixen was the highest yielding overall in 2019, Emu Rock, a now superseded short-maturity variety had around 20 per cent lower yield overall.
In terms of the mainstream short-mid maturity, a lot of farmers are growing Scepter, while Devil has been very similar in it's yield performance over the past three seasons, making them both good options.
"With five years of data showing consistent yield advantage of Scepter over Mace, the question has to be why retain Mace, which is still the second largest planting across WA," Dr Nicol said.
For the longer maturity wheats, newcomers Rockstar and Catapult performed exceptionally well.
"In the early sown trials, Rockstar, Catapult and Kinsei were the highest yielding, but their yields in the main-season trials, most of which germinated after June 7, 2019, show much less risk than the older varieties in the same maturity bracket," Dr Nicol said.
"You expect those longer maturities to do well when you sow them early, but with a couple of years of late germinations, that maturity bracket should have fallen to the back of the results, but those three varieties haven't which is really useful for growers to keep in mind.
"Catapult and Rockstar are new so information on some disease or pre-harvest sprouting susceptibilities are not yet available, but they're significantly out yielding the old varieties whether in good or bad conditions," he said.
Dr Nicol said one of the varieties which underperformed was Calingiri, but even if you look at Magenta, Trojan or some of the other longer varieties, there's quite a significant yield penalty if the season ends up a bit shorter than you'd hope.
"There is also less upside than their replacements," he said.
"With Calingiri, there has often been concerns about its marginal noodle quality, but the reality is, as far as growers are concerned, Calingiri has been so consistently under yielding when compared to the new noodle varieties, it is costing you too much to keep it."
Dr Nicol said it was often difficult for growers to determine the yield performance of a variety with all of the other sources of variation across their crops and seasons.
"However, the yield gains from improved varieties are pretty much all profit and it is worth ensuring they can capitalise on the insights from this data," he said.
"The recent results are clear opportunities to increase profit for very little cost."
