SOME 50,000 research plots will be harvested by the end of the season by staff at the Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI).
While commercial farmers tackle crops in paddocks which can be more than 400ha in size, DEPI staff reap and measure areas which each range from five to 15 metres square.
The slow and painstaking process will see seed from each plot carefully collected for yield and further assessment as part of the research process.
And while farmers put their harvested grains in large field bins, the DEPI trials are stored individually in small labelled bags.
The largest number of plots are found in molecular plant breeding where 40,000 plots of mainly field peas, lentils and chickpeas, will be harvested at Horsham, Beulah, Hopetoun and Minyip.
Breeders use these plots to develop new varieties of lentils, peas and chickpeas with a range of traits to improve productivity and profitability including yield, disease resistance, herbicide resistance, boron and salt tolerance, standability and early maturity.
At Horsham’s Plant Breeding Centre a further 4000 plots will be harvested from the cereal pathology trials.
These trials will measure the yields and disease levels for cereals which have been affected to varying degrees by plant diseases during the season.
They are among 60,000 trials sown at Horsham each year to assess different cereal varieties for diseases and ensure that in-built resistance remains effective.
Across the Mallee, Wimmera and Southwest 4000 southern pulse agronomy trials are also being harvested this season.
These trials assess the agronomic traits of existing and emerging pulse varieties.
Through these trials on lentils, peas, chickpeas and faba beans, scientists develop fact sheets to help croppers get the best out of new and existing pulse varieties.
Issues and traits being examined in these trials include agronomy for different varieties, sowing dates, residue management and interactions with disease and herbicides.
DEPI also runs dozens of trials assessing plant traits, the impacts of heat waves on crop performance and the impact of higher carbon dioxide levels on yield, quality and soils.
