Oats excel in the east

Despite the fanfare over recent years associated with the introduction of oat varieties Bannister and Williams, trial results in the central and eastern Wheatbelt are showing Carrolup and Yallara remain strong performers in the lower rainfall areas.

With many growers in the Wheatbelt now considering planting oats in their 2016 program as a result of strong milling oat prices; trials at Merredin, Holt Rock and Cunderdin are investigating time of sowing, and fertiliser responses in six different varieties.

Department of Agriculture and Food research officer Georgie Troup said the new WA02Q302-9 variety, suitable for lower rainfall districts, would not be available for commercial planting until 2017.

"So growers will have to look at current varieties when making seed purchase decisions for next year," she said.

Ms Troup said while trial results from last year showed both Bannister and Williams out yielded Carrolup and Yalarra, both the new varieties were more sensitive to changes to crop management, such as nitrogen and seed rate.

She said high screenings in the Williams varieties after the application of 80 units of nitrogen meant it exceeded the Oat1 specifications.

"The current price difference between Oat 1 and Oat 2 is significant, so therefore it is essential that if growers are aiming for Oat 1 they know how to reach that with the variety they growing," she said.