Ripping and lime best crop cocktail

The dual techniques of deep ripping and incorporation of lime were on display at the 102nd Merredin Research Facility Field Day recently, with the Czech Republic's multi-purpose deep ripping and soil incorporation machine a major attraction for growers across the central and eastern Wheatbelt.

According to Department of Agriculture and Food development officer Greg Shea, the twin constraints of soil compaction and sub soil acidity were becoming significant issues for growers across the Wheatbelt.

He said some growers were now considering deep ripping and ploughing options to combat the problem.

A practical demonstration using the Bedland Terraland TO, imported by Powerace's Grant Borgward, illustrated the multi-purpose functions of the machine, with different coloured sand layers incorporated throughout the soil profile.

Mr Shea said the machine created a seedbed after both deep ripping and lime incorporation that would allow the roots of the plants to follow moisture, particularly during early drought stress.

DAFWA is also running a lime and cultivation canola demonstration, with early visual results showing a marked difference in canola plant biomass on plots that have been both deep ripped and ploughed.

Mr Shea said the deep ripped plots, followed by a two-way plough, appeared to have encouraged the most amount of early vigour in the canola plant.

"In contrast, those plants seeded onto the untouched compacted soils had a delayed establishment during very dry conditions post-seeding," he said.

"The deep ripping and ploughing has created an ideal seed bed allowing the plant to immediately access the moisture in the soil profile.

"Visually, the canola plants on the deep ripped and ploughed plots are much bigger when compared to those plants on the control plots."

He said the demonstration had specifically focused on canola, given that many growers in the eastern Wheatbelt were now considering the oilseed as a break crop.

"If you can get some success with canola in the eastern Wheatbelt, the economics will flow across the entire farm business because there are flow on benefits in the cereals," he said.