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Matching agronomic practices with improved cultivars to expand lentil production in Australia

Larn McMurray1, Michael Materne2, Kerry Regan3, Geoff Dean4, Peter Matthews5 and Jason Brand2

1 South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), PO Box 822, Clare, South Australia, 5453, Australia. Email : mcmurray.larn@saugov.sa.gov.au
2
VIC Department of Primary Industries, PB 260, Horsham, Victoria 3401, Australia.
3
WA Department of Agriculture, Baron-Hay Court, South Perth, Western Australia, 6151, Australia.
4
Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research, PO Box 46, Kings Meadows, Tasmania, 7249, Australia.
5
NSW DPI, Temora Agricultural Research & Advisory Station, Temora, New South Wales, 2666, Australia.

Abstract

To expand lentil area in Australia the National Lentil Breeding Program is developing cultivars that add value to the farming system through greater productivity, quality, reduced costs of production or rotational benefits. Agronomic experiments are conducted with new cultivars to provide farmers with the best management options for each cultivar and to investigate the potential for cultivars with novel traits to expand area. Trials comparing the new cultivar Nipper, which has resistance to ascochyta blight (AB) and botrytis grey mould (BGM), with susceptible cultivars confirmed that Nipper can be sown early to maximise yield and quality without the risk and costs associated with controlling AB and BGM. New cultivars, such as Nipper, will provide a low input, low risk option for current lentil production regions and expanding production into marginal lentil areas by enabling early sowing and reduced production costs.

Key Words

Lentil, improved varieties, management packages, disease resistance

Introduction

Lentils consistently produce higher gross margin returns than all other annual winter crop options in regions with neutral to alkaline, well drained clay loam soils and an annual rainfall of 375 to 450mm. However in many other regions they are not a profitable crop option due to low and erratic yields and/or high production costs. The National Lentil Breeding Program aims to develop varieties for Australia with improved stability of grain yield, increased productivity and reduced cost of production (Materne et al. 2002). Yield evaluation has been undertaken across a wide range of environments in Australia in conjunction with agronomic trials to develop crop management packages for new cultivars. Sowing time is delayed in many areas of southern Australia to prevent yield and quality losses due to AB or BGM in current susceptible cultivars. The new cultivar Nipper has improved resistance to ascochyta blight (AB) caused by Ascochyta lentis and botrytis grey mould (BGM) caused by Botrytis cinerea and B. fabae, thus the potential for earlier sowing was investigated.

Methods

Grain yield was evaluated for the cultivars Nipper, Digger, Northfield and Nugget over four years (2001 - 2004) at a range of field sites across the cropping areas of southern Australia. Whole plots were harvested at maturity for gain yield and data were analysed using linear mixed models (Smith et al. 2001). Genotype x Environment interactions were calculated using factor analytic models that also gave an overall genotype mean grain yield prediction. Ratings for AB were developed based on foliar symptom score (1-9) at Horsham (2001-2004) and BGM foliar symptoms at sites in SA and controlled environment experiments at Horsham. Agronomic experiments were sown at two locations on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia (SA) in 2005 to compare the effect of sowing date and plant density (data not presented) on grain yield of Nipper, Digger, Northfield and Nugget. There were three times of sowing in each experiment. Experiments were sown in split plot design with sowing date as main plots and plant density and cultivar randomised within main plots. Each experiment had three replications. The current recommended disease management practice of two fungicide applications (1st spray at canopy closure for BGM and 2nd spray mid-podding for AB) was implemented.

Results

Nipper is the first Australian lentil cultivar with dual resistance to AB and BGM (Table 1). Unlike in other cultivars, severe BGM stem lesions and plant death has not been measured in Nipper (data not presented). Nipper and Northfield also have low AB seed infection levels and thus high quality seed compared to Nugget and Digger (data not presented). Grain yield of Nipper has generally been inferior to Nugget when evaluated at standard sowing dates in the absence of disease across Australia (Table 1). However, a yield advantage of Nipper compared with Nugget was demonstrated when sown early at Melton with AB prevalent (Table 2). Grain yields of Nipper and Northfield were greater at earlier sowing times and declined as sowing was delayed at two sites (Melton and Sandilands) in 2005. In contrast, there was no advantage in sowing Nugget before late June. In fact there was a yield penalty for sowing Nugget too early at Melton due AB infection, which was greater in plots sown earlier. Although Northfield benefited from earlier sowing it is not recommended as BGM can also be exacerbated when sown early due to higher biomass production and premature lodging. Unlike Nugget and Northfield, Nipper can be sown earlier with lower risk of AB or BGM infection, premature lodging and poor pod set, require reduced fungicide management and produce greater seed yield.

Table 1. Long term (2001-04) grain yield (t/ha), disease ratings for ascochyta blight (AB) and botrytis grey mould (BGM), and biomass production for standard and new Australian lentil cultivars from National Lentil Breeding Program trials

Variety

Long term mean grain yield 2001-04

Disease rating1

Biomass2

southern Australia

AB

BGM

Foliar

Seed

Digger

1.27 (0.47-2.19)

MR

MS

MR

Medium

Nipper

1.22 (0.41-2.43)

MR

R

R

Low

Northfield

1.24 (0.32-2.29)

R

R

S

Low

Nugget

1.41 (0.57-2.64)

MR/R

MS/MR

MR

Medium/high

1 Disease rating: R= resistant, MR=moderately resistant, MS=moderately susceptible, S=susceptible
2
Biomass relative to Digger (Figures in brackets indicate yield range across experiments)

Table 2. Effect of sowing date on grain yield (t/ha) of Nipper, Northfield and Nugget and AB foliar infection at two sites in SA, 2005

Variety

Melton

Sandilands

2 Jun1

25 Jun

19 Jul

2 Jun1

26 Jun

19 Jul

Nipper

3.35

3.31

3.03

2.88

2.64

2.31

Nugget

3.15

3.32

2.9

2.88

2.78

2.72

Northfield

3.54

3.51

3.08

2.97

2.62

2.55

lsd (P<0.05) Sowing date x variety

0.13

0.17

AB score2

5.8

4.8

3.6

-

-

-

1Germinating rains occurred June 11 (effective sowing date)
2
AB score on 0-9 scale, where 0=no disease to 9=dead, lsd (P<0.05) = 0.69

Conclusions

The development of robust agronomic packages for new cultivars, such as Nipper, with improvements in characteristics such as disease resistance will provide low input, low risk options for current lentil production regions and expand production into marginal lentil areas by enabling early sowing and reduced production costs. Nipper provides a good example of how modifying agronomic practices with improved cultivars will stabilise and expand lentil production in Australia.

Acknowledgement

We acknowledge the Grains Research and Development Corporation for financial support.

References

Materne M, McMurray L, Nitschke S, Regan KL, Heuke L, Dean G, Carpenter D. (2002) The future of the Australian Lentil Production. In: The proceedings of the Lentil Focus 2002, 15-17 October, Horsham, Victoria. pp. 41-47.

Smith A, Cullis B, Thompson R (2001) Analyzing variety by environment data using multiplicative mixed models and adjustments for spatial field trends. Biometrics 57, 1138-1147

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