Summary

There is currently a knowledge gap in the agronomic management of many current rice varieties and no plan to obtain and provide this knowledge for new varieties to be released in the future. This project will work with the Rice Breeding and Grain Quality teams to fill this gap and provide valuable agronomic information to growers. The project will link the Australian Rice Partnership Project teams with the RIRDC “NIR & remote sensing” project and the Rice Extension Team.
Several nitrogen agronomy experiments will be conducted each season across both the Murray and Murrumbidgee valleys including both aerial and drill sowing. Rice growth, grain yield, yield components and phenology data will be collected from all experiments. Each experiment will include current rice varieties and others close to release, which will be selected in collaboration with the breeding team.
Results from the experiments will provide growers with an agronomic management package for all current varieties and future new release varieties. It will also provide data to the NIR & remote sensing project for updating the nitrogen topdressing recommendations. All results will be made available for input into an updated version of the maNage rice program. Improved agronomic management will increase grain yields, profitability and water use efficiency for aerial, drill and delayed permanent water practices.

Program

Rice

Research Organisation

(DPI) The Crown in right of the State of New South Wales acting through the Department of Primary Industries within Regional NSW

Objective Summary

1) Provide rice growers with an agronomic management package for current rice varieties and new varieties when released.
2) Determine nitrogen requirements, including total N and split timings, for optimal growth and grain yield of current and new varieties when released.
3) Understand the phenology of current and new varieties when aerial and drill sown in both valleys over different seasonal conditions.
4) Incorporate nitrogen, agronomy and phenology results into the NIR Tissue Test nitrogen topdressing recommendations, rice variety guide and maNage Rice program when updated.
5) Provide results and grain samples to the Rice Breeding and Grain Quality team and SunRice for grain quality testing (especially to inform research into the effects of fertiliser and sowing time on grain quality) and variety market evaluation.