Optimising Plant Establishment 2019 Skipton Faba Bean Experiment

Data from the 2019 crop establishment trial at Skipton, VIC. The trial compared the establishment of Samira faba bean at different densities, under a conventional seeder (Vaderstad Rapid) and under a precision seeder (Vaderstad Tempo), and at two row spacings (a narrow row spacing of 250mm, and a wide row spacing of 500mm). The experiment was run under the UOA1803-009RTX GRDC research project led by the University of Adelaide, with the experimental trial and local data collection managed by Southern Farming Systems (SFS).

Files:2019 SFS bean trial results.xlsx

Experiment setup:Experiment managed locally by Southern Farming Systems (SFS). The trial was organised as a split plot, with two treatments for the main plot treatments (conventional seeder vs precision seeder), and 4 treatments for the subplots (two row spacings 250mm and 500mm, and two target plant densities 10 and 17 plants/m2), arranged spatially in 4 ranges and 12 rows with 6 replicates, for 48 plots total. Samira faba bean was the variety used for this trial.

Variables recorded:establishment count (plants/m2), soil moisture (%), seedling depth (mm), interplant distance (cm), peak biomass dry weight (t/ha), harvest biomass dry weight (g), harvest index, yield (t/ha), 1000-grain weight (g), seeds/m2

Data collection and assessment:The trial was sown on 05/05/2019 and 06/05/2019. Plant emergence counts and soil moisture readings were made on 3m lengths in Range 1 on 24/05/2019, 31/05/2019, 07/06/2019, and 13/06/2019. Seedling depth was also recorded for plots in Range 4 (in mm), averaged across 5 or 10 counts. Interplant distances were recorded for all plots. The peak biomass dry weight was measured and recorded, and the harvest maturity biomass cuts dry weight were recorded. At harvest the yield (in t/ha) and 1000-grain weight were recorded.