Eyre Peninsula internship in applied grains research 2023

Zhaohan (Elijah) Luo was appointed to the Eyre Peninsula internship in applied grains research based at the SARDI Minnipa Agricultural Centre in 2023. The internship has been very successful with Elijah gaining experience and knowledge of Australian low rainfall farming systems, practical research skills including herbicide and fungicide use, trial design and implementation, trial analysis, writing, mentoring by local growers, training and confidence in extension presenting his research topic to growers and industry representatives at numerous events. Elijah has continued employment at SARDI Minnipa Agricultural Centre to increase the research capacity on upper Eyre Peninsula.

Overview of Elijah's Intern Project 

Elijah Luo’s research project was selected as ‘Management of foliar disease in lentils on the Upper Eyre Peninsula’ due to the rapidly increasing area of lentils being grown in the region.

The five upper Eyre Peninsula research trials were located at three sites, Mount Cooper (2), Mount Damper (2) and Minnipa Agricultural Centre (MAC) (1). Both Mount Cooper and Mount Damper sites had a fungicide and a variety trial, whereas MAC only had a variety trial. The assessments conducted at each site during growing season were plant emergence, early and late normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), late dry matter, percent plot disease, and weather data collection. The grain was harvested and weighed using the Zurn small plot harvester. Grain quality assessments of the lentil grain harvested from two sites were compared post-harvest for delivery grade assessment.

The key findings from the 2023 lentil fungicide and variety trials were:

• In 2023, the growing season conditions on the upper Eyre Peninsula were not conducive for lentil foliar fungal diseases Ascochyta blight (AB) or Botrytis grey mould (BGM).
• Fungicide sprays in a Decile 1-2 rainfall season when there was low disease pressure were not needed to maximise gross margin in lentils on upper Eyre Peninsula (UEP) in this one-year study.
• No lentil varieties consistently out-performed others in terms of yield or quality in this one year at all sites.
• The low levels of foliar disease in lentils in 2023 did not influence grain quality grades.

Read more about Elijah's project in his 2023 EPFSS article below in the "Downloads" section