Investment

Chickpea is an extremely important crop for growers in QLD and NSW, with recent grain prices making it the most profitable crop for the many grain producers. Lentil is also a high value pulse crop grown in south-eastern Australia that attracts premium prices. Both crops also offer advantages as a broadleaf break-crop from winter cereals that assists with weed control, preventing disease build up and reducing the need for fertiliser N in the following crop.Currently accepted agronomic requirements has confined lentil production predominantly to southern NSW, and kabuli chickpeas to the south of Dubbo, while desi chickpeas have recently been grown further south than their traditional production zone to the north of Dubbo. Market access and processing infrastructure has subsequently developed around these production regions, and growers outside these regions are limited in their ability to try new types in order to increase the versatility and diversity of their crop production operations. However, the development of new varieties with improved disease resistance has increased the potential for chickpea and lentils to be tested in new regions.Little information is available regarding the potential fit of new chickpea and lentil varieties in alternative production regions across NSW and QLD. In particular there is a strong desire amongst growers and agronomists to find out what controls the flowering response of chickpea and lentils, and how they should be grown to maximise yield and minimise risk?Additionally, the farming community is also interested to understand whether chickpea and lentil crops are achieving close to the potential or maximum yield possible for the amount of water available to the crop, or whether there is a ‘yield-gap’ between farmer yields and potential yield?CSIRO is leading a new project to address these and other questions for farmers across NSW and QLD. The project will conduct field experiments at 9 locations ranging from the Mallee in southwest NSW to Emerald, in Central Queensland. Results of the experiments will be combined with computer simulation modelling in order to address three specific research objectives:#1: How do temperature and photoperiod affect the flowering response (phenological development) of chickpea and lentils?#2: Understanding the critical period for yield formation and its interaction with cultivar phenology and environmental conditions#3: How close are growers in the northern region to achieving water-limited yield potential and what are the major causes of current yield gaps?