Investment

Historically, pulse crops have been encouraged as a disease break for cereal-dominated rotations, with the ability to fix nitrogen a welcome bonus. More recently, demand for pulses has seen increased prices, and in some areas, pulse crops have taken-over as the central pillar of the rotation. Previous GRDC projects have estimated the yield gap from pulses to be ca. 40% and indicated there was room to improve how a limited amount of available water is used by chickpeas and lentils. In this context, the National Pulse Agronomy project (NaPA) aims to quantify how yield formation in these indeterminate crops is limited by water stress and temperature and identify how crop timing - including sowing date and the length of reproductive stage - can be used to manage or avoid losses.

In addition, it will investigate the efficiency of nitrogen fixation in stressed plants and evaluate its role in achieving the crop water-limited yield potential. Ultimately, it will deliver appropriate variety by management (GxM) packages with information about different profit/risk scenarios based on the combination of experimental data and crop modelling.

To achieve this, a multidisciplinary national team of researchers has been gathered from CSIRO, NSWDPI, AgVic, SARDI, DPIRD and Uni of Queensland. Each group will conduct similar experiments within their local environments using similar protocols and the results will be analysed nationally. The project will function alongside regional pulse crop development and extension investments and work closely with the APSIM-initiative to ensure the work will not only benefits grain growers, but leaves a scientific legacy of improvements to APSIM-pulse models.