Background

The adoption of pulses has been generally low in this region with a dominant Canola and Wheat the dominate crops. The region has acidic soils, however faba beans can be successfully grown where there is a strong liming program and these situations the farming system could clearly benefit from the adoption of a profitable legume.

This spoke site aims to help remove nutritional constraints associated with acidity, poor nodulation and educate growers on the legacy effects and benefits of pulses in the cereal rotation, such as N fixation. This builds on 2021 results where we found responses to early applied N. Initial results from FAR’s work elsewhere has suggested N may limit production in the HRZ and there is a potential to export more N than is fixed by the crop under high grain yields.

Method

Samira Faba Beans were sown on 27 April 2022
The following nutrition treatments were applied on 7 June 2022:

  • Untreated Control (UTC)
  • 50 kg/ha N
  • 50 kg/ha N + Trace Elements
  • Trace Elements
  • 100 kg/ha N + Trace Elements
  • 100 kg/ha N