Australia
March 20, 2013
High yielding feed quality durum wheat variety Zulu is provided northern NSW farmers (west of Quirindi and in the Liverpool Plaines region) Ian and Marilyn Carter with their best winter crop gross margin returns.
For the first time they have a winter crop that is competitive in gross margin returns with summer crops grain sorghum and cotton. This allows them to have a better balance between winter and summer crops and to improve overall farm profitability. It also allows more opportunities to address developing issues like weed resistance to herbicides which occurs when one places too much emphasis on summer crops as has increasingly been the case throughout their region.
Leading Liverpool Plaines farmer Ian Carter believes high yielding Zulu wheat is an important turning point for his families 2200 ha per annum farming business. Zulu’s high consistent yield has allowed them to better balance their summer and winter cropping business and has resulted in them being able to have a winter crop option as profitable as their summer cropping ones.
High Zulu grain yield
Over the last five years, the most recent three (2010 – 2012) as commercial crops and the previous two as experimental ones Zulu has out yielded bread wheat varieties on the Carters’ property “Connamara” Pine Ridge by around 40 percent. Zulu has averaged 6.6 -7.0 t/ha with individual crops up to 8.0 t/ha. In contrast bread wheat varieties have averaged 4.5 – 5.0 t/ha.
Ian Carter highlights that wheat varieties with high yield ability is the key profitability driver. For the first time he notes Zulu has given them a wheat option that can yield close to their high yielding summer crop grain sorghum (sorghum has yielded at time over 10.0 t/ha on “Connamara”).
Genetic yield ability of Zulu is clearly a major reason for its high performance. But Ian Carter believes some of the varieties other attributes like resistance to stem leaf and stripe rust, yellow leaf spot tolerance, excellent agronomic features like standability, seedling vigour and grain tolerance to wet weather have also contributed to its clear superiority.
Zulu feed wheat growing on Ian and Marilyn Carters’ property “Connamara” Pine Ridge. Zulu has well out yielded bread wheats on the property over the last five years and has returned wheat cropping as a highly profitable part of their summer and winter cropping business.
Zulu grain quality
While Zulu is an excellent quality feed wheat variety, with the common durum characteristic of excellent grain wet weather tolerance, many would assume its lack of quality bread wheat status would be a severe disadvantage.
Ian Carter notes that being feed quality has several poorly appreciated positive features and believes it is relative yield that contributes most to gross returns from their various grain enterprises.
For a start around 3.0 million tonnes of Australian wheat production is sold for feed or industrial uses each year with this expected to increase to 5.0 million tonnes per annum. Many of these markets require high quality feed wheat, a market especially suited to Zulu.
While market relativities vary between various wheat grades, in recent years good quality feed wheat has often sold for similar prices to bread wheat. For example currently the world price for feed grains (corn on the Chicago Board of Trade) is similar or slightly ahead of the world bread wheat market.
Buyers seeking reliable supplies of quality feed wheat commonly forward purchase lines like Zulu feed wheat.
Zulu’s ability to hold grain weight after a wet harvest was illustrated in the 2011 season where wet weather delayed harvest on “Connamara” from mid December to the end of January. Yet Zulu still weighted 70 kg/hectolitre and was not displaying the normal signs of major “shot and sprung” common to most breads wheat varieties. Bread wheats in the same circumstances were mainly reduced in hectolitre weight to 62 and sometimes lower and were downgraded to lowest feed wheat categories.
In many relatively high rainfall environments like Pine Ridge rain during harvest is common and regularly leads to major quality downgrading of bread wheats to feed grade. For example two of the last three harvests (2010 and 2011) saw wide scale downgrading of bread wheat to feed grade over major parts of eastern Australia. Ian Carter says in their area over the last decade downgrading of bread wheats has been a feature of eighty percent of these seasons.
A further quality issue is that in high yielding wheat crops in environments like the Liverpool Plains (as well as many other districts) it is difficult to achieve bread wheat grades above ASW, even with good harvest conditions, as protein is too low when growing high yielding crops such as those Ian and Marilyn Carter aspire to. This is despite using on average 100 kg/ha nitrogen per cereal crop together with phosphorus and zinc soil deficiency correction and or maintenance.
Rust resistance
Zulu rates as having excellent resistance against the three rusts; stem (R) leaf (R) and stripe rust (MR). Each of these diseases is capable of causing massive yield loss in wetter spring years and variety resistance is the best protection against them.
Resistance to the three rusts is especially valuable in relatively higher rainfall environments because of higher probability of them becoming epidemic.
Stem rust was once the major disease threat, especially to northern and central NSW and Qld wheat crops. Leaf rust is also capable of being a serious disease with fungicide management for control more expensive and complicated than for stripe rust.
While fungicide strategies are capable of reducing the impact of stripe rust in susceptible varieties a MR level of variety protection almost eliminates the risk of major yield loss.
Yellow leaf spot tolerance (YLS)
Zulu is believed to have valuable tolerance (MR-MS) to yellow leaf spot, a disease that can devastate crops in years of high yield potential but mild moist late winter spring conditions. In previous years varieties without some tolerance to YLS are recorded as losing at least half their yield to the disease.
Fungicide control of YLS is difficult and the best protection is choosing varieties like Zulu with more than useful tolerance.
Other agronomic features of Zulu
Agronomic attributes such as good seedling vigour, straw strength (medium height) and excellent standability have played an important part in achieving reliable high yields by growers such as Ian and Marilyn Carter. Ian Carter notes for example many bread wheat crops lodged badly in the wet harvest season of 2011 with major grain loss a consequence. Zulu’s ability to remain standing was a vital part of their high yield outcome that season.
Zulu also rates well for tolerance to shattering, also an important attribute should harvest be delayed because of wet conditions.
Zulu is a mid season variety and is 1 – 2 days later maturing than Janz. For most areas it will suit the main season sowing window.
Combination of factors leads to superior yield performance
Ian Carter supports the view that Zulu has consistently yielded so well for them because of the combination of attributes. It has high genetic yield potential, excellent resistance to the three rusts, good YLS tolerance and good agronomic type including good standability.
Also part of the Carters’ consistent high yield performance from Zulu is their sound farming practices including rotations involving winter and summer crops to guard against major risk from crown rot.
Need for emphasis on high yield
The Carters’ 2200 ha annual cropping program, which like many farmers in similar environments, was gradually drifting to more and more summer crop, sorghum and cotton principally.
However they now feel Zulu is the winter crop equivalent of grain sorghum with similar yield potential, and therefore profitability potential. Zulu is allowing them to return to a better balance of winter and summer cropping with many associated benefits such as spread of risk, work load and diseases and weed management.
A survey conducted at a recent NSW DPI farmer and advisor field day, held in the Liverpool Plains at Breeza, highlighted the highest rated agricultural research priority was for greater investment in developing high yielding feed wheat varieties. Zulu is clearly a benchmark variety in many environments and has sparked renewed enthusiasm for a growing and important part of the Australian wheat industry.
Breeding
Zulu was identified from CIMMYT germplasm introduced into Australia after extensive evaluation by former AGT wheat breeder Peter Wilson. Zulu’s release was the outcome of a deliberate strategy by AGT to identify and release high yielding, disease resistant wheat varieties suitable for high quality feed grain production in Australia.
Seed availability
Commercial quantities of Zulu seed are available direct from Ian Carter (02 6747 4681) or through AGT Affiliates and local retailers (see AGT web site http://www.ausgraintech.com for affiliate contact details).
Plant Breeders Right and End Point Royalty.
Zulu is protected by PBR and all production (except seed saved for owners planting) is liable to an End Point Royalty (EPR) which funds future wheat breeding. Zulu growers are subject to a Growers license that acknowledges an EPR of $2.50 tonne plus GST has to be paid on all production other than seed retained for their own planting.
Further Information
For further information: Kerrie Gleeson NSW/Qld Territory Manager, 0427 958 259,
Media release prepared by Robert Freebairn (robert.freebairn@bigpond.com)
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