A JOINT venture between the State government and an Australian seed company has produced six new pasture varieties to boost farm profitability.
Agriculture and Food Minister Dean Nalder unveiled the new subterranean clovers at the Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days last Wednesday and said they were more productive, with improved resistance to pests and diseases and would lead to longer-lasting pastures.
“These new varieties were borne out of a unique five-year joint venture between the Department of Agriculture and Food WA and Seed Force Australia, which combined the expertise of world-class plant breeders with the commercial skills of an industry partner,” Mr Nalder said.
“This is an example of where government and industry has worked together to deliver a great outcome for farmers in Western Australia and nationally.”
Mr Nalder said to remain globally competitive, farmers needed to continually look to the latest technologies and genetics to keep driving productivity improvements on farm.
“These subterranean clovers deliver a range of traits to benefit livestock and crop production in the Wheatbelt and higher rainfall areas,” he said.
“The new varieties are estimated to increase the value of annual livestock production by $10-$18 per hectare and the value of nitrogen input by $12-$18 per hectare over current varieties.”
Varieties Tammin and Forbes are suited to low and medium rainfall Wheatbelt areas and have seedling resistance to red legged earth mites and greater persistence in crop rotations.
Yanco and Rouse are highly productive varieties with water-logging tolerance and improved disease resistance for high rainfall pastures.
Varieties Tarlee and Antillo are suited to neutral-alkaline, cracking soils found more commonly in eastern Australia and were developed as part of the national program. About 20 tonnes of Rouse and Tammin will be commercially available from 2017, however strong demand from the eastern States has meant Rouse has already sold out.
Yanco will be available in limited quantities in 2018, Tarlee in 2019 and Antillo by 2020.
The task is to highlight the productivity gains from these varieties to the farming and advisory community to ensure they can realise these gains.
As the joint venture closes, the department was in discussions to develop more varieties.
