8 April 2024. Last updated 8 April 2024.
It is too disheartening to talk about the recent extended rain events on our mature summer crops, so I am going to switch positively to talking about some upcoming winter cropping aspects.
My photo is from our huge 2016 wet year of desi chickpeas with the Sowthistle weeds and a few phytophthora affected plants shown here.
Speculation abounds that our chickpea end price this coming season is going to equal that of 2016 heights. I believe it is going to be positive marketing dollars for quality chickpeas this season, however so much of what financial rewards we accept in October and November for our export crops is strongly determined by overseas forces that we have no control over.
Having said that, growing a winter legume crop is important as a pulse rotation crop in our northern farming systems.
One important, yet often poorly handled job, is the inoculation that needs to be done on our favourite winter legume planting seed with live Rhizobia bacteria.
These microscopic bacteria have the all-important symbiotic role of being attached to the healthy developing root systems to produce a plant available nitrogen source for our chickpea plants. It does surprise a lot of folks to know that our legumes do need nitrogen to grow and to fulfil production of these high protein chickpea seeds.
For example, to achieve a yield of a modest two tonne plus per hectare, your chickpeas are going to need around 150 kgs per hectare of nitrogen from somewhere. Is it going to come from your soil profile available nitrogen levels or are you going to get your inoculation process completed successfully?
We know that our Rhizobia bacteria are very sensitive to heat and sunlight and different pesticides and fertilizers they come into contact with. They are not going to survive if left all day in a bag on the back of a truck in full sunlight with temperatures over 30 odd degrees in our early autumn time.
So, my advice to all that we cannot all surmise that residual bacteria exist in your soils . We also cannot detect live bacteria in your packets of peat inoculate especially if you have frozen them or cooked them before the actual seed coating operation occurs.
Live bacteria on your quality legume planting seed into a moist soil profile are the keys for getting these rhizobia bacteria successfully establishing into your root system to provide that NDfA or Nitrogen Derived from the Atmosphere.
It is a critical point of any legume crop planting operation that inoculation is going to be successful and effective .
That’s all folks.