Sowing On-Farm Trials

Preparation and attention to detail when establishing on-farm trials, will provide better quality data, plus reduced workload and stress at harvest.

Improvements in yield mapping capabilities associated with modern harvesters, allows for testing of various treatments on a paddock scale under real world conditions. This is a simple way of quantifying the potential benefits of investing in new technologies, without significant cash outlay.

Potential new crop varieties can easily be compared using yield mapping technology. However, a small amount of preparation and thought, is the difference between useful data and nothing.

Following are some simple tips for generating useful data from on-farm variety trials:

• Plan ahead. Locate the variety comparisons in an accessible paddock, so that observations such as differences in growth and development, or disease tolerance can be made throughout the year.

• Sow varieties to be compared in the same paddock, as this avoids confounding the results with different paddock histories.

• To avoid one variety having a favourable part of the paddock, sow alternate strips of each variety rather than half a paddock of each.

• Sow large enough areas of each variety to overcome spatial variability in soil type or topography.

• Sow at least one up-and-back run with the seeder for each treatment strip.

• Enter the sowing details into the GPS control screen at sowing, so that the trial location and details can be easily accessed at harvest time, as the trial location will already be present when downloading harvest data into yield mapping software.

• At harvest time, ensure that the correct name and details are entered for each treatment, if not done prior.

• It is advisable NOT to calibrate the harvester between treatments, as this can add an extra layer of variation to the analysis. It is better to perform a post-harvest calibration in the yield mapping software.