Michael Moodie

Lentils are continuing to increase in area in the northern Victorian Mallee.&nbsp; Despite being a significant crop (for many growers lentils encompass up to 25% of their sowing area), there are few NVT sites representing this region.&nbsp; This trial is designed to evaluate the performance of a range of varieties on a sandy loam soil type in the Victorian Mallee to build confidence and understanding of lentil varietal performance in the low rainfall zone.

Adaptability of lentil varieties to Victorian mallee soil types

Pulse Agronomy
The Pulse Agronomy project is working closely with industry to define and tackle key issues for growing lentils, Field Peas, chickpea, Faba bean, Vetch, and lupins. The challenges that pulse growers face differ in every region and our research partnerships have field trials in every growing region of the State &ndash; the Wimmera, Mallee, North Central, North East, South West and Western District. With Practical research and tangible results, we&rsquo;re committed to sharing with growers, grower groups and consultants via on-farm, online and through this research hubs.

Pulse Agronomy

Kulwin, Victoria

A new lentil variety, GIA Metro, combining metribuzin (&lsquo;MET&rsquo;) tolerance with the imidazolinone (&lsquo;IMI&rsquo;) tolerance was released in 2022. Despite having a yield gap of 20-30% compared with the highest yielding varieties, it has potential to help control difficult to manage weeds in lentils like capeweed, medic, spiny emex, milk thistle, prickly lettuce and turnip weed, particularly where resistance to Intercept&reg; exists or on soil types where use of residual Group 5 products can cause significant crop damage, even at suboptimal rates. It could also help reduce reliance on the imidazoline herbicides which can result in residues limiting cereal or canola varieties that can be grown for following crops in the rotation. In addition, metribuzin has been registered for in-crop application up to the 6th node, specifically in this variety.

Effective use of metribuzin tolerant lentil genetics for rotational weed control

Herbicide tolerance is an highly valued trait which influences the pulse crop and varieties that farmers select.&nbsp; 'Imi' tolerance is incorporated almost universally into the most commonly grown lentil varieties in the Victorian Mallee.&nbsp; Recently GIA Sire was released which combines 'Imi' tolerance with clopyralid tolerance which may be valuable for managing herbicide residues.&nbsp; Similar herbicide tolerances are being incorporated into other pulse crops such as field peas.&nbsp; This trial is demonstrating the agronomic, systems fit of tolerant varieties of lentil and field peas to manage Group 2 and clopyralid herbicide residues and in-crop applications of intercept&reg;.