Dr Patrick Filippi1, Dr Dhahi Al-Shammari1, Mr Thomas McPherson1, Prof. Thomas Bishop1
1The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Biography:
“Dr Patrick Filippi is a Lecturer in Precision Crop Management at the University of Sydney. Patrick’s research in precision crop management is centred on using diverse on-farm and off-farm spatial and temporal datasets and data analytics to model and understand the variation in crop condition, yield, and quality. A strong component of this research is also on assessing how soil, weather, and management factors impact this variability, which can then guide improved management decisions going forward. This research has positive outcomes for farmers, agronomists, and other stakeholders in terms of efficiency, profitability, and environmental sustainability.”
Abstract:
In Australia, pulses are generally underutilised by growers relative to cereal crops. There is significant global interest in growing pulses to provide more plant protein, and they also provide a string of agronomic and environmental benefits, such as their ability to fix nitrogen, and as a rotation for cereals. Many attribute this underutilisation to pulses exhibiting greater within-field yield variability than cereals. However, this has never been comprehensively examined in Australia, and the indicators commonly used, such as the coefficient of variation (CV), do not account for the spatial structure of within-field variation. To overcome this, this study adopted the Yield Opportunity Index (Yoi), which considers the structure and magnitude of spatial variation and uses components from the variogram of crop yield data. Using a database of 885 yield maps across the grain-growing regions of Australia between 2009 and 2022, this study aimed to 1) compare the within-field variability of chickpea, lentil, and lupin to wheat crops using the Yoi, and 2) improve the interpretability of Yoi results for growers. An outcome of the Yoi is that it can help rank fields that should be prioritised for site-specific crop management (SSCM) by growers, but this study also classified all fields into low (<3.5), medium (3.5-6.5), and high (>6.5) opportunity for SSCM using the Yoi. This allows growers to easily determine how variable their yields are relative to others. Overall findings showed largely no differences in variability between pulses and cereals based on YOi across Australia, and that drier seasons had greater within-field variability than wetter seasons. This research has important implications for the greater inclusion of pulses in crop rotations.