Dr Julianne Lilley1, Dr. Jeremy Whish1, Dr Shannon Dillon1, Dr Pengcheng Hu1, Dr Bangyou Zheng1, Dr Di He1, Alex Boyer1, Dr Chris Helliwell1, Dr Enli Wang1, Dr Jessica Hyles
1CSIRO, Canberra, Australia
Biography:
Dr Julianne Lilley is a crop scientist with CSIRO and has over 30 years’ research experience in crop physiology and farming systems modelling. She currently co-leads the GRDC National Phenology Initiative Phase 2 which aims to assist growers with sowing time decisions and the GRDC Frost and Heat Management Analytics (FAHMA) Project which aims to help growers and advisers manage the impacts of frost and heat in wheat, barley, canola, chickpeas, and lentils.
Abstract:
Increased production and profitability of grain crops can be achieved by better matching phenology with the growing environment. Crops that flower too early may have insufficient biomass or experience frost damage, while late flowering may increase yield losses due to heat and water stress. In this project we are developing an online tool to enable grain growers and agronomists to match current wheat, barley and canola varieties with a range of sowing dates that will achieve flowering during the optimal period to minimise the risk of frost, heat and water stress and hence maximise grain yield. We are using genomic analysis of recent and near-release cultivars to determine APSIM phenology parameters for each cultivar and will validate predicted flowering dates using NVT trials across the Australian cropping zone. The approach develops an understanding of phenology of new cultivars at the time of release allowing farmers to make more informed, scientifically grounded sowing decisions. The Crop Flowering Calculator uses 60 years of local weather data and local soils at ~850 locations in the Australian cropping zone to calculate the range of possible flowering at each location for each cultivar. The completed Crop Flowering Calculator will allow users to determine the most suitable released cultivars for a given sowing date at their location, or the optimal range of sowing dates for a particular cultivar.