Response to time of sowing of a range of wheat and barley variteties in the Ord River valley

Abstract

At Kimberley Research Station in the Ord River valley, 40 wheat and 20 barley varieties, originating in a wide range of environments, were sown under irrigation at three dates in April-June. The varieties were assigned to maturity groups (five for wheat, four for barley) on the basis of the mean period from sowing to anthesis for the three sowings. The results with wheat confirmed previous experiments with oats and a limited range of wheat varieties : that maximum yield is attained when varieties come into anthesis in late July-early August and that yield is reduced if anthesis occurs before or after this period. Barley varieties showed a progressive decline in yield with later date of anthesis after mid-July, but since no barley varieties reached anthesis before mid-July even when sown in late April-the earliest practicable date-it was not established whether earlier anthesis would have been associated with lower yield