The popularity of chickpeas is on the rise in the US.
Not only is it a very versatile and tasty legume, but according to The Atlantic roasted and spiced chickpeas are also a healthier alternative to fried potato chips.
For many more exciting examples of how versatile chickpeas and legumes are check out the article here.
Dr Marisa Collins from the University of Queensland will lead the research which aims to benchmark yield and potential drivers of mungbean yield in double-cropping and in fallows.
Mungbeans are the largest summer pulse crop in Australia, but there are still some unknowns about what determines their yield.
Dr Collins will focus the research on factors including soil nutrition and starting water, nematode pressure, rainfall and temperature, and flower-to-pod radio.
Even with good conditions, Mungbeans can return poor yields. Collins explains that understanding what drives yield is an issue she hopes to achieve.
The project will include agronomists, researchers and leading growers of mungbeans.
The initial stages of the project are being trialled on 12 private farms in Queensland, 18 on Darling Downs, and 12 in northern NSW.
Dr Collins said:
“We want to learn from growers, as well as get some hard data around observations, to provide some metrics around what yields can be expected.”
The initial trials have also included the Australian Mungbean Association (AMA) who are helping to manage and monitor the crops.
Growers are wanting to know if they should be fertilising mungbeans as they would any other summer crop.
There is still confusion about the impact on yield if mungbeans are planted in paddocks that were prepared for cotton or sorghum with nitrogen applied in September.
The project helps to provide better answers to growers who want to know what would happen to their crops if they were to double-crop them or plant them into fallow.
‘Optimising Mungbean Yield’ plans to raise the average national yield to two tonnes per hectare from 0.9t/ha – news which has been welcomed by AMA.
AMA president, Mark Schmid, hopes that the data collected will help farmers grow the best crop they possibly can.
“It’s the best summer legume we’ve got… We’re trying to make sure people making decisions about crops are trained correctly…The data our industry will get from ‘Optimising Mungbean Yields’ project will help us to achieve that.”
Image courtesy of Farm Weekly.
Legume roots produce a natural fertilizer.
The nodules that form on the roots of legumes contain rhizobia bacteria.
For the rhizobia bacteria to take nitrogen from the air and produce ammonia (fertilizer) it is important to know if the correct rhizobia is in your legumes.
Did you know?
The Australian agriculture industry uses 5.3 million tons of fertilizer each year! Legume roots are a sustainable farming fertilizer.
First, they reduce their environmental impact as much as possible.
Second, they find cost-effective farming methods which transcends into increased yields.
So, how exactly do we help farmers achieve these two things?
With the power of science and our easy to use RHIZO-ID kits, we can identify what type of rhizobia is in your legume root nodules to improve production.
All you need to do is order a RHIZO-ID kit from our website or through our distributors.
1 kit is sufficient for the analysis of one legume species.
Each kit contains four sample bags.
Simply send in roots from four different locations in a 100-hectare paddock and we will begin the analysis.
It really is that easy.
We are trusted leaders in the farming industry:
Our kits are sold through leading farming organisations such as;
ALOSCA Technologies, CSBP, Elders, and Landmark.
Traditional ways to identify root nodules include growing the bacteria. This method can be time-consuming, labour intensive and expensive for farmers.
Here’s the deal:
We have combined an innovative method which incorporates both previous methods to save time and money for farmers, whilst being environmentally friendly.
Our scientific-led research team use a mass spectrometer machine and genetic sequencing of protein markers to detect and identify the different strains and their unique fingerprints.
We generate a fingerprint of root nodules and then we compare that fingerprint with the database that we have comprised of the current rhizobia inoculants.
This means that there will be less fertilizer needed because nitrogen from the legume is put into the ground and it’s available for (wheat or barley) crop after the legume component.
