Kevin Kilby runs National Variety Trials on his 2,000 hectare property near Gilgandra, testing crop varieties across standardized plots. He shares how timing nitrogen application and seasonal rainfall shape which varieties perform best, with results published at nvtonline.com.au.
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Hosting variety trials on his Property for almost 25 years has given northern New South Wales grain grower Kevin Kilby a long term view of the development of new varieties and the improvements they have delivered to industry. He says the modern wheat lines are definitely higher yielding and better performing.
The most valuable thing is just see different varieties grow, you know, and compare them yourself, see them actually growing paddocks compared. And it's good to compare the NVT trial to the paddock around two and the variety. There you see how the main variety I grow compares to all the ones in the plots.
Mr. Kilby runs Inglewood, a 2,000 hectare mixed farming operation at Gilgandra, where he crops wheat, barley, triticale and lupins, plus chickpeas and canola, depending on the season. Mr. Kilby was first approached to host varietal trials in the early 90s, with the research eventually becoming part of the national variety trials. The NVT program was established in 2005 by the Grains Research and Development Corporation and is managed by the Australian Crop Accreditation System. It is a national program of comparative crop variety testing with standardised trial management, data generation, collection and dissemination.
It's just testing the wheat varieties year in, year out, which is all seasonal conditions, you know, and. And it's always independent. That's the best thing about it.
The trial plots usually cover a two to three hectare area which is prepared by Mr. Kilby. The plots are then sown, fertilised, monitored and measured under strict specifications by an NVT team.
There's more to it, you know, like quality is always a big thing, you know, like in small grain, in varieties. That's what's always tested in the nvt. Screenings come up in it. That's part of it, yeah, yeah. It's not only yields, it's protein screenings, the sample.
Mr. Kilby has also gleaned a number of management insights from his involvement over the years.
And what's really interesting, that the fertiliser companies have different nutrient treatments in trials. And it's really interesting. You can see nitrogen, there's not much benefit to the crop until about August, and you can see the nitrogen. The fertilised plots really take off then. So really if you want to put nitrogen on, I think it should be on before August. That's one thing. Always depends on rain. No matter what variety they throw at us, it's got to have rain. It's got to be prepared properly, but it's got to have rain too.
The results of NVT trials are available to growers via the web at www.nvtonline.com.au.
