Early sowing of Wheat

Dannielle Ick 1 (BCG), James Hunt 2 (CSIRO) and Nick Poole 3 (FAR)
1 Birchip Cropping Group (BCG), 2 Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Foundation for Arable Research (FAR)

Key messages
• Winter wheat cultivars Wedgetail and Rosella sown on 1 April were higher yielding than LRPB Scout sown on 6 May.
• Reducing plant density to 50 plants/ m² did not reduce the ability of winter wheats to compete with a simulated weed population (tame oats) when sown on 1 April.
• Winter wheat sown early produced more dry matter for grazing than spring wheats sown in May.