Here is a list of cereals mainly grown in Australia: 1. Oats 2. Rice 3. Barley 4. Rye 5. Triticale.
Cereal # 1. Oats:
Oats are grown more widely than any other crop in New South Wales. Although most oat crops exist in small areas, the total area of oats sown in Australia is usually about 1.4 million hectares, about a quarter of which is grown in New South Wales. Yields of grain are rising and vary between half a tonne to more than one tonne per hectare. Usually over 70 per cent of the area sown is used to produce grain, and about seven per cent for hay, but an increasing area is being used for grazing.
The oat plant has many advantages:
1. It can be sown in late summer to provide winter grazing.
2. It may be used as a rotation crop with wheat in the low rainfall areas.
3. It may be grown in a wide variety of soils and climates, including the coastal districts.
4. It can provide a cheap reserve of grain food. Oat grain suffers less from weevil damage than any other grain.
5. It can be grown as a catch crop when it has become too late to sow other crops.
6. It can provide abundant green feed for livestock, especially when sown very thickly and top dressed with nitrogenous fertilisers. On the other hand, continuous cropping with oats may have a very damaging effect on soil structure. This effect can be reduced if clover is sown with the oats.
When using oats as winter grazing for sheep, care is needed in controlling grazing, otherwise diseases such as hypocalcaemia may occur.
The germination, growth and development of the oat plant is very similar to that of wheat. The oat goes through a rather lengthy prostrate period, during which it may be safely grazed. Grazing after this period will reduce the yield of grain, but many oat crops are grown only for grazing and grain is not expected.
The general management of oat crops is similar to that for wheat, but the time of sowing varies. If required for winter grazing oats must be sown in early autumn or late summer to allow for sufficient root growth before the cold weather begins. On the tablelands, late January sowings may be made, but in the hot districts March is a suitable month. If required for grain, oats should not be sown earlier than May, as the flowers may be damaged by frost. Spring sowings may be made in cooler parts of the tablelands.
As with wheat, early-maturing varieties, like Irwin and Avon, should be sown later than late-maturing varieties like Blackbutt and Cassia.
Oats are generally sown with a combine at a rate varying between 67-134 kg/ha. Broadcast sowings are made at a rate of 134—198 kg/ha. The sowing rate is decreased in the drier areas, and on fertile soils which produce greater tillering.
Rates are increased in colder districts, or those receiving higher rainfall. The rate is also increased if grown for hay, because fine straw makes the best hay. Oats for grazing only are seeded at a lower rate than they are if grain is desired.
Superphosphate is commonly applied to oat crops, the quantity varying from 62 to 125 kg/ha. The use of nitrogenous fertilisers depends on the use for which the crop is grown, the expected rainfall and the expected profits to be made in the sale of animal products.
Since there is no variety of oats which is suitable for every district and for all purposes, it is important to .choose a variety carefully. Good recovery from feeding off is the most important feature needed in grazing oats. Oats for hay should have fine straw. Oats grown for grain must be resistant to smut, otherwise a poor yield can be expected.
Avon is a promising grain variety of early mid-season maturity and should replace the older variety Fulmark in the southern grain-producing districts.
Cooba is an early mid-season variety. It is a dual-purpose variety and can be used for grazing or grain. Cooba has some resistance to smut, but is susceptible to stem and leaf rusts.
Saia is a suitable variety for early or late sowing on the coast for green fodder production.
At present, too many farmers are growing the older varieties of oats, like Fulmark and Ballidu. The wider use of some of the newer varieties will lead to better production.
Cereal # 2. Rice:
Experiments in rice growing were begun in Victoria and the Riverina during World War I, but it was not until 1924 that the first commercial crops were successfully grown in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. Despite early difficulties, the area sown to rice has steadily increased and now includes rice in the Colleambally Irrigation Area and the Murray Valley Irrigation Area.
Rice growing is now an established industry and the Rice Marketing Board has built large receiving sheds for grain storage and has promoted the use of bulk handling methods. Mills have also been built for processing the grain.
A record crop of over 624 000 tonnes is expected in 1979. Exports of the New South Wales rice crop are now worth more than $57 000 000. The average grain yield of over seven tonnes per hectare from the 1967 crop was a world record, however, in recent years, average yields have decreased because more farmers are growing the lower yielding but more valuable long grain varieties such as Kulu and Inga.
The 1977-78 crops of 4, 76,317 tonnes was produced in three main rice growing areas:
1. The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area produced 202 761 tonnes from 36 584 hectares with an average yield of 5.54 tonnes/hectare.
2. The Colleambally Irrigation Area produced 110 376 tonnes from 22 082 hectares with an average yield of 5.0 tonnes/hectare.
3. The Murray Valley Irrigation Area produced 163 176 tonnes from 29 707 hectares with an average yield of 5.49 tonnes/hectare.
Rice growing may develop as an important industry in parts of northern Australia.
Rice growing is important because it makes use of land which is otherwise of little use. It improves soils for the growing of other crops; like oats, and because rotations are essential, it has resulted in the growth of pastures from which fat lambs and wool are produced.
Rice is a grain-producing grass, like wheat and other cereals. It tillers very well and produces grain on spreading panicles which droop over when ripe. The stems are stiff, and the dead straw is rather harsh. There are two types of rice – Upland rice varieties do not need to be grown in water, but have proved unsuited to Australian conditions. Lowland rice is sown in a moist seed bed, and when properly established, the plants are flooded and made to grow in water.
In order to grow lowland rice, soils must be level and possess an impervious subsoil of clay. They must also be close to irrigation water.
Large areas of grey-brown soils of heavy texture are found in southwestern New South Wales, but only in certain parts do we find level or gently sloping soils close enough to irrigation water. Two chief soil types are used for rice growing. The grey clays are cold soils which delay or prevent germination, but they may give the heaviest yields. The reddish soils are warmer and safer rice soils, but often give lower yields.
Rice is a hot climate crop, will not grow in cold weather and dislikes sudden temperature changes—frost kills it. The soil temperature must be at least 20°C for rice to germinate properly.
Successful rice growing depends very largely on soil fertility. High yields are obtained by sowing rice once every four years on pasture land used for fat lamb raising. A satisfactory rotation is rice—pasture— grazing oats—rice.
The seed bed is prepared in much the same way as for other cereals, but shallower ploughing is recommended. The red soils need more preparation than the heavy soils. Sowing is carried out in late September or October, using wheat drill.
The drills are 17 cm apart, and the grain is sown at a depth of 2.5 cm. Seed can be broadcast, and some experiments with aerial sowing have been fairly successful. The sowing rate is 111 to 143 kg graded pure seed per hectare.
Rice is a greedy feeder, and stooling is encouraged by the application of 251 kg of ammonium sulphate per hectare, applied with the seed or broadcast later into the water. If weeds have been properly controlled, it will not be necessary to flood the sown grain to kill weeds, and better germination will result. After the plants have reached a few cm in height, the land is flooded, the level of the water being raised as the plants grow.
The greatest problem in rice growing is the control of weeds, such as cumbungi, barnyard grass, rushes and reeds. Weeds are controlled by good farming and clean fallows, by flooding, hoeing and by the use of grazing animals.
The water is kept on the crop until the last few grains at the base of the heads are in the full dough stage and the panicles bend down. The crop is harvested with a header, and yields may reach as much as 10 tonnes per hectare.
When harvested, the grain is known as paddy, and is enclosed in a hull. The hulls must be removed, and the grain milled to remove some of the harsh outer seed coat. One hundred kg of paddy rice produces 60 kg of commercial rice, 18 kg of hulls, 17 kg of bran and 4 kg of “polish”.
The hulls are used as packing for fragile objects such as eggs. The bran has a high content of vitamin B and a high protein percentage, and may be used as stock fodder. Broken rice grain is used to manufacture starch, rice flour and other products, such as face powder.
Although Australian yields of rice are the highest in the world, and may result in profits of up to $600 per hectare, improvement in production is possible. The increased use of legumes like sub clover will raise soil fertility. The use of mechanised equipment can raise efficiency, and more careful management can reduce weed growth.
A new advance in Australian rice production is the growing of the more popular and more valuable long grain varieties. The most promising variety at present is Inga, which is replacing the variety Kulu. At present the long grain varieties have a lower yield than other varieties.
Plant breeders are now trying to improve the yielding ability of the long grain varieties.
Cereal # 3. Barley:
There has been a rapid expansion of barley growing in Australia. The total area sown to barley in Australia in the 1976-77 seasons was over 2.3 million hectares.
Although barley thrives in cool climates, it will stand heat well when grown in semi-arid areas. It is the most dependable cereal crop when grown under unfavourable conditions, such as salt, frost and drought.
The cultivation, sowing and management of a barley crop follow lines similar to that for wheat, but there are differences in details. Thus, barley is usually sown at a lighter rate than is wheat, one bag of seed being sufficient to sow 1.6 ha on the heavy soils. The seed is always pickled with mercury dusts to prevent the growth of smut and bunt diseases. Barley is susceptible to the root rots.
Although the price of barley per bag is well below the bag price of wheat, barley is a profitable crop because of the higher yields obtained.
Clipper is the most popular malting, or two-row barley variety, the grain being used in the brewing of beer. The varieties Lara and Resibee may be used for green feed or for grain, and the Black barley variety is used for green feed in coastal districts, but the seed has been hard to obtain.
Cereal # 4. Rye:
Like most other cereals, rye may be used to provide green feed, or it may be harvested for grain. A rising local demand for cereal rye grain has caused an increase in sowings, and greater use of rye is now being made for grazing purposes on the coast and tablelands.
Rye is said to be the hardiest of all cereals, for it will continue to grow in temperatures two degrees above freezing. Rye is more productive than other cereals on sandy, acid or infertile soils. It is also well suited for planting on drained marsh lands.
The stems of rye are tall but rather coarse, and do not make ideal hay. Rye for grain is sown at the same time as wheat, but early autumn sowings are best when the crop is to be grazed in winter. Black winter rye is the most popular local variety.
Cereal # 5. Triticale:
This is an entirely new crop plant which is a cross or hybrid between wheat and cereal rye. It was first produced in 1936 by using a chemical called colchicine to double the chromosome numbers. Triticale has been grown successfully in the Tamworth, Gunnedah and Darling Downs districts, but so far only one commercial variety is available called Gro-QK.
The chief value of Triticale is that it may be a most useful alternative feed grain to the usual winter cereals especially where the soil is poor or the temperature unsuitable. The crop appears to have a grain yield equal to or better than the best wheat varieties and it has good resistance to rust and root rots. The protein content of the grain is as good as wheat but the quality of the protein is better than wheat protein. Some of the new varieties of the Armadillo types may be available in 1980.