Insecticide technology

Dr Robin Gunning, a Principal Research Scientist at TAI, has made a major scientific breakthrough for the control of insecticide resistant cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa spp.)

Robin discovered how the insecticide synergist piperonyl butoxide (PBO) works in the cotton bollworm which is by inhibiting esterase enzymes responsible for pyrethroid resistance.

The performance of PBO had been declining as a pyrethroid synergist and Robin and her collaborators decided to try and improve PBO efficacy by understanding how it binds to esterase. They approached EnduraSPA - the Italian manufacturer of PBO - for funding, which resulted in the development of new micro-encapsulation technology. This new technology delays insecticide release until the synergist takes effect.

In collaboration with Endura, Robin has microencapsulated and successfully tested a number of insecticides in the laboratory and field.  This work has created a great deal of interest and has been featured on the ABC TV science programme Catalyst.

Conservation farming and reduced tillage

Over the past 30 years, this Department has carried out a highly successful research and development program at Tamworth to reduce soil degradation, improve water use efficiency and improve cropping profitability through the introduction of conservation farming and reduced tillage practices.

The adoption of conservation farming methods varies between districts in northern NSW with levels ranging from 15 to 40%.  This shows that there a significant way to go in encouraging 'best  management practice' in farming systems in the region.

In 2005, farmer focus group meetings, carried out by Ms Shauna Dewhurst and DPI District Agronomists in northern NSW, confirmed the importance of economic and social as well as technical and managerial constraints preventing farmers adopting conservation farming and no-tillage practices.  Cost, farm scale, difficult soil types and difficulties associated with mixed farming operations were highlighted as barriers to adoption.

To address the issues identified by the focus groups, a major conference was held at the Tamworth Agricultural Institute on 29-30 March 2006. The purpose of the conference was to find ways to facilitate the adoption of conservation farming and no-tillage practices.  The conference participants included farmers, extension workers, technical specialists, industry funding bodies and representatives from Catchment Management Authorities from across Australia as well as overseas.

A Department of Primary Industries Action Group has been established to implement a campaign to increase adoption of no-tillage and conservation farming practices. One of these actions will be to encourage the CMAs to uniformly adopt the system of providing grants for the modification of machinery which has been initiated in central western NSW.

The National Durum Program

NSW DPI's Tamworth Agricultural Institute is home to the Australian Durum Wheat Improvement Program led by Dr Ray Hare with support from the Grains Research & Development Corporation (GRDC) and is breeding for all production areas in Australia, covering Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia.

NSW DPI has had a pivotal role in the development of the durum industry dating back to the early 1930s as the NSW Department of Agriculture, with breeding of durum varieties commencing in 1935.

Annual production prior to 1977 was around 10,000 tonnes, but this has escalated rapidly through the breeding efforts at Tamworth led by Dr Ray Hare who has bred seven new durum varieties in the last eighteen years, including EGA-Bellaroi and Jandaroi which was released in 2003 and 2007, respectively.

The breeding program focuses on quality for the competitive world market, colour, protein content and properties being important aspects. Australian durum is now regarded by Italian millers as number one or two in the world. World demand for durum is increasing and Australia is well positioned to capture a significant proportion of this growth.

Current production trends suggest that the durum industry will reach their target of 1,000,000 (1 million) tonnes production by 2010 making the industry worth up to $400 million per annum.  Around 70% of durum is produced in NSW accounting for some $200 million worth of wheat production of the state.

Cereal chemistry unit

Tamworth Cereal Chemistry unit (TCC) performs quality screening of durum wheat lines for the Australian National Durum Wheat improvement Program (ANDWIP) and other breeding companies. TCC also conducts research in collaboration with other organisations, and performs its own research through CRC’s, GRDC and other funding sources on durum wheat quality and biochemistry/technology. Find out more about the TCC unit.

Lucerne breeding and evaluation

With 65% of the national area, NSW is the main lucerne producing Australian state and Tamworth is home to NSW DPI's Lucerne Improvement Program which aims to increase the use of lucerne in crop rotations and to reduce land degradation and improve soil health.

The NSW DPI lucerne program, led by Dr Rex Williams until recently, has bred some very successful varieties including the highly successful ‘Aurora’, ‘Aquarius’, ‘Genesis’, and ‘Venus’.

Venus was bred specifically for dryland pastures, survives under tough conditions and provides a valuable tool in helping to reduce the impact of drought in eastern Australia.

Farmers are increasingly using lucerne in crop and pasture rotations to restore soil fertility, reduce weed and disease burdens, and improve the management of water on a farm and at a landscape level. 

Encouraged by DPI's research and extension work, the area of lucerne in NSW has almost doubled from 1.1 million ha in the five years from 1996-97 to 2.0 million ha in 2002.

Each tonne of lucerne forage produced per hectare adds around 20 kg of nitrogen from the atmosphere to the soil every year. So a 5 t/ha lucerne stand fixes 100 kg/ha. In fertiliser terms this is worth $1/kg and therefore the N fixed by lucerne in NSW could be worth up to $200 million per year.

The potential to increase these returns is enormous with the current area of pasture containing lucerne of 2 million ha being less than 10% of the potential of 31 million ha.

Key research units

NSW DPI has research units spread across various locations. For example, the Weeds Research unit has research staff based in Orange, Wagga Wagga, Narrabri, Grafton and Tamworth.

Some of the units located at Tamworth, include:

Systems Research (branch)

Farming Systems (unit)
Pastures and Rangelands

Health Sciences, Strategic Alliances and Evaluation

Plant Health Sciences
Weeds Research

Resources Research

Rural Innovation

Cereal Genetics and Improvement
Pasture Genetics and Improvement
Pulse and Oilseed Genetics

Research Operations

Regional Diagnostic Laboratories
Biometrics