1. Angelo Loi & Steve Carr (Bayclassic)
ALOSCA™ granular inoculant  New inoculation technology for grain and pasture legumes
Angelo Loi & Steve Carr (Bayclassic)

2. Crop and pasture legumes add enormous value to farming
primarily through their :
Ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen
Weed control
Wool and meat production.

3. Root nodule bacteria
NITROGEN

5. Traditional inoculation

6. Nodulation failure

7. Rhizobium effectiveness
Inoculated
Uninoculated

8. Thanks to the Centre for Rhizobium Studies we have some of the best strains in the world
Casbah
(biserrula)

9. Trifolium incarnatum cv Caprera
…and we can successfully grow the new pasture species
recently developed in WA
Trifolium incarnatum cv Caprera

10. Grain legumes

11. Old technology (peat based)
Peat inoculants must be stored and transported at 4-6OC
Best when inoculated onto seed and then sown immediately into moist soil
Rhizobia die rapidly when exposed to high heat and when exposed to dry soils in southern Australia (>90% within 24hours)
Rhizobia have sub-optimal performance when mixed with certain seed-applied fertilisers insecticides and fungicides

12. Why do we need ALOSCA to inoculate our pasture legumes
Easy to do (mixing one bag of ALOSCA and one of seed)
Reduce the risk of decreased rhizobium viability under stressful condition (eg. sowing in suboptimal conditions or dry autumn conditions)
Be ready to sow when conditions are right
Undersowing and dry-sowing are possible due the high viability of the rhizobium in the granules (over one year in the soil)

13. Rhizobia die when inoculated seed is sown into dry soil & this cause a
Grain legumes
Often a compromise between disease control (seed
applied fungicides) and effective N fixation
(conventional inoculation)
Rhizobia die when inoculated seed
is sown into dry soil & this cause a
delay in nodulation- compromise yield

14. Liquid inoculant
Liquid-based inoculants generally have a shelf-life of less than six months
Logistics of delivery on a large scale
Liquid-based inculants have a limited inoculum delivery potential of several thousand cells per seed

15. - Western Australian company
International patent
Special clay combined to a novel
technique

16. Improving inoculant technology
ALOSCA
Peat
Uninoculated
PEAT
ALOSCA

17. Faba beans
Nodulation score at 8 weeks for Faba beans sown with ALOSCA
at Mullewa and Nyabing (average of both sites) Howieson et al 2004.

18. Pea rows at Nyabing

19. What happen when condition start to get suboptimal?
Peat and Liquid technology work very well under optimal moisture and temperature soil condition
What happen when condition start to get suboptimal?

20. Summer temperatures on soil surface are very high

21. 6 weeks at high temperature
ALOSCA
6 weeks at high temperature
Fresh peat
Uninoculated

22. ‘ALOSCA’ dry clay inoculant provides the opportunity to sow legumes dry
Nodule score on Faba beans at 10 weeks
ALOSCA granules sown at 10 kg/ha with faba beans produced better nodulation than normal practice

23. Dry autumn conditions ALOSCA Traditional
Whittington’s farm (East Brookton)

24. Max Hawley (Pingrup): Faba beans seed production
Uninoculated
Sandy: %
Clay: %
Conventional
Sandy: 130%
Clay: %
ALOSCA
Sandy: %
Clay: %

25. No refrigeration needed
Flexibility – capacity to mix ALOSCA
with both seed and fertiliser
SEED
ALOSCA
Same storage
No refrigeration needed

26. Remedial option for poorly nodulated pastures
ALOSCA
Drilled 5 cm - 10 kg/ha
ALOSCA
Top dressed 10 kg/ha
Untreated
No nodules
Burr Medic (4.7 pH)

27. Introducing improved strains in old pasture stands of sub-clover

28. ALOSCA has been tested in WA (2003-4)
“Ballard Seed” evaluated ALOSCA at 12 demo sites in 2004

29. Up to 6 t DM 1 t of seed T. formosum cv Portolu inoculated with ALOSCA
Paish & Wilson (Badgingarra)
Up to 6 t DM
1 t of seed

30. Biserrula (Casbah) inoculated with ALOSCA granules at
Tincurrin (Ballard Seed)

31. Yelbeni (yellow serradella) inoculated with ALOSCA granules
at Hagboon’s farm

32. Summary ALOSCA: viable alternative to conventional inoculation
Granules remain viable in the soils for extended periods in soils subject to wetting and drying cycles (ie false break)
Research indicates equivalent nodulation (to conventional ) under optimal conditions- but SUPERIOR under adverse conditions
Easy to handle

33. Summary cont.
Option for seed applied insecticides (important for small seeded pastures)
Current indications are that up to 1000 times the number of cells in ALOSCA are alive at sowing compared with conventional inoculation
Enables effective nodulation under poor or dry sown conditions
ALOSCA is compatible with seed applied fungicides

34. sliced bread” Countrymen 31/7/03 Max Hawley (Pingrup):
“ALOSCA granules: best thing since
sliced bread”

41. Why pastures in the rotation?
Nitrogen
Weed control
More sheep per ha

42. Poor sub-clover pasture 4 sheep /ha 2t of wheat (80-100kg of Urea)
Before
pH mm
Poor sub-clover pasture
4 sheep /ha
2t of wheat (80-100kg of Urea)
Trees to be planted
After:
Santorini (yellow serradella)
pH 4.2
310 mm
DM = 11t & >3t pods
Potential water use over 500 mm
15 sheep/ha

43. 2004 Wheat after serradella: a) 50Kg “Maps” 2.74 t/ha 11.4% (prot)
b) 50Kg “Maps” + 30Kg Urea 2.50 t/ha 10.7% (prot)
Trees to be planted
Tot. 10t DM (tops and roots)
3.5% = Tot. N org = 350Kg
350Kg of org. N = 700kg of Urea
30% of this N will be available in the next year= 210Kg Urea (equiv.)

44. Biserrula (Badgingarra)
2004 Wheat after biserrula:
Agstar 100Kg + Urea 40Kg t/ha
Agstar 100Kg + Urea 110Kg + NS t/ha

45. Establishing cheap pastures
Undersowing
Established
pasture
ALOSCA granules (S)
Wheat
Hard French
serradella
pods
Fertilizer
Wheat
Hardseed breakdown of
the pasture seed
Sowing
Second year
First year

46. Grower survey Farmers asked to list for 2004 156 responses
areas sown to pasture
pasture legume varieties used
156 responses
Mainly wheatbelt farmers
Total farm area in survey: 572,852 ha
87% of respondents sowed new pastures in 2004
Area sown to new pastures: 64,470 ha
Average of 26% of total area in pasture

50. Grower survey
There is a strong interest in pasture improvement in Western Australia;
An estimated total area of 1.3 mill ha of wheatbelt and mixed farming areas was sown to pastures in 2004;
Over 50% of all pasture legumes sown in 2004 have been released since 1996 and are derived from the WA NAPLIP/CLIMA programs;
Over 55% of species sown in 2004 were not the traditional species (subterranean clovers and medics)