Equipment

Harvesting capacity

Agritech owns and operates 4 plot harvesters between Narrabri and Naracoorte. There are 3 Kingaroy conventional small-plot headers and a Haldrup computerized breeding header. A second breeder header is planned for the 2011 harvest. In addition we have access to an additional Wintersteiger Harvester.

Each harvester has on-board weighing. The Haldrup weighs to the nearest 10 g, and all data is automatically recorded on computer linked scales with bar code labelling printed for each plot. On lower yielding sites, Agritech weighs the grain from each plot to the nearest 1g utilising laboratory scales linked to a laptop and barcode scanner.

All harvesters are specifically designed for small plot trials. They offer excellent cleanout between plots to prevent contamination of grain quality samples.

Seeding capacity

Agritech operates a total of 8 small plot seeders comprised of a combination of agronomy, single row, summer precision planters and cartridge loaded breeding machines.

Southern NSW

The main breeding seeder is towed by a tractor, and transported on an 8 tonne truck and trailer. This machine has deep working knife points that drill and top dress fertilizer requirements with seed delivered through walker discs with press wheels following the deep working tynes. The machine has excellent stubble handling capacity. This seeder is computer driven and is capable of sowing 500 plots per hour. The plot width is a constant 1.2 m and can sow plots from 10-12 m in length.

There are two cone seeders towed by Landcruiser utes that handle the majority of agronomy and farming systems trials. The Landcruiser utes are equipped with a 10 -12 m boom for application of knockdown, IBS and PSPE herbicide applications as required.

Northern NSW

The Northern NSW trials are sown with a custom-designed manual-drop cone It is a 5 row machine on 32 cm row spacings using a Jenke parallelogram and knife point system, with Manutec press wheels. It is tractor drawn and has excellent stubble and moisture seeking capabilities. The tractor and seeder are transported on a 8 tonne truck. Tractors are on 2 m wheel spacings which means the tractor wheels are outside the plots preventing compaction. This planter set-up is reflective of commercial practice in NNSW, and the parallelogram tyne system allows faster re-entry onto black soil country following rain in comparison to equivalent disc planters.

In addition there are several summer precision seeding configurations to meet the requirements of summer row crop research.

Cotton

The Narrabri operation has all necessary equipment to conduct all forms of small plot cotton work. All trials are sown with either a 2 row John Deere Max-emerge vacuum/cone planter or a 4 row cone seeder for breeding work. These machines are capable of sowing 1, 2, 3 or 4 row plots simultaneously and have the capacity to side dress fertiliser or other agronomic inputs. We are able to hand or machine spray insecticide cotton trials and we have a temperature controlled growth chamber for rearing insect populations.

We have secured a 4 row cotton picker that is capable of picking and electronically weighing 2 plots simultaneously. In addition we have two new Continental Eagle small plot gins that are specifically designed for ginning small cotton samples. Finally we have an acid de-linting system that is able to de-lint seed ready for sowing.

Naracoorte

The PJ Green Cartridge Seeder is towed with a tractor. It is on 220 mm spacing, direct drill machine with knifepoints and presswheels. It has cartridge and packet capability, sowing a 10-12 m long plot with 6 rows wide (1.32 m).

Miscellaneous equipment

Southern NSW

There are 4 experimental booms specifically designed for zero herbicide contamination to ensure the safety of all trials. The booms are used for all cover sprays of sites as well as application of specific treatments should they be required. They are able to lift from 0.4 m up to 3 m high and as such are well suited to a wide range of chemical application requirements. A 10-12 m span ensures there is no need to drive across any plots thus alleviating wheel tracking on any trial site. There is also four wheel motorbike booms for wet conditions and fertiliser spreaders for top dressing or fertiliser applications.

Northern NSW

Two ute-mounted spray rigs are based out of the Narrabri office. They are 12 m wide and are set-up with air-induction low drift systems to reflect local use patterns. Two ute-mounted 2 m shielded spray booms are used to spray out buffers at the end of each plot. A ute-mounted dry fertiliser spreader capable of evenly broadcasting controlled rates of fertiliser across 12 metres.