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Track Health Check

The return of significant rainfall to parts of Gippsland has helped to refocus attention on the state of farm tracks. Are your tracks in good condition to serve you through the spring?

By Department of Primary Industries - 16th September 2004 - Back to News

Well-sited, designed, constructed and maintained tracks are essential for safe and efficient movement of stock and vehicles around the farm. They can not only reduce stock lameness, but also the amount of debris brought into the yard and can also reduce the need for udder washing and keep maintenance to a minimum.

Good tracks can also help to minimise the risk of significant soil and nutrient loss to waterways. These can occur when water is concentrated into drains and moves directly into waterways, rather than being directed as evenly as possible back onto well-grassed or vegetated areas.

Checklist for effective tracks:

Siting
  • A farm plan will assist with siting
  • Provide access to all paddocks
  • Avoid sharp corners
  • Allow easy access for vehicles
  • Keep gradients as low as possible
  • Where possible site along ridges
  • Minimise earthworks
  • Allow for easy maintenance
  • Avoid planting trees on north side (track doesn’t dry)

Construction
  • Match width and gateways to herd size
  • A well-crowned and compacted sub-base and base
  • Fence stock out of surface drains where possible
  • A firm and impervious surface
  • Hard-wearing surface of gravel and finer material
  • Avoid large stones and sharp materials
  • A well-designed drainage system

Drainage
  • Avoid water running or collecting on track
  • Minimise water running down long sections of drain
  • Across-slope tracks need cut-off culverts
  • The steeper the grade, the more culverts
  • Slow water flow from culverts with rock
  • Spread water across well vegetated areas

A CLOSE LOOK AT SPRAYING EFFICIENCY

Effective fungicide application in grapevines depends on creating an environment within and around grape bunches which allows the chemical to work at maximum efficiency.

A major limitation to the movement of spray liquid into a bunch is the surface tension of spray droplets. Droplets on adjacent berries are inclined to coalesce and form bridges which block the gaps between berries, preventing the liquid film from reaching berries in the centre of the bunch.

A DPI led project is attempting to overcome the problem of surface tension with the use of adjuvants in fungicide spray mixes. Adjuvants are products which can be added to mixes to reduce the surface tension of spray droplets and improve their penetration into grape bunches. Maximising chemical efficacy in this way leads to both improved disease control and reduced spray volumes, with benefits to both the grower and the environment.

DPI researchers Alison MacGregor (project leader - DPI Mildura) and David Riches (DPI Knoxfield) are conducting the project, with collaboration from New Zealand agencies Forest Research and HortResearch and grapegrowers in Mildura and the Yarra Valley.

Alison said that for adjuvants to improve disease control in grape bunches, they first need to overcome the fact that berries are inherently difficult to wet.

"On a micro level, the roughness of a grape berry affects the angle of a droplet where its edge meets the berry surface," she said. "This is called the contact angle and, where it is high, the droplet is likely to bounce off the surface rather than stick to it. Even those which do stick will not spread well on the highly water-repellent surface."

Alison added that contact angles for several grape varieties had been measured and all were categorised as being high. With this in mind, five classes of adjuvant were selected for field trials.

"Adding conventional adjuvants to spray mixtures improved botrytis control in bunches in the trial," said Alison. "However, adding a new organosilicone-blend adjuvant increased spray deposits inside bunches and gave equivalent botrytis control at half or a quarter of the spray volume needed with a conventional adjuvant."

Further trials will look closely at the behaviour of droplets on bunches at flowering, when grapes are vulnerable to infection. "In particular, we need to improve the retention and spread of droplets on flowering parts, which are quite difficult to wet with sprays," said Alison.

Bioefficacy and spray deposit trials are continuing this year and a field demonstration/training package will be developed to facilitate ongoing adoption of the use of adjuvants.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com



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