SRA34A LOOKS LIKE A GOER IN THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT

“I look forward to continuing to build on this year’s Field Day to create more momentum in SRA’s engagement in the Bundaberg/Wide Bay area,” Lisa

Devereaux said.

The Southern District Productivity Plan covers sugarcane production in the Burnett Mary Region – Bundaberg in the north, Isis in the centre and Maryborough to the south. (A separate plan was written for Rocky Point under an agreement with CANEGROWERS, while Northern NSW operates their own program in conjunction with their mills, calling on SRA advice as needed).

If you are unfamiliar with the current Southern plan and the others across the State, please visit the SRA website: https://sugarresearch.com.au/resourcesand-media/district-productivity-plans/

Scan to read District Productivity Plans.

SRA34A LOOKS LIKE A

GOER IN THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT

Variety Development Manager Southern and NSW, Roy Parfitt, spoke at the Field Day about the new varieties released during 2022 for Southern growers.

“We've released two varieties so far, SRA34 A and SRA38A, and there's possibly a third. They have good yield and sugar, and they all tick the box as far as fibre quality goes. SRA34 A and SRA38A are both new varieties that have good disease resistance.

Roy Parfitt discusses new Southern varieties. “Disease resistance is important in the region. We encourage our growers to either order tissue culture from SRA or they can contact the local productivity services board for clean seed.

“SRA34 A is an all-round solid performer in our eyes. It is doing slightly better than some of our standard commercial varieties. SRA34 A has also been released in

NSW and the Burdekin.

The main diseases in the

Southern Region are smut,

Pachymetra, Fiji disease, leaf scald and mosaic. SRA34 A is resistant to all of them except smut to which it has intermediate resistance, well within the region’s biosecurity zone resistance threshold.

“This year, we will get commercial results for the variety from Bundaberg Sugar. I'm actually waiting on the edge of my seat for those results.”

Roy stepped through the process of determining fibre quality at the station, which is undertaken as part of the overall analysis of a variety.

“The samples go through a small hammer mill, which represents the crusher, and then we test them for three fibre quality traits: shear strength, short fibre percentage, and impact resistance. Those three traits, together with fibre content, give the miller a good indication about whether a new variety can be processed through the mill without any issues. A very soft cane can process into a kind of porridge. If that happens it won’t flow through the rollers in the mill properly.

Additionally, a cane with a low fibre content and making up a significant proportion of the crush could negatively affect the boilers and steam production.

So, we check that the fibres are not too short and weak and that the cane has an acceptable fibre content.”