Australian Pulses to Come With VMP

SYDNEY - Dec 13/04 - SNS -- Australia's Grains Research and Development Corporation and Pulse Australia hope to start launching new pulse varieties with a variety management package (VMP) to make it easier for growers to start producing crops from the new seeds.

Each management package will be specific to the variety, will address much more than agronomy (such as pathology and market information) and is expected to be a 'living document.'

Trevor Bray, development officer with Pulse Australia, said that the document will incorporate agronomic and pathology information from the breeding team, farmers involved in the initial seed increase, marketers and customers. He referred to the sort of practical experience provided by large-scale Western Australian pea producers as an example.

"Two years ago Western Australian farmers using large headers struck harvesting problems with the new Kaspa variety," Bray said. "They experienced difficulty getting it to feed into their headers. They used such modifications as cross augers and vertical knives to overcome the problem and that's the sort of information we want to make available to all other growers."

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