A project aimed at reducing poverty in north-western Cambodia by enhancing the production and marketing of maize and soybean is to receive $1.17 million of funding from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) between 2008 and 2011.

Professor Bob Martin, Director of the Primary Industries Innovation Centre (PIIC) based at the University of New England, is the leader of the project.

The Australia-based collaborators in the project are the PIIC (a joint venture between UNE and the NSW Department of Primary Industries), The University of Canberra and CSIRO. Collaborators in Cambodia are the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, the Maddox Jolie Pitt foundation, CARE International, and the Provincial Departments of Agriculture in Battambang and Pailin.

“The aim of the project is to improve the functioning of the production-marketing system for maize and soybean in north-western Cambodia as a key to increasing cash income, sustainable growth, and poverty reduction for smallholder farmers,” Professor Martin said. “The project will facilitate the sharing of knowledge and information at all stages of the value chain – from farmer to end-user. This will deliver practical benefits for poor rural farmers, including improved food security, increased income, and reduced vulnerability to disruptions.”

He explained that the production of upland crops such as maize and soybean had rapidly expanded in north-western Cambodia since re-integration of the former Khmer Rouge began in 1996. “However, crop yields are declining and soils are being degraded by excessive cultivation and burning,” he said. “The development has been largely driven by market demand in Thailand. Local farmers are disadvantaged by lack of market information, inadequate post-harvest technology, and poor transport infrastructure.”

The project team expects its work to have a significant impact in Cambodia within five years. This will include an increase in crop yields and profits through improved technologies. “For example, rhizobium inoculation of soybean can give a 600 per cent return on investment,” Professor Martin said. “Marketing costs could be reduced by 10 per cent, which is worth an estimated US$3.3 million per annum in the Cambodian districts of Battambang and Pailin.

Other benefits will include enhanced networks and learning between farmers and others in the value chain from production through to the market, and the adoption of no-tillage conservation farming practices and fertiliser application that will reduce soil erosion and slow down the decline in soil fertility.

The Australian collaborators in the Cambodia project are also involved in a related project, with ACIAR funding of $250,000 between 2008 and 2011, aimed at boosting the adoption of conservation farming practices in north-western NSW.

A PHOTOGRAPH of Professor Bob Martin working with members of the project team in Cambodia can be seen by clicking on the image of Cambodian farmers displayed here. Professor Martin’s colleagues are Pheng Kea (centre) from the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute, and Department of Agriculture agronomist Nou Nakry.

NSW DPI’s Shane McIntosh and Dr Tony Vancov (pictured) discuss the potential of sorghum residues for ligno-cellolosic biofuel production at the Wollongbar Agricultural Institute.

First generation biofuels such as ethanol and bio-diesel are derived from agricultural crops and therefore compete with food and fibre production for water and/or fertile land. The ability of first generation biofuels to satisfy Australia’s principles of ecologically sustainable development is also the subject of increasing public debate.

Second generation biofuels include those which use ligno-cellulosic biomass to produce ethanol. However, these technologies are not yet commercially available. The development of second generation biofuels has the potential to replace the first generation biofuels and more effectively reduce Australia’s reliance on fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector.

Second generation biofuel technologies have the potential to supplement fuel supplies in a sustainable manner by deriving biofuel from low cost, non-food materials or “waste” materials such as crop residues, forestry residues, algae, or tropical grasses. They may also be more readily adapted to land unsuitable for traditional food crops. Producing fuels from these materials also has the potential to significantly improve the cost effectiveness of biofuels.

Developing a sustainable, greenhouse-friendly biofuels industry based on sound science and located in regional NSW is the focus of a new research project being undertaken by the Primary Industries Innovation Centre (PIIC). PIIC is spending $740,000 over two years to investigate the technical issues behind setting up a biofuels industry using novel feedstocks.

Primary objectives of the research are to:

• Identify sources of biofuels, particularly those which derive from native plants,
• Evaluate and develop pre-treatment strategies, particularly for feedstock native to Australia,
• Assess and improve existing microorganisms to overcome problems associated with ethanol production from lignocellulosic hydrolysates,
• Determine the key natural resource management issues relevant to providing selected feedstocks, and
• Provide the science needed to produce optimal outcomes for individual enterprises and regions.

Dr Tony Vancov and Mr Shane McIntosh at the Wollongbar Agricultural Institute are assessing likely lignocellulose feedstock candidates. They have established a pre-treatment laboratory and lab-scale procedures have been developed. Three commercial cellulase enzyme preparations have been evaluated and preferred preparations have been selected for future work; Tony and Shane are well advanced with pre-treatment assessment of bagasse feedstock and have commenced assessment of forage and grain sorghum residues. The sorghum residues have created some excitement with unexpectedly high levels of sugars.

Tony is also exploring opportunities for collaboration with Ethtec which is the first commercial venture in Australia of next generation biofuel production. Ethtec has established a pilot ligno-cellulosic plant at the Harwood sugar mill near Grafton.

The project is funded by a $440,000 grant from the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change and $300,000 in-kind support from NSW DPI and UNE.

Contact: Dr Tony Vancov (02 66) tony.vancov@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Gillian was awarded the PIIC honours scholarship for 2008 to assess the potential of chicken manure biochar for soil amelioration. Gillian’s project combines some local tillage research history with the latest developments in soil improvement.

Gillian’s parents, Bede and Narelle, own and lease 1,214 hectares of land, including their home property “Glendon”, which is 20 kilometres west of Tamworth. Their holding is made up of displaced blocks within a 12 kilometre radius of their home. The Burkes are involved in egg production, pullet rearing, cropping and feed milling as well as sheep and cattle grazing. They have about 520 hectares of red soils suitable only for winter cropping and 590 hectares of darker soils which are used for summer and winter cropping. During the 1980s, NSW Agriculture conducted a long-term tillage experiment on one of Bede’s red soils. It took a long time for this soil to show any response to no-tillage because of its hard-setting nature, low organic matter and high bulk density. Bede spreads chicken manure from their layer and pullet sheds and is able to cover 150 hectares per year and it takes five or six years to manure all of the cropping country. The chicken manure has made a big improvement in soil fertility. Gillian’s project will investigate whether there are any advantages in converting the chicken manure to biochar. Biochar is a highly biologically resistant form of carbon resulting from carbonisation or pyrolysis of plant or animal material in the absence of air at a temperature above 300°C. This process also produces biofuels that can substitute for fossil fuels. Bio-char can provide long term storage of a significant proportion (25-40%) of biomass carbon that would otherwise cycle back to the atmosphere over time scales of decades. It has also been recognised that introducing bio-char into agricultural systems could provide a range of other environmental benefits. Biochars applied to the soil can provide soil carbon pools which are stable, quantifiable and accountable with respect to carbon trading. The properties of bio-chars vary with the type of organic material from which they are made (eg wood, green waste, manures, factory wastes) and production conditions (eg temperature, degree of activation). Research to date has found that biochars can improve the productivity of crops in low fertility soils through four main mechanisms, they can:

• modify soil pH, mainly using alkaline bio-chars in acidic soils, and hence affect the plant availability of nutrients and toxic elements such as aluminium
• enhance the formation of symbiotic relationships between plant roots and mycorrhiza and rhizobia. This can increase access of plants to unavailable pools of soil phosphorous and nitrogen and decrease use of fertilisers
• increase the retention of ionic forms of nutrients, particularly in soils with low cation exchange capacity. Bio-chars have the potential to increase the efficiency of uptake of nutrients released from organic amendments and inorganic fertilisers.
• increase water holding capacity of sandy or poorly structured soils and hence efficiency of use of rainfall/irrigation. Gillian will conduct a glasshouse experiment using red-brown earth (chromosol) soli collected from the family property. Data to be collected will include: physical and chemical characteristics of the soil and biochar; changes in soil physical and hydrological properties; changes in soil biological activity and effect on plant biomass.

The NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Ian Macdonald, visited the University of New England yesterday to launch a new phase in the life of the Primary Industries Innovation Centre (PIIC) – a collaborative venture between his Department and the University.

Mr Macdonald announced the appointment of Professor Bob Martin (pictured here) as the first full-time Director of PIIC, and the establishment of an Office for Rural Greenhouse Gas Studies within the UNE-based Centre.
Speaking during yesterday’s event, The Vice-Chancellor of UNE, Professor Alan Pettigrew, and the Director-General of the Department of Primary Industries, Dr Richard Sheldrake, both emphasised – and celebrated – the truly collaborative nature of PIIC.

Dr Sheldrake predicted that the newly-announced Office would be “the powerhouse for greenhouse gas studies throughout Australia”, adding that “our partnership with an organisation like UNE makes this possible”. Professor Pettigrew highlighted the capacity of PIIC to call on the expertise of people from a wide range of disciplines. “It’s a great testament to the idea of collaborative research into real-world problems,” he said.

The event was chaired by the Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly and Member for Northern Tablelands, Richard Torbay. Mr Torbay said the initiatives being announced came at a time when there was “a constructive debate occurring in rural areas” about agricultural practice in the face of climate change. “The opportunities are there,” he said.

In announcing the appointment of a Director for PIIC, Mr Macdonald said Professor Martin – who is also the Director of DPI’s Tamworth Agricultural Institute – was “widely acknowledged as an expert in farming systems research, with more than 35 years’ experience building project teams in Australia and overseas”.

“This stronger link between UNE and DPI will allow leading scientists from the two organisations to work together to develop robust solutions to major problems facing primary industries in north-west NSW,” the Minister said. (Professor Martin, speaking after the event, pointed out that DPI brought to the Centre “a very strong applied research background and a widespread network of extension staff”, while UNE brought its strengths in pure research and teaching.)

While launching the Office for Rural Greenhouse Gas Studies, Mr Macdonald released a discussion paper titled “Climate change research priorities for NSW primary industries”. “The discussion paper is designed to provide advice on research priorities to help primary producers reduce future carbon emissions as well as adapt to any climate variation in which they may have to operate,” he said.

The Minister’s speech marked the opening of a two-day PIIC Symposium at UNE’s Drummond and Smith College featuring reports on recently-completed, current, and proposed projects. Attending the symposium are about 50 researchers from DPI and UNE as well as the Chief Executive Officers of the UNE-based Cooperative Research Centres for the sheep, beef and poultry industries and the Director of the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit. This is the first annual symposium for PIIC, which was launched two years ago. The position of PIIC Director is jointly funded by DPI and UNE, and the Centre has external funding for current projects of more than $3.5 million.

Nisha Aravind is studying the addition of various healthy ingredients such as inulin to reduce the glycaemic index of pasta at Tamworth Agricultural Institute. Her research is supported by a Primary Industries Innovation Centre (PIIC) PhD Scholarship and her supervisors are Dr Mike Sissons (NSW DPI) and Dr Chris Fellows (UNE).

There is growing awareness of the beneficial effects of a healthy diet on the quality of life and many initiatives have been taken by scientists around the globe to develop food products with special health-enhancing qualities. Food additives dubbed ‘nutraceuticals’ with desirable functional characteristics can be incorporated into basic foods without sacrificing taste, mouth-feel, or cooking properties.

Inulins are polysaccharides and belong to a class of carbohydrates known as fructans. They are produced by many types of plants but the most commonly used source for extraction of inulin on a commercial basis is from chicory (Cichorium intybus) roots. Inulin can be used to replace sugar, fat and flour but contains a third to a quarter of the food energy of sugar or other carbohydrates and a sixth to a ninth of the food energy of fat. After ingestion inulin is not broken down by the human digestive system. This makes it effective in decreasing the glycaemic index, a measure of the rise in blood sugar following the ingestion of foods containing carbohydrates. Inulin has the potential to reduce the glycaemic index of pasta without compromising product quality or consumer preference. Ingestion of inulin also results in a significant increase of beneficial bacteria in the colon at the expense of less beneficial bacteria. It has also been shown to reduce lipid levels.

Nisha is analysing the effect on the taste, quality, and beneficial properties of pasta after the addition of different levels of inulin to the semolina. She has subjected pasta enriched with 2.5,5, 7.5, 10 and 20 % inulin to both instrumental and sensory analysis to obtain quantitative and qualitative data and determined the effect of inulin addition on the cooking properties, texture and in vitro digestibility of durum wheat pasta. Increasing levels of inulin in the pasta caused a gradual decrease in swelling index, firmness and colour. Inulin did not affect the stickiness of the pasta or the acceptability for human consumption. Inclusion of up to 5% of inulin in the pasta reduced the rate of starch digestion. Above 5% inulin, starch digestion increased and at 20% inulin, the starch digestion was greater than the nil inulin control. Nisha hypothesises that up to 5% inulin encapsulates the starch granules in a protective coat. Above this level inulin results in a breakdown of the starch-protein continuum leading to increased enzymic activity and release of sugars.

Contact: Ms Nisha Aravind nisha.aravind@dpi.nsw.gov.au

Anne started work in February on her GRDC funded post-graduate studies with PIIC. She will study the effects of soil amendments on cropping soils in the Central West of NSW. Anne’s supervisors are Assoc. Prof. Heiko Daniel, Dr Kathy King and Prof. Bob Martin.

Anne and husband Ray own a 1,420-hectare property “Magomadine”, 24 kilometres east of Coonamble, where they decided to go no-till farming after witnessing the damage done to soil by cultivation during the 1994 drought.

The focus of Anne’s studies is to understand why, after 12 years of no-till farming, soil biological tests are showing low levels of activity. Similar results have been reported in Queensland.

Anne intends to collect data on soil physical, chemical and biological activity on the soils of a range of farms in the Central West of NSW. Anne is a member of the Central West Conservation Farmers’ Association (CWCFA) and is encouraging members to be part of the study. The study will involve around 20 paired comparisons between farmed and natural systems. This will enable her to determine the changes that have occurred since clearing and which systems are the most resilient or beneficial to retaining healthy soil biological activity.

Anne will also establish a field experiment on ‘Magomadine’ to determine if addition of soil amendments can improve the biological activity in the no-tillage system. One of the problems in a sub-tropical climate is that crop residues, composts and manures, the food for soil biota, disappear rapidly. So once the food is depleted we would expect biological activity to decline.

One possibility to enhance and prolong the biological activity is to convert some of the organic additions to biochar. Biochar is porous with large surface area and is thought to provide a place for soil microbes to live. Biochar is also an option for long-term sequestration of carbon. Other ‘enhancers’ that Anne is considering include zeolite (to capture and reduce soil nutrient losses). Anne is also going to include a wild card, blue metal dust from the quarry on Magomadine. No one knows what blue metal dust actually does but why not give it a go?

Anne is a very focussed mature-age student. She is a UNE science graduate and taught school to supplement the farm income from 1990-2000. The increased income from the no-tillage venture eventually allowed Anne to give up teaching.

With all that spare time on her hands Anne went back to study and completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in Agriculture as well as a Graduate Diploma with Charles Sturt University. This motivated Anne to further her studies to understand more about the soil biological processes operating in the farming system.

“I’d like to look at the theory that we need to put good organisms including fungi, bacteria, protozoa, nematodes and micro-arthropods back into the soil because some farming practices damage them. By doing that we should be able to lower nitrate levels on which weeds depend and increase ammonium levels which benefit crop production.”

Anne’s husband Ray is an essential part of the team and often the one left to work out how put theory into practice. This guarantees a built-in reality check. We wish Anne (and Ray) all the best in this exciting new project.