LAST year, agronomist and grower Russell Wood laid out a side-by-side trial to compare faba bean and chickpea production on his property near Chinchilla.
He wanted to know if faba bean, a comparatively new crop for the north, was a competitive option for his winter cropping program.
"The season started well and we planted 75 hectares to faba bean following good rain in late March last year," Mr Wood said.
"The crop responded well to the 60 or 70 centimetres of stored moisture in the profile, but unfortunately there was no in-crop rain until August, after the crop had set its pods."
The season was hard on both crops, and the final yields reflected the dry growing conditions. The chickpea section of the trial, also 75ha, did benefit from the late-season rain and achieved an average yield of 1.6 tonnes/ha, while faba bean yield was lower than expected at 1.2t/ha.
"Being a later planted crop, the chickpeas were able to respond to the rain that fell during the flowering and early podding stage.
"The faba beans simply ran out of water."
Both crops required very similar inputs, including one in-crop insecticide spray to control helicoverpa.
Mr Wood said the management of helicoverpa in faba bean did need adjusting as growers gained more experience with the crop.
"It looks like we need to use a lower threshold for heliothis in faba bean because of the significant pod and grain damage they cause," he said.
"They probably need to be treated earlier than in chickpea."
Mr Wood noticed a difference in weed management between the two crops, with the registered residual herbicide he used in the faba bean block not providing sufficient control of fleabane and milk thistle.
"I think there is a need to fine-tune the weed management in faba bean,
but at the moment there are limited registered options for these difficult weeds."
One upside to the dry growing conditions last year was the saving on fungicide costs, with neither crops requiring any treatments.
The big downside, however, was that neither crop produced a high level of residual nitrogen.
Mr Wood says he believes this is a reflection of the small crop size.
Soil tests did not show any significant difference in soil nitrogen between the two crops.
"The final step in the trial will be to assess the wheat crop from the trial paddock this season.
"At this stage I don't expect to see any big difference, but it is worth making the yield comparison.
"We had excellent rain in late November and through December, and are going into this winter season with good stored soil moisture."
This year Mr Wood has taken up the opportunity of an area contract for his whole winter pulse crop and will only be planting chickpeas.
"At $600/tonne, chickpea contracts are a good proposition, and so we are going with the crop we are most confident to grow.
"Although last year didn't favour faba bean and I was disappointed with the yield, there is a place for faba bean as another winter pulse option for the northern region.
"In some years it will be the best option, so it is important that we gain experience and fine-tune the weed and pest management."
Growers interested in including a winter pulse in their crop rotation are invited to register for faba bean and chickpea best management practice training courses in March and April. Faba bean courses will be held in Narrabri and Dalby on March 24-25 and March 31 to April 1 respectively.
A chickpea course is set for Goondiwindi on April 21-22.