A PROJECT looking into the potential to develop a dryland rice-growing industry in the wet tropics of northern Australia has moved into the field test stage at the Central Queensland University at Rockhampton.
After three years of glasshouse studies, field trials grown in the past season at Alton Downs near Rockhampton have shown there is commercial potential for growing dryland rice in the wet season in northern farming zones such as Central and North Queensland.
Some varieties recorded yields of 6 to 8 tonnes a hectare under dryland conditions, relying solely on rainfall.
The project is being run under a partnership between the university and Australian Agricultural Technologies (AAT), which owns the rice germplasm being used in the trials.
AAT has contracted the university to study a number of its long-season and short-season cultivars to determine which might have the best yield potential per megalitre of water.
AAT chief executive officer Daryl Young said the work was on track for the commercial release of varieties by the end of 2014.
"At this point our initial trials have shown we have the capacity to produce in excess of 2t/megalitre of water, which is double what a paddy rice will do," he said.
"Paddy rice in Australia requires 15 to 18 megalitres of water to grow 15t.
"The target has always been to grow a tonne to the megalitre in a paddy rice situation. Even though they are high yields, their water usage is high.
"So we are talking of growing in excess of 2t to the megalitre (dryland rice)."
Mr Young said with yield potential and water-use efficiencies now established, the next step was to determine the quality of the rice produced and its place in multiple markets.
"What we have grown this year we will send to the Philippines to the rice research institute for testing for quality," he said.
"From that we will draw conclusions on what lines we will release or commercialise.
"It has big potential but is a long way from realising that from a commercial point of view."
CQ University research fellow Dr Surya Bhattarai said the focus of the research was on field types of rice that showed the capacity to adapt to fluctuating soil-moisture environments.
"Most lowland (irrigated) rice doesn't adapt to dryland, but some field types can adapt to wetting and drying cycles, which makes them possible to grow in the rainy season," he said.
"At the moment the yields are looking attractive.
"Growers are trying it on large plots of a few hectares, so we are bulking the seed this year to extend the cropping area here, and are looking at the possibility of going further north.
"Rockhampton this year was reasonably wet. But we don't know how many years it will be like this, so we are going further north into the wet tropics where it is more predictable."
Dryland rice: grain of interest
- Dryland rice can only be grown in cropping zones that receive at least 500 to 600 millimetres of rainfall a year
- It can be grown under similar agronomic principles to other mainstream crops and on undulating country without the need for laser levelling
- AAT's chief executive officer Daryl Young says it is a crop that will fit into normal cropping rotations and be produced with the same equipment
- "As far as a grower is concerned, if they are growing current crops, they are in a position to grow dryland rice," Mr Young said. "The fundamental difference is on the processing side. With rice, to bring it into a market commodity you have to dehull it, so there is some processing required."