For the first time in more than 40 years, NSW Government's Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) scientists are collaborating on a national program to identify elite chickpea rhizobia inoculant strains, helping farmers reduce synthetic nitrogen fertiliser use in crops.
Chickpeas rely on soil bacteria called rhizobia which benefit the plant by fixing atmospheric nitrogen gas into forms the plant can use to grow.
This nitrogen can then be returned to the soil after harvest and made available for subsequent crops, reducing the need for added fertiliser.
Chickpea rhizobia do not naturally occur in Australian soils, so in paddocks with little chickpea cropping history, rhizobia must be introduced using an inoculant.
The current strain for chickpea Rhizobium has not been renewed since the 1970s.
The study is part of a collaborative national Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) funded investment started in 2023 on rhizobia research to improve the nitrogen fixation of pulses for the Australian broadacre cropping industry.
The strains being tested by NSW DPIRD scientists, and collaborators could also potentially expand the area sown to chickpea in NSW, with chickpea currently predominantly grown in northern NSW.
With NSW being the dominant state for chickpea production, the microbiology team at the NSW DPIRD Elizabeth McCarthur Agricultural Institute (EMAI) and the Northern Cropping Team at the NSW DPIRD Tamworth Agricultural Institute (TAI) are key partners in this project.
The team at EMAI will help characterise the rhizobia strains to assess traits desirable for manufacturing and undertake quality assurance for inoculants for the national project.
The team at TAI will then test these strains in field studies at Tamworth, Breeza, and Narrabri, to evaluate them in the GRDC Northern growing region.
The trials will also assess management practices that improve nodulation success, such as effects of herbicides, timing of sowing, and inoculation methods.
Chickpea production in NSW reached a record high of $1.1 billion dollars in gross value of production (GVP) last financial year, accounting for around 86% of total NSW pulse exports by value.
This project is a collaboration between NSW DPIRD, South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), Adelaide University, Murdoch University, and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries.
For more information, visit the GRDC website.
NSW Minister for Agriculture Tara Moriarty said:
"This exciting research to find elite strains of chickpea rhizobia, which has not been attempted for more than four decades, will greatly benefit chickpea growers throughout New South Wales.
"NSW DPIRD's contribution to identify new strains will help improve the sustainability of this crop, which many of our farmers tap into for its economic value and for its ability to fix nitrogen into the soil for subsequent crops in their rotations.
"New strains will also potentially allow our farmers to grow chickpea in areas where they could not before.
"This research will have another benefit in helping to reduce the need for inorganic fertilisers at a time when instability of supply is being felt globally."
