Legume Inoculants

It’s that time of year to start thinking about inoculants for your legumes.  Incoculating legumes with rhizobia can increase yield, nitrogen fixation and post crop soil nitrate levels.  Look at the picture to the (left) of a paddock in the Vic Mallee last season, you can easily see parts that weren’t inoculated.  Anyone will tell you it’s a great return on your investment.

Need more convincing? Here’s a fact sheet  and handbook with the latest industry information on legume inoculation from the Grains Research and Development Corporation.  Inoculants come in three forms– Peat, Liquid Vial and Granules.  Peat is the most commonly applied inoculant and involves mixing the peat inoculant with water and creating a ‘slurry’.  This is then applied onto the seed for sowing within 24 hours.  Secondly the liquid vials (EasyRhiz) are a newer technology enabling the inoculant to be applied onto the seed without the hassle of creating a peat slurry.  These vials are only 30mls and are mixed with water to ensure a good coverage on the seed.  Once the seed is coated via liquid inoculant it should be planted within 5 hours.  Finally granules come into their own when people are looking to dry sow.  They are applied at a rate of 10kg/ha and they can be sown anytime, even dry. Crop Smart is stocking all three types of inoculant to ensure we’ve got every situation covered. Keep an eye out for some local demonstrations of how to apply these inoculants prior to sowing.