Derrick Jan Moot

• Data sharing applications have become a functional necessity to advance smart farming, to assist routine farm management strategies and for environmental compliance. • An analysis of the database status revealed that 61% of the uploaded datasets are from unpublished sources; of this subset, the majority was collected onfarm (37%), followed by technical reports (30%). • AgYield users experience revealed that data providers from education and technical sectors were comfortable with data sharing when it is framed as contributing to mutual benefit, assisting innovation and communities and supporting the wider agri‑sector to thrive. • Commercial partners and other data providers want data access and the efficiency of integrated systems; however, some remain cautious of losing competitive advantage, privacy, data control and data sovereignty. • Strategies to foster sharing include the exclusion of metadata perceived as sensitive by companies’ interests, particularly cultivar details

Phosphorus (P) is a key nutrient recommended for optimal nitrogen fixation by legumes in New Zealand pastoral systems. However, few field studies have examined the response of legume monocultures to soil P levels. This research aimed to quantify how phosphorus affects lucerne growth and development in an irrigated cut and carry system with a starting Olsen P of 9 mg/L. A randomized complete block design with five superphosphate treatments (0, 50, 100, 200, 400 kg/ha/y) and four replicates was established within a stand of ‘Kaituna’ lucerne. All herbage was cut-and-carried to ensure no nutrient transfer or return from livestock. Lucerne stem height and annual yields (12000–20000 kg DM/ha) were not different among treatments over four years even when the Olsen P in the Control declined to ~3 mg/L in the top 150 mm. Herbage phosphorus use efficiency was consistently highest in the 50 kg superphosphate/ha treatment with eight times the quantity of applied phosphorus extracted from the soil profile. The 400 kg superphosphate/ha treatment was the only P application rate that was sufficient to fully replace P removed in herbage. These findings suggest lucerne growth was not limited at Olsen P levels below current recommendations, which suggests lucerne was acquiring P below the measured depth and/or accessing P not measured by the Olsen P test.

In Year 4 of Lincoln University’s Regenerative Agriculture Dryland Experiment, the Regenerative sheep production system of multispecies forages and short-duration, high-density rotational grazing produced 130 kg/ha less liveweight than the Conventional system of simpler forages and longer-duration, lower-density grazing. Both systems produced the same amount of total dry matter (9.93 t/ha), but the Regenerative system produced less legume dry matter (3.43 versus 5.09 t/ha), crude protein (1.85 versus 2.24 t/ha) and metabolisable energy (111 versus 119 GJ/ha). The two levels of soil Olsen P (10–15 and 20–25 mg/kg) had no influence on the farm system effect. These results demonstrate that the greater legume content for the Conventional system was the most important factor to influence liveweight gain in this dryland environment.

Disentangling genotype × environment (G×E) controls of flowering time requires phenotypes that link molecular regulation, developmental physiology and environment. Here, we integrated time-resolved measurements of apical development, final leaf number (FLN), and expression of the flowering-time genes VRN1, VRN2 and VRN3 across contrasting temperature and photoperiod regimes in six wheat genotypes spanning a wide range of developmental sensitivities. By combining controlled-environment phenotyping with concurrent gene-expression profiling, we show that environmentally driven variation in FLN is coherently explained by shifts in the timing of key apical transitions and associated VRN gene-expression dynamics. These integrated datasets were used to parameterise and interrogate the Cereal Anthesis Molecular Phenology (CAMP) model, enabling direct comparison between observed foliar gene-expression time courses and modelled gene activity. While overall developmental responses were well captured by the model, systematic differences between observed and modelled gene-expression patterns highlight the importance of distinguishing foliar expression from apical regulatory activity, as well as differences in temporal scaling. Building on this framework, we present a phenotyping protocol based on FLN responses to defined temperature and photoperiod treatments that delivers unconfounded developmental phenotypes explicitly linked to underlying genetic regulation.

Pastoral farming is a major land use in New Zealand's Northland region, with 3,171 farm holdings and a total area of 637,500 hectares in 2022. The region's pasture grasses include temperate (C3) and subtropical and tropical (C4) grasses which support dairy, and sheep and beef production from grazing. In lowland areas, C3 and some annual C4 grasses are prevalent where cultivation occurs, while perennial C4 grasses dominate areas with low soil fertility and summer dry conditions. Grass‐based pasture growth rates (kg dry matter/ha/day) from published and unpublished sources were assembled into the AgYields database. Among the resident and sown grasses tested in Kaitaia, Kaikohe, Whangarei and Dargaville, perennial ryegrass represented ∼60% of the total data points. Dominant kikuyu pastures represented 23% and the remaining species represented 17%. Rates of growth ranged from 5 to 120 kg DM/ha/day, being lowest in late autumn‐winter and highest in early summer. Data were compared and agronomic traits (i.e. drought tolerance, biomass production and tillering) are discussed to assess species suitability for the Northland environment. The medium‐term prospect suggests an urgent need to improve research into management of cocksfoot and tall fescue‐based pastures to provide viable alternatives to overcome the decreasing persistence of perennial ryegrass.

This experiment determined if the removal of basal buds by grazing in autumn/winter affected the spring growth or development of lucerne. Established at Iversen Field Lincoln University, New Zealand and the experiment ran from the 1st of June 2024 to 1st of October 2024 (122 d). Four grazing dates (1st of June, 3rd of July, 17th of July, and the 1st of August) were were applied by mob stocking mixed age Coopworth ewes to simulate a “clean-up” winter graze. The start of rapid stem extension in spring occurred at a photoperiod of 10.8 (± 0.2) hours for all treatments. However, shoot biomass differed at each harvest until the 3rd of September. Taproot yield was highest in crops grazed on the 1st of June (3300±124 kg DM/ha) and lowest (1100±124) kg DM/ha) in the latest (1st of August) grazing date at the final harvest on the 1st of October. Results suggested that spring shoot biomass production was unaffected by winter grazing date. However, the ~1000 kg DM/ha lower root yield for lucerne grazed on 1st August meant the crop would require a longer period of autumn recovery to recharge reserves to maintain stand persistence.

Sheep liveweight and dry matter (DM) production from Regenerative and Conventional dryland systems under two levels of soil fertility (Olsen P 20-25 and 10 mg/kg) were measured in Year 3 (July 2023-June 2024) of an on-going experiment at Lincoln University. The Regenerative system comprised multispecies pastures and winter forage crops, and short-duration, high-density rotational stocking at 12.9 ewes/ha. The Conventionalsystem had lucerne and cocksfoot/sub clover pastures, annual ryegrass as the winter forage crop, and longerduration, lower-density rotational stocking at the same stocking rate. There were no effects of soil fertility. Sheep liveweight production was 131 kg/ha (23%) less for Regenerative than Conventional (496 vs. 627 kg/ha), but DM production was 1,550 kg/ha (22%) greater (8,490 vs. 6,940 kg/ha) with lower crude protein (13% vs. 19%), lower metabolisable energy (9.5 vs. 10.0 MJ/kg DM) and higher neutral detergent fibre (51% vs. 40%). This contributed to lower liveweight gains of priority lambs compared ith the legume dominant Conventional system.

Phosphorus (P) is a key nutrient recommended for optimal nitrogen fixation by legumes in New Zealand pastoral systems. However, few field studies have examined the response of legume monocultures to soil P levels. This experiment measured lucerne yield under grazing in the field when grown under two P fertiliser regimes for the first three years of the dryland farmlet experiment at Lincoln University. The ‘High’ phosphorus treatment aimed for an Olsen P of ~20 compared with ~10 for the ‘Low’ treatment. Lucerne shoot biomass showed no effect of treatment at any time. This was consistent with no differences observed for lucerne mean daily growth rates and canopy light interception. Additionally linear regression analysis showed no relationship (R2 = 0.01) between soil Olsen Pand any of the measured variables. These results suggest that the critical Olsen P may be <10 for dryland lucerne monocultures measured to a soil depth of 75 mm, which is consistent with previous recommendations.

Summary: Disentangling genotype × environment (G×E) effects is critical to understand the performance of wheat across different environments. A framework for doing this was previously presented in a model that integrated knowledge of crop physiology and the Vrn gene feedback loop to explain and predict the time of anthesis. The aims of this study were: 1) provide an updated description of the Cereal Anthesis Molecular Phenology (CAMP) model; 2) to verify the model’s assumptions regarding the relationship between Vrn gene expression and the timing of phenological stages in a set of diverse genotypes and environments; 3) to use the CAMP model to establish a phenotyping strategy for use in genetic studies and model parameterisation. Six wheat genotypes with a range of cool temperature and photoperiod sensitivities were evaluated. Apical development, final leaf number (FLN) and temporal expression of Vrn1, Vrn2 and Vrn3 were compared with model predictions. There was a clear relationship between FLN responses to cool temperature and photoperiod, the timing of phenological events and the patterns of Vrn gene expression for all genotypes. There was general agreement between the temporal patterns of foliar gene expression observed with those assumed by CAMP, but some obvious discrepancies. These may be related to differences between gene expression in foliar (observed) and apical (assumed by the model) parts of the plant, or differences in the way observed and modelled gene expression are scaled. Overall, the model described all the observed development responses to environment and provides a basis for building quantitative predictions of field-based development from genotypic and environmental data. A protocol is presented for phenotyping wheat using FLN measured in specific combinations of temperature and photoperiod. It allows easy and unconfounded measure of key developmental phenotypes that clearly relate to the genetic make-up of the plants and underlying gene expression profiles.