Faba beans were investigated as part of the Optimising Irrigated Grains research programme over three years. With higher yield potentials under irrigated cropping systems, the small drops in plant populations have a “magnifying” effect on grain yield loss (loss of approx. 1.5t/ha when dropping from 20 to 10 plants/m2). In contrast, moving from 20-30 plants/m2 increased yield by 0.5t/ha and whilst higher populations were rarely higher yielding, the risk of poorer yield performance was very slight in comparison to populations dropping below the optimum.

Chickpeas were investigated as part of the Optimising Irrigated Grains research programme over three years. Growing chickpeas under irrigation has demonstrated that there are yield penalties for crops that have reduced biomass and those subject to transient water logging. With early pod set determined by temperature (>15 degree C) and grain fill impacted by high temperatures later in spring, there is a window of opportunity for maximising yield by taking advantage of higher biomass promoted by higher seeding rates or earlier sowing