Audit of the Pasture Variety Trial Network 2013 - 2015

Summary

​The PVTN program is based on the collection and collation of data over a three year period (2013-2015) from a series of independent trials established and managed by MLA and data generated from various seed company trials which are registered with the PVTN program.

Underpinning the quality and continuity of the data collected from the respective trials sites is the use of a standard PVTN trial protocol.  To ensure that there is compliance to the use of the standard PVTN trial protocol an independent audit program was undertaken by an independent auditor (Pasture First Ltd) using audit criteria developed for the PVTN trials. 
From 2013 - 2015, over two hundred individual trial audits were conducted on various trials covering thirty seven individual locations. Trials were located in the majority of the key temperate pasture growing regions of Australia. Audits were conducted on trials containing the following pasture species: Perennial Ryegrass, Italian Ryegrass, Annual Ryegrass, Cocksfoot, Tall Fescue, Phalaris, Oats, Subterranean clover, and Lucerne. 

Each trial site was audited by following the MLA PVTN Trial Compliance Audit Report form. Where a trial did not acceptably comply with the audit criteria a Trial Non Compliance Audit Report was filled out detailing the non-compliance problem and the corrective actions required to bring the trial back into line.

Only a small number of trials failed the audit standards and were deemed unacceptable to continue. These included two in 2013, one in 2014 and one in 2015. In all but one case, the reasons for the trials failing the audit were because of unforeseen circumstances, rather than poor trial management.