Browsing by Author "Kingston, G"

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An investigation of factors affecting ash in first expressed juice in the Rocky Point mill area
(BSES, 1981) Kingston, G
Because of a deep concern at the level of ash in Rocky Point sugars and the lack of information on inorganic composition of juices entering the factory the management of W H Heck and Sons requested BSES to undertake an investigation in 1979 which might assist in identification of factors which contribute to the ash problem at Rocky Point. Accordingly a project was planned to allow identification of the major factors contributing to the ash loading in first expressed juice and to determine whether the ash levels in juice could be related to yield parameters affecting cane growers in the mill area.
Biomass accumulation in sugarcane : final report 79/9028
(1984) Kingston, G; Ham, GJ; Ridge, DR; Leverington, KC
Growth analysis experiments were conducted at Ayr and Bundaberg from 1979 to 1982 to study biomass accumulation in plant and ratoon crops of sugarcane. Crops were planted and ratooned in March, June, September and December, and harvested at 6, 9, 12 and 15 months of age. Data were acquired for yields of total fresh and dry matter, in addition to yields of the following vegetative components: dry leaf, green leaf, tops and stalks. Fibre analyses were determined on all components, while glucose, fructose and sucrose % were also determined in the latter three components. It was shown that yield of total dry matter increased with age at harvest for all months of crop initiation. Potential for dry matter accumulation was closely associated with intercepted solar radiation. Growth for three months was ranked December-March > March-June > September-December > June-September. These rankings represented the interaction of crop growth stage with solar radition. The proportion of total dry matter allocated to soluble and structural carbohydrate was shown to be dependent on variety as well as an interaction between age at harvest and month of harvest. Canes older than nine months of age, harvested between June and December, had established a plateau type equilibrium between the proportion of total dry matter in soluble and structural carbohydrate. Good prospects existed for forward extension of the crushing season to March for ethanol production based on 15 month old cane. Models were developed to describe the growth of yield components of the biomass in relation to intercepted solar radition, month of crop initiation, age at harvest and crop class.
Consequences of future management options for the Bremerhaven drainage system.
(1991) Kingston, G
The following questions were referred to BSES by the Woongoolba Flood Mitigation Advisory Committee: (1) The possible short and long-term effect on all classes of land of lowering the watertable in the Bremerhaven System. (2) The possible effect of the continued use of a designated part of the system for water exchange for the existing prawn farm. These questions will be answered in relation to data acquired in the area of the Bremerhaven System during the Rocky Point Watertable Study from September 1982 to July 1984, and on the basis of sill height determinations at Bremerhaven on 28\8\91 and 19\9\91.
Development of criteria for draining shallow watertables in the Isis irrigation area
(1993) Kingston, G
This project was proposed to the Sugar Research Council because qualitative data suggested a significant problem with waterlogging and salinity in hydromorphic sedimentary soils in the Bundaberg to Maryborough region. Also there were no quantitative data to indicate elevation of watertables in areas of hazard, nor were there any criteria to determine an approach to management of shallow watertables in the region.
Final Report SRDC Project BS98S Factors Affecting the Residual Value of Lime
(1996) Kingston, G; Aitken, RL
Project was initiated to determine the relative significance of soil acidity and soil calcium status for predicting response of sugarcane to lime in southern Queensland, where recommendations developed for tropical soils had not been tested previously. Understand the influence of soil properties on the residual value of lime. Study the negative interaction between cane yield response to lime and ccs. Develop and extend improved management guidelines for the necessity and frequency of lime applications.
Final report SRDC Project CLW009 Improving yield and ccs in sugarcane through the application of silicon based amendments
(2003) Berthelsen, S; Noble, AD; Kingston, G; Hurney, A; Rudd, A; Garside, A
Under high leaching environments common to the wet tropics, soils undergo significant weathering, which, when combined with accelerated chemical and physical degradation due to soil perturbation and crop removal, results in increased soil acidification and dissolution of the alumino-silicate clay minerals (de-silication). The consequences are both a loss of plant available Si through leaching and a decline in cation exchange capacity and hence an inability to retain essential plant nutrients. The current project has highlighted that large areas of cane-growing soils in North Queensland have sub-optimal levels of plant-available Si. Based on the current soil test, some 85% of soils that were evaluated in the six mill areas on the wet tropical coast have sub-optimal to marginal levels of available Si. Hence the implications of silicon deficiency for substantial areas under sugarcane production, and therefore the benefit of prophylactic applications of silicate materials may have a significant impact of productivity. One of the primary objectives of this study was to quantify responses in cane yield and ccs to Si application. To address this objective, three field trials were established in Bundaberg, Innisfail and Mossman, using a range of application rates of calcium silicate slag. At Innisfail, over the 2 years of the trial, a rate of 9t/ha Ca-silicate gave a 32% increase in total cane yield (189 t/ha) when compared to the control treatment (128 t/ha). At Mossman, a rate of 12 t/ha gave a 35% total yield increase (161 t/ha) compared to the control (105 t/ha) over the same period. At Bundaberg, over a crop cycle of 3 years, the 12 t/ha rate of Ca-silicate resulted in a 23 % increase (278 t/ha) compared to the control (213 t/ha). The results clearly indicate that Si should be treated as an integral part of any fertilizer strategy associated with cane production on these soils.
Ratooning and ratoon management in overseas cane-sugar industries
(2003) Kingston, G
Travel was undertaken to Florida, Louisiana, Brazil and Argentina in March-April 1994 and to southern Africa in October 1994. I assessed the environments and management of production systems in relation to productivity and length of the crop cycle. This followed the perception that crop cycles in Australia were much shorter than in some foreign sugar industries.Many of the areas visited have been growing cane for as long as, or longer than, some districts in the Australian industry. In most cases, cane was grown as a monoculture, where succession rather than rotation or fallow-planting systems were the norm. Large areas of the Brazilian industry in S?o Paulo state were an exception in that soybeans or other legumes were used in a rotation; a rotation with rice and vegetables was also applied to large sections of the industry in Florida. However, I gained the impression that the monoculture system was not seen as a major impediment (in 1994) to continued productivity and length of the crop cycle, particularly in Africa.Longest ratoon cycles (> 12 years) were achieved in southern African production systems still employing manual harvest systems on clay to clay-loam textured soils and in some cases still relying heavily on the cultivar NCo376. Similarly, long crop cycles have also been achieved in Florida in the warmer areas of very high fertility soil close to Lake Okeechobee. This result has also been achieved with manual harvests.In most industries, the crop cycle varies from 4 to 8 years, with increasing tendency to shorter cycles with increased mechanisation of harvest and increased weight of in-field transport vehicles that cause damage to stools and compact soil.I conclude that the Australian industry has maximum exposure to the adverse effects of mechanised harvest (stool damage from the harvester) and damage to stool and soil from transport traffic. Our soils tend to be of lower clay content than most other sugar industries. This influences cation exchange capacity and, therefore, nutrient requirement. This factor also influences available water capacity of soils. Fertility and moisture characteristics combine to place greater pressure on farm managers for timeliness and effectiveness of operations. Our industry also has the greatest exposure to impact from yield-reducing soil-insect populations.I recommend that the Australian sugar industry moves towards a harvest/transport system that minimises physical damage to the cane stool, while minimising soil compaction. These goals might be achieved by adopting a production system that keeps wheels in the centre of the interspace and as far as possible from the cane stool. Such a system would require expanding row spacing from about 1.5 m to at least 1.8 m in combination with a strategy to avoid the inevitable loss of cane yield that occurs if single rows of cane are wider than 1.65 m. The harvest strategy should also include optimisation of base-cutter height and speed for forward speed of the machine to minimise shattering and removal of stool.Our production strategies should also continue to focus on improvements to weed control, removal of constraints from nutrition, water management, and pest and disease management.
Regional adoption of alternative harvester configurations for sustainable harvesting efficiency : SRDC Final report BSS270
(2008) Whiteing, C; Kingston, G
The project aimed to improve harvester efficiency in a range of crops sizes and conditions by:
Short and long term impacts of green cane trash blanketing on soil fertility
(2005) Thorburn, P; Kingston, G
In the last three decades, there has been a widespread adoption of green cane harvesting-trash blanketing (GCTB) in the Australian sugarcane industry, generally motivated by the practical advantages (e.g. weed control, easier harvesting in wet times, etc.) associated with the GCTB farming system. While many studies have been conducted on the impact of trash blanketing on issues such as yield, soil erosion and soil physical properties, surprisingly little is known about the fate of nutrients in trash (whether burnt or retained), the decomposition of trash blankets, or impacts of GCTB on soil fertility and hence fertiliser management. This project aimed to provide information on these issues and so determine if canegrowers need to change their nutrient management strategies when they switch from burnt cane harvesting to a GCTB system. Principal findings from this project are: • Burning trash reduces trash dry matter by 70 % (pre-harvest burn) to 95 % (pre- and postharvest burn), and the loss of nutrients when trash is burnt is strongly related to the loss of dry matter. Thus GCTB can substantially increase organic matter and nutrient retention. • Rainfall will quickly leach some nutrients, especially potassium (K), from freshly harvested trash into the soil. • Trash decomposes slower than expected from its biochemical composition, with up to 10% of trash deposited on the soil after harvest still present one year later. However, the decomposition of trash can be accurately predicted across soils types and climates from sugarcane-specific residue decomposition models. • Trash blanketing, for up to 17 years, increases soil organic carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations in the top 50-100 mm of soil, but has negligible impact on concentrations of other nutrients in the soil. • The presence of trash blankets increases denitrification by 20 % on waterlogged, heavy soils in the period immediately following applications of N fertiliser. Denitrification in this situation could be accurately modelled, and this modelling provided the first test of the denitrification sub-model in The Agricultural Productions Systems Simulator (APSIM). • K from trash is plant-available, so fertiliser and trash K should have similar value as nutrients. However, there was not a significant yield response to K from trash in either pot or field experiments, possibly due to variability in the results. Thus it is not clear that recommendations of K management in trash-blanketed crops should differ from those for burnt crops. • Simulation studies of N dynamics in GCTB systems suggest that: o There may be a negative, short-term impact of trash blanketing on sugarcane yields for at least 5 years after initiating GCTB. This is due to the immobilisation of N by the decomposing trash. During this time it is important that N applications not be reduced below those used when trash was burnt. Following that time; o N fertiliser applications to ratoon crops in GCTB systems should be maintained at rates appropriate for burnt systems, despite N in trash being recycled in the GCTB 2 SUGAR RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION FINALREPORT - PROJECT NO. CTA022 system. The additional N from trash is immobilised by decomposing trash blankets or lost to the environment. o In plant crops, N fertiliser applications in GCTB systems could be reduced to half that recommended for burnt systems. o Average environmental losses of N, from both denitrification and leaching, are likely to be greater from GCTB systems at all rates of N fertiliser (i.e. less than, equal to or greater than optimal rates) so particular caution should be taken to avoid overapplication of N in GCTB systems. During the project, information was disseminated through the industry in numerous presentations given at field days, shed meetings, Mill Supplier Committee meetings, CRCSugar meetings (at which BSES extension officers were present), ASSCT, etc. In addition, a series of workshops was run in collaboration with CRC-Sugar on the impact of trash blanketing on soil fertility and fertiliser management. The workshops were aimed at BSES, productivity board and fertiliser company advisers, and conducted using a participatory approach to information exchange, based on adult learning principles. 3
Sustaining un-burnt production systems in cool wet environments : SRDC Final report BSS168
(2002) Kingston, G; Davis, RJ; Parsons, D; Chapman, FL; Aitken, RL; Nielsen, PJ
This project was initiated because the Green Cane Trash Blanket (GCTB) system had been rapidly adopted within tropical districts of the Queensland sugar industry between 1984 and 1990, yet there was minimal adoption in the cool and humid districts in northern NSW. Broad adoption in the tropics was interpreted by the community as a signal that the GCTB system was suitable for the whole of the Australian sugar industry; this was particularly the case in northern NSW where there is a high reliance on the tourist industry, with an little tolerance of the ash and smoke fall-out associated with the burnt-cane system. Additionally this region has a significant non-cane affiliated population, which is also non-sympathetic to the issues associated with the pre-harvest burning of sugarcane.
The inheritance of ash in juice from sugar cane
(1983) Hogarth, DM; Kingston, G
Ash per cent juice data were obtained for varieties within 97 crosses in original seedlings in 1979 and for varieties within 86 crosses from three factorial polycrosses in 1981, on the Bundaberg Sugar Experiment Station. The data showed that many crosses had higher ash levels than the standard variety Q87. In experiment I, Q87 had slightly lower ash levels than Q109 and Q111, and all three were significantly lower than Q110. It was found for experiments I and II, that 65 and 54 per cent respectively of the phenotypic variation was associated with genetic characters. As 95 per cent of genetic variation was additive, the prospects for breeding lower ash canes from low ash parents are very good. However, selections based on ash assessment may reject many varieties with other desirable agronomic characters. Negative correlations existed between ash per cent juice and Brix. However, the correlations were too low to assume that selection for high Brix canes would result in selections with lower ash levels.