Soil health and nutrient management

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SRDC Research Project final report Development of a constructed wetland for improving water quality in sugarcane drainage, and ensuring its community acceptance and industry adoption
(2007) Melville, M; Quirk, R; White, I; Kinsela, A
Canefield drainage water quality is an increasingly important issue for the industry and community because of the potential downstream environmental impacts of contained contaminants. The community is increasingly environmentally conscious, and many perceive agriculture as the main threat to environmental sustainability. Hence, regulators are tightening controls on polluted drainage from agricultural industries. As in other parts of the World, this trend will continue in Australia and agriculture is likely to be required to meet the same standards as other industries. The sugar industry must therefore develop and implement best management to address the issue, and better demonstrate and communicate their environmental stewardship. The means by which the NSW Sugar Industry faced and achieved a win-win outcome with respect to problems with their acid sulfate soil management is discussed in detail by White et al. (2007). This provides a model for managing drainage water contaminanation. PhD research by Green (2005) tested a number of techniques for ameliorating acidy in drainage from Robert Quirk’s 100 ha cane farm on the Tweed River. This research showed that most (>70 %) of the acidity in the farm’s drain water was in the form of the dissolved metal ions, particularly of iron and aluminium. Many mine sites also have this problem and a commonly used management tool is a constructed and vegetated wetland. Therefore the SRDC-funded project UNW003 constructed an approximately 1.5 ha wetland adjacent to the farm’s outflow drain. Natural recruitment, predominantly of Couch grass and Spike rush, established dense vegetation in the wetland. During rain-driven acid discharge events, water from this drain (about 10 % of the discharge) was pumped into the first of six terraced wetland bays and from there it flowed down to outflow into the discharge drain. During 3 years of operation, water quality was measured at the input, throughout, and output of the wetland.
Quantifying and managing sources of sediments and nutrients in low-lying canelands : Project no CLW007 - final report
(2003) Roth, CH; Visser, F; Wasson, R; Reghenzani, J; Prosser, I
Queensland’s north-east coast are used for sugar production. Various studies investigating sediment discharge from catchments where sugar is an important land use have demonstrated that sediment export from cane lands often continues to be higher than from adjacent forested areas or other land uses. The main concern with the export of sediments is the loss of associated nutrients, in particular forms of phosphorus and nitrogen bound to the fine sediment fractions (suspended sediments), and the potential harm these materials might cause in rivers, wetlands and near shore marine ecosystems. Many growers are aware of these issues and have proactively engaged in a variety of activities and practices to reduce the likelihood of such environmental impacts, and the widespread adoption of trash blanket harvesting is testimony to this. However, there is still a lack of understanding on the exact amounts and sources of sediments and nutrients leaving cane lands. More importantly, growers lack information on practical solutions to reducing sediment export and where to target the most appropriate sediment control measures. In response, SRDC funded Project CLW007 with the aim to develop a robust understanding of sediment sources, transport pathways and sinks as the means to better target cane land management towards reducing sediment export. The approach chosen was to develop a sediment budget for representative areas of low-lying cane lands in the Herbert district. This approach has particular advantages for resource management purposes as it ensures that all components in a catchment sediment transport system are examined, so that important sediment sources and transport processes can be identified and management appropriately targeted. The bulk of the study was conducted in a 536 ha large subcatchment of Ripple Creek in the Lower Herbert, comprising 320 ha of low-lying floodplain soils under sugar and 216 ha of forested uplands. A range of monitoring methods were developed and implemented in order to capture the breadth of processes and to employ the most appropriate methods in each individual situation and best suited to each scale of measurement
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.

Soil health and nutrient management

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