Soil health and nutrient management
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://elibrary2.sugarresearch.com.au/handle/11079/13842
Research outcomes: Soil health is improved with a resulting positive impact on the environment and yield growth. Improved reputation and relationship between industry and environmental groups.
Browse
7 results
Filters
Advanced Search
Filter by
Settings
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
Item Spatially explicit estimation of Achievable Yield Potential – An improved basis for fertilizer management: final report 2015/070(Sugar Research Australia Limited, 2017) Bramley, RCurrent practice in implementing the SIX EASY STEPS (6ES) is to use the ‘district yield potential’ (DYP) to guide development of nitrogen (N) fertilizer recommendations. However, because both land (soil, topography) and weather/climate may be strongly spatially variable at district scale, yield may also vary rendering use of DYP as sub-optimal. This project explored finer-scale alternatives to DYP as input to 6ES using spatial analysis of mill data and also data collected using yield monitors. The project was focussed in the Herbert River district. Analysis of mill records over 7 seasons shows that there is a marked spatial variability in yield in the Herbert River district, with the patterns of this variation stable across seasons and crop class. Accordingly, we conclude that DYP is not appropriate as an input to 6ES. Rather, a block yield potential derived from a map of the maximum yield of first ratoon achieved over these 7 seasons is suggested as a better alternative; this map, which is derived from interpolated maps of first ratoon yield for each year for which data are available, can be readily updated as more data become available. Growers with access to yield mapping could readily adopt a similar means of estimating yield potential at the within-farm or within-field scale. However, it is unlikely that sufficient data are yet available to support this given that data from several seasons are needed for yield zone delineation. Whether at the within-region or within-farm or field scales, further location-specific refinement of the application of 6ES is possible with access to data on soil carbon (C) content, whether derived from regional soil survey or local soil testing. Similar analyses to those reported here could be readily conducted in other sugarcane growing regions. Likewise, examination of spatial variation in the other factors underpinning 6ES may also be valuable as the industry seeks to optimise its N use efficiency.Item Final report SRDC Project CG013 Growers working together to improve water quality in the Herbert Sugar Industry(2008) Wood, A; Wrigley, T; Phillips, K; Sheedy, PThe sugarcane area of the Herbert River district is located adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). The quality of water entering the GBR lagoon from the Herbert district is one of the most important environmental issues facing the Herbert sugar industry. However, little data on water quality are available from catchments consisting entirely of sugarcane. This project was conducted to establish a number of water quality monitoring sites in relatively small catchments where the land use is solely sugarcane and where individual growers or groups of growers could measure the quality of water in farm drains using simple tools and relate it to their farming practices. Eleven growers volunteered to participate in the programme. They were keen to participate because they felt that sugarcane growers’ reputation of being good custodians of the land had been tarnished by various external studies of water quality and they were eager to demonstrate that their activities were not polluting drainage water. A series of suitable sites for taking and testing water samples were established and V notch weirs were inserted in the drains for the purpose of measuring rates of water flow. A series of simple tools were developed for measuring sediment and nutrients drainage water leaving the farms. An experienced water engineer who had worked in the district for many years agreed to coordinate the project and proceeded to train the growers involved. He also set up and equipped a water analysis laboratory so that the measurements taken by the growers could be validated. Occasional samples were also sent to a NATA accredited laboratory for further validation of the nutrient determinations but also for measurements of pesticide residues. The growers involved in the project have recorded water quality measurements for three years and have also maintained records of on-farm practices that may impact on water quality such as tillage, fertilising, land levelling and herbicide applications and other activities that may impact on water quality. The growers were provided with information on desirable water quality levels. If their measurements exceeded these levels, growers reacted quickly to seek possible explanations for the elevated readings. The project was evaluated at the commencement, mid-term and just before its conclusion. The growers involved developed a list of the critical factors that needed to be achieved in order for the project to be successful. The mid-term evaluation was conducted with members of the Project Consultative Group and the final evaluation was again conducted with the growers involved in the project. Feedback was generally positive but there were a few areas where things could have been improved. The project outcomes consisted largely of improved knowledge, particularly amongst the growers, of what simple techniques are available for measuring nutrients, pH, dissolved oxygen and turbidity of farm drainage water. Growers learnt what constituted high, medium and low levels for the different water quality parameters and developed a better understanding of the relationship between rainfall and discharge characteristics of drains on their farms. They improved their understanding 4 of the relationship between on-farm management practices and water quality and of the accuracy and reliability of the different tools used to measure water quality. An important outcome has been the continued engagement and support of growers involved with the project, and the engagement and support of regulatory and other government support agencies through the project consultative group. This is important for the next phase of the project which aims to expand from 11 growers to around 100 growers conducting water quality monitoring. The existence of a committed nucleus of growers will be essential for helping to inspire others to participate. Likely economic benefits of the project will be increased farm profitability arising from improved farm practices associated with better management of farm inputs such as fertilisers and herbicides. Reduced input costs arising from reductions in soil tillage and more targeted applications of nutrients and herbicides will also contribute. Environmental benefits will arise from improved water quality on farm and in the downstream ecosystem, and improved soil health arising from changes in farming practices. Social benefits will include the empowerment of growers, who are now armed with better information about their farm practices and the likely impacts on water quality; greater confidence amongst growers when interacting with government and environmental groups; and improved attitudes and engagement by growers in sustainable land management.Item A reference booklet for canegrowers on the nutrition and fertilizing of sugarcane for different soil types(2003) Wood, AW; Schroeder, BL; Stewart, RL; Roth, CHA wide range of different soils are used for sugarcane production in the Herbert River district. An understanding of these differences both at district and farm levels will ensure that nutrient management reflects this diversity and enables profitable and sustainable sugarcane production. The Australian sugar industry has used a generalised, industry-wide set of fertiliser recommendations with no specific guidelines for different regions, climatic conditions or soil types. This booklet is a first attempt to produce specific management guidelines for all of the different soil types used for sugarcane production in a cane area. Twenty four different soil types have been identified in the sugarcane production area of the Herbert and have been mapped at a scale of 1:5000, which is appropriate for soil-specific management recommendations to be delivered at block level. Growers can currently access soil maps of their farms through Herbert Cane productivity Services Ltd. and plans are in place to provide all growers with the capability of printing their own soil maps. In the booklet each soil type is described in terms of its appearance, where it occurs in the landscape, and its chemical and physical properties. Guidelines for the management of nutrients, tillage, drainage and irrigation and the minimisation of environmental risks are provided for each soil type. These guidelines have been developed using research results from a companion SRDC funded project, BSS232 “Improved nutrient management in the Australian Sugar Industry”. The soil booklet produced in this project is likely to be the first of a number of regional soil management publications that are likely to be produced for the Australian Sugar Industry. The booklet is intended for use by cane growers and their advisers, and where possible the information is presented in as non-technical way as possible. This approach is particularly appropriate for the current situation of the sugar industry with continuing low sugar prices, the need to reduce production costs together with mounting environmental pressures which demand demonstration of responsible soil and nutrient management. The guidelines in this booklet are aimed at providing best practice soil and nutrient management for Herbert growers that will not only maintain or improve crop yields and soil fertility but will also provide opportunities for cost reduction whilst enhancing sustainability and delivering better environmental outcomes.Item 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, IQueensland’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 measurementItem Risk assessment of phosphorus (P) loss and guidelines for P use in lower Herbert soils Final report on SRDC Project No CLW010(2000) Bramley, RGV; Wood, AWIn project CSS3S (Bramley et aI., 1998), a field and laboratory-based survey of the behaviour of phosphorus (P) was carried out on the soils of the lower Herbert River catchment, and sediments derived from them. The aim was to explore the factors governing P sorption or desorption in Herbert soils, and in suspended sediments in associated riverine and estuarine waters, so that the extent of any problem associated with sugarcane and soil-derived inputs to strearnwaters could be defined and advice on the development of best management practices for P fertilizer could be provided. Accordingly, an assessment of the risk of P loss from selected lower Herbert soils was made based on their P sorption characteristics and an assessment of the susceptibility of the lower Herbert soils to runoff following rainfall events. One of the recommendations made at the conclusion of CSS3S was that "spatial analysis of the assessment of P desorption risk based on digital maps of the CSR soil survey would enable more precise guidelines for better P management to be derived.". Following the recent availability of the CSR 1:5,000 soil survey in geo-referenced digital form, this report details the results of the suggested spatial analysis. Nine hundred and thirty four soils for which detailed soil property data are available in the database accompanying the 1:5,000 CSR survey of lower Herbert sugarcane soils were classified according to a range of indices of P sorption and the results mapped using either a geostatistical interpolation routine (kriging) or the mean values for each soil type identified in field survey. The results were coupled with an analysis of the susceptibility of these soils to runoff to produce maps of the potential for P loss.Item Environmentally sound phosphorus management for sugarcane soils : final report on SRDC Project no CSS3S(1998) Bramley, RGV; Edis, RB; White, RE; Wood, AWA field and laboratory-based survey of the behaviour of phosphorus (P) was carried out on the soils of the lower Herbert River catchment, and sediments derived from them. The aim was to explore the factors governing P sorption or desorption in Herbert soils, and in suspended sediments in associated riverine and estuarine waters, so that the extent of any problem associated with sugarcane and soil-derived inputs to streamwaters could be defined. With this information, advice on the development of best management practices for P fertilizer could be provided to the sugar industry. The results of the study of P behaviour in Herbert soils suggests that there is scope for refining the management of P fertilizer in the sugar industry based on a knowledge of particular soil properties and the behaviour of P in specific soils. Sorption of P in soils was found to be closely correlated with soil particle size, organic matter content and oxalate-extractable aluminium (Al). The results of this part of the project suggest that: • in refining P fertilizer management, both for more efficient crop production and improvec\ environmental stewardship, the utility of oxalate-extractable aluminium (Alo,) as a predictor of P fertilizer requirement should be investigated; and • clustering soils with similar physical and chemical properties is useful as a basis for identifying soils of similar potential P sorption/desorption characteristics so that, when coupled with a knowledge of the soil P content measured using normal soil testing procedures, they may' also form a basis for delivery of improved fe~tilizer advice. Further research is therefore warranted on both of these issues with a view to the developme!1t of specific guidelines for best-practice P fertilizer management.Item Researching soil health and economics of two farming systems in the Herbert River district : SRDC Grower Group Innovation Project final report(2009) Waring, MThe New Farming Initiative Group (NFIG) consists of six members and has approximately 600ha of sugarcane farming land in the Herbert region. Comparison of soil health of the two farming systems is the primary objective. This project will increase the uptake of several best management practices which are considered to reduce the loss of sediment, chemicals and nutrients from cane lands as well as significantly improve soil fertility due to a healthier soil in terms of its physical, chemical and biological components. The primary aim of the New Farming Initiative Group includes: • Comparison of soil health of the two farming systems. These soil tests have not previously been undertaken in the Herbert and will provide a benchmark of current soil health. The test includes physical, biological and chemical components: • Demonstrate the economics of two farming systems (regional standard and 1.9m dual row/break crop fallow) • Development of group skills through shared knowledge, utilizing the expertise of consultants, building organisation skills and through first hand participation. The trial site consists of three replications, two treatments and one variety. The trial was marked out with GPS to include 9 rows of pre-formed mounds at 1.9m and 11 rows of conventional at 1.55m spacing. The key outcome of this project was the similar average gross margins for the conventional and new farming system treatments. Potentially higher future input costs will favour the new farming system economically, with greater average gross margins expected compared to a conventional farming system. The new farming system produced an average 0.5 unit CCS less sugar than conventional farming. The cause of this statistically significant difference is unclear and warrants further investigation. Essentially, no significant difference was observed in soil health parameters (biological, physical and chemical) between treatments over the 14 month testing interval. Of interest, the new farming system displayed positive trends of increasing pH, increasing organic carbon and higher cation exchange capacity. The project had a relatively short testing interval and longer term soil testing would likely create more meaningful soil health results. Continued soil heath testing and economic analysis is needed to achieve the full benefit from this project. It would be inappropriate to draw any firm conclusions on the comparison of these two farming systems from this study of only two years.