Soil health and nutrient management

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Strategic tillage to reduce soil structural degradation : SRDC final project report BSS143
(2004) Braunack, M; McGarry, D; Magarey, RC; Garside, AL
The project was undertaken to assess the benefits of zonal tillage, where only the crop row is cultivated and the compacted inter-row is left as a permanent traffic zone.Focus groups of growers were convened to discuss industry attitude and reasons for non-adoption of reduced tillage planting. It was largely agreed that compared to 10-15 years ago that the industry had moved to reduced tillage practices. The question the groups focused on was ?why was it necessary to cultivate the whole block, why not just cultivate the old row?. Opinion was expressed that land preparation was undertaken the way it was, generally because that is how it had always been done. Other reasons recorded were, difficult soil types relating to soil moisture at the time of tillage, run-off and erosion, cultivation was one factor that could be controlled, risk of crop failure (poor emergence, but this could also be due to poor planting material), soil-borne diseases and insect pests and the technique had not been thought about before. Benefits that were perceived included soil structure preservation, saving of time and energy. During the discussions it was learnt that innovative growers were practising a version of strategic tillage, unknown to neighbouring growers.Interest in the concept of strategic tillage was generated through these groups, to the extent that the strategy is being trialled by several growers.
Final report on SRDC project CLW002 (previously CSS02 & CSS2S): The role of root growth and activity in determining sugarcane productivity
(1999) Magarey, RC; Nable, R; Reghenzani, J; Smith, J; Berthelsen, S; Grace, D; Robertson, M
When the current project was initiated, poor root growth and activity were widely believed to be a major constraint to sugarcane productivity. However, there was no technology available to assess whether or not root growth and activity were constraining cane productivity. The project was established to examine the relationship between root growth and activity and sugarcane productivity. The strategic information to be generated was expected to provide the basis for estimating the potential value of overcoming poor root growth and/or activity by managing various soil constratints such as soil pathogens, poor soil structure, or low soil fertility. Initially, the objectives of CLW002 were to: quantify the relationship between root system characteristics and crop productivity; assess the methods for measuring root activity as indicators of root system constraints on crop productivity - with particular emphasis on methods that would allow remote assessment of root activity.
Soil constraints to productivity improvement
(1991) Croft, BJ; Magarey, RC; Hurney, AP; Reghenzani, JR
Evidence from investigations into fumigation, fungicide application, fallowing and growth of sugarcane on recently cultivated soils strongly suggests that yields in established cane growing areas are being restricted by soil-borne biological factors. The yield restriction may be in the order of 20-40%. The soil-borne pathogens Pachymetra, Pythium and also nematodes probably account for a proportion of this yield loss, but other unknown deleterious microorganisms may be involved. In most cases nutrient deficiencies do not appear to be limiting growth. Zinc deficiency which has recently been identified in northern districts may be affecting growth on some soil types. Excesses of some nutrients, such as phosphorus may be interacting with other nutrients and/or soil-borne pathogens. A multi-disciplinary study of soil-borne limits to yield in sugarcane is needed to identify the major factors involved and to develop satisfactory treatments to ameliorate the problem.
Soil constraints to productivity improvement
(1990) Croft, BJ; Magarey, RC; Hurney, AP; Reghenzani, JR
Yields of most crops are known to decrease if that crop is grown continuously without fallowing or rotation with other crop species. Sugarcane has been grown continuously on many fields in Queensland for 50-100 years. As early as 1934 soil-borne factors which restricted root and shoot growth were identified in fields which had grown sugarcane for a number of years. During the 1970s nematodes were found to be causing serious losses in Bundaberg on certain soil types and a serious root disease complex known as poor root syndrome was identified in northern Queensland. During the 1980s intensive research into poor root syndrome identified the important new disease Pachymetra root rot and a number of minor fungal pathogens. Poor root syndrome has been identified in all regions of Queensland and general poor root health has been noted in all soils which have grown sugarcane for a number of years. Yield increases of 50-100% were obtained in areas severely affected by poor root syndrome in northern Queensland by soil fumigation with methyl bromide and metham sodium, and by soil solarisation. Recent experiments have recorded yield responses of 20-40% to methyl bromide fumigation in all major sugarcane regions. These experiments suggested that yield losses due to soil-borne factors may be greatly restricting yields throughout the sugar industry. Research to identify the causes of the yield losses has commenced and progress to date is summarised in this paper.

Soil health and nutrient management

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