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296 results found
  • Deep ripping and topsoil inclusion: a case study at paddock scale
    Soil and Nutrition, 19 Jun 2024
    Deep ripping and topsoil inclusion: a case study at paddock scale

    Case studies enable a detailed consideration of complex issues, and this is what Bindi Isbister and a team from the DPIRD have taken to a deep-ripped paddock near Geraldton. The aim was to examine plant performance down the ameliorated profile to give direction to future ripping operations.

  • Insights to inform water repellent soil management
    Soil and Nutrition, 18 Jun 2024
    Insights to inform water repellent soil management

    Professor David Henry and his team from Murdoch University are combining new capabilities in computational chemistry with conventional analytical chemistry to identify the compounds causing water repellency in Western Australian soils. This information will enable the development of targeted, novel soil amendments.

  • Strategies to maximise groundcover following deep tillage
    Soil and Nutrition, 12 Jun 2024
    Strategies to maximise groundcover following deep tillage

    Agronomic practices post strategic deep tillage are being refined by a team of Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development researchers across four port zones in Western Australia. The research points to the importance of the timing of the operation, choice of variety and seeding rates to maximise ground cover and minimise soil erosion loss.

  • Emerging new generation of nitrogen management tools
    Soil and Nutrition, 03 Jun 2024
    Emerging new generation of nitrogen management tools

    Commercialisation has begun on the outputs from the Future Farm initiative, which sought to deliver more-targeted, precise and profitable fertiliser decisions in near-automated processes that are more efficient for agronomists and growers

  • Hope for novel soil amendments to lessen constraints
    Soil and Nutrition, 16 May 2024
    Hope for novel soil amendments to lessen constraints

    Trials of next-generation soil ameliorants start this year in New South Wales with the hope of lifting grain yields

  • Liming and spading trial shows value of strategic tillage
    Soil and Nutrition, 22 Apr 2024
    Liming and spading trial shows value of strategic tillage

    Given the slow rate at which surface-applied lime moves into untilled soil, strategic tillage has been considered the best way to correct subsurface acidity within a reasonable time frame. Now, the results of a four-year study indicate spading could improve soil pH and increase lentil yields across a range of liming rates and spading speeds.

  • Soil survey aims to help growers make informed decisions
    Soil and Nutrition, 27 Mar 2024
    Soil survey aims to help growers make informed decisions

    The federal Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry wants to target its investment to help farmers make well-informed soil management decisions. To this end, it is supporting regional soil coordinators to undertake a national survey to collect information on the soil issues and topics that farmers feel sufficiently well-informed about and those issues where greater support is needed.

  • Could manure be the magic ingredient to improve yields?
    Soil and Nutrition, 22 Mar 2024
    Could manure be the magic ingredient to improve yields?

    Long-term farming systems research shows that growing one crop a year with high levels of nutrients produces the highest returns.

  • Opportunities abound in a growing industry
    Soil and Nutrition, 18 Jan 2024
    Opportunities abound in a growing industry

    The latest estimates from the Australian Council of Deans of Agriculture, based on job ad numbers, are that more than six vacancies exist for every graduate of a university agriculture course. The Primary Industries Education Foundation Australia was created to promote and develop credible, objective teaching material for primary and secondary students.

  • Shedding new light on soil organic carbon in Australian grain systems
    Soil and Nutrition, 17 Jan 2024
    Shedding new light on soil organic carbon in Australian grain systems

    Detailed diagnoses of soil organic carbon in grain-producing systems are being explored using state-of-the-art facilities through a collaborative network. The University of Queensland team harnessed the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation Synchrotron facility in Victoria to examine (1) changes in carbon forms and their microscale distribution in bulk soils; and (2) their carbon fractions, as related to climate conditions, soil types, land use and management practices.

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