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Soil and Nutrition, 29 Nov 2022
Gauging yield uplift critical when contemplating soil amelioration
Whether or not soil amelioration will give a good return on investment largely depends on the yield boost. Grain value and amelioration costs are relatively easy to source or calculate. There are several ways growers can gauge yield uplift.
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Soil and Nutrition, 28 Nov 2022
Mechanical desiccation a viable mungbean option
Normally mungbeans are chemically desiccated using glyphosate as a harvest aid, but swathing or mechanical desiccation could start to be more widely used by mungbean growers following positive research results.
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Soil and Nutrition, 22 Nov 2022
Mechanical soil amelioration affects pest, weed distribution
Researchers are investigating how mechanical soil amelioration affects the distribution, populations and long-term survival of nematode pests and fungal pathogens, and how both amelioration and soil-borne pests interact with weeds. Research at sites near Darkan and Yerecoin in Western Australia studied how certain pests and pathogens responded to mechanical soil amelioration.
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Soil and Nutrition, 19 Nov 2022
Late frost leads to climate risk rethink
When a late September frost wiped out a high-yielding 500-hectare wheat crop just over a decade ago, Parkes grain grower Bruce Watson began to question his climate risks. The next year they decided to plant sorghum. While it is now a profitable and important part of the rotation, there were bumps in the road.
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Soil and Nutrition, 18 Nov 2022
Patience a virtue for sorghum start
Missed winter cropping opportunities or lost crops have increased the focus on summer cropping. Research has shown sorghum can be planted early, but patience is required
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Soil and Nutrition, 17 Nov 2022
Diagnosing soil dispersion and transient soil salinity
Poorly structured heavy soils are difficult to work and can have multiple constraints to root growth and crop yields. These soils can also suffer from transient salinity, a form of salinity influenced by seasonal rainfall and crop evapotranspiration rather than by groundwater.
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Soil and Nutrition, 16 Nov 2022
Rainfall changes cropping plans
For Coonamble grower Tony Single, sorghum is a critical component of his cropping enterprise, increasing its sustainability and profitability. However, well-above-average rainfall over the past 12 months has triggered an increase in sorghum hectares.
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Soil and Nutrition, 15 Oct 2022
Project raises the pH outlook for southern soils
A three-year GRDC investment aimed at raising awareness of soil acidification issues in South Australian cropping systems has delivered significant knowledge about acid soil management and treatment. ‘Acid Soils SA’ incorporated a wide range of research into acidification rates, lime movement and effectiveness in modern cropping systems.
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Soil and Nutrition, 24 Aug 2022
New eBook to address sodic and alkaline soil management
The latest information about sodic and alkaline soil will be available to Western Australian growers and industry representatives in a new digital publication.
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Soil and Nutrition, 23 Aug 2022
Growers work to mitigate problematic heavy soils
Heavy-textured soils in the low-rainfall areas of Western Australia’s eastern grainbelt are challenging for cropping. These soils often come with a host of associated constraints that present physical and chemical challenges for crops, including high pH, high density, poor stability, sodicity, salinity and boron toxicity. Current GRDC and DPIRD projects are doing some good proof-of-concept work, particularly re-engineering the soil profile to tackle multiple interacting soil constraints.