To determine how mouldboard ploughing (soil inversion), rotary spading and banded wetting agent affect the availability of soil nutrients.

• Our results from the first year of the study show that the method used to manage soil water repellence had little impact on soil nutrient supply with the exception of phosphorus. The lack of grain yield response to applied P in the mouldboard and spading treatments suggest that soil phosphorus is more available in these soils, though is not clear whether this is due to the removal of the non-wetting constraint or mineralisation following tillage.
• The lower grain yield and harvest index in the spading treatment suggests that there was less soil water available late in the growing season. Further research is required to determine how these management practices, in particular inversion and rotary spading, changes fertiliser advice. The results of this work will be used to develop guidelines on if or how nutrition should be managed for crops sown on soils treated for water repellence.