Factors affecting the availability of fertiliser copper on a yellow brown gravelly sand at Lake Grace WA

1977

Research organisaton

Trial details

Researcher(s) N/A
Year(s) 1977
Contributor Department of Agriculture and Food WA
Trial location(s) Lake Grace Area, WA
Factors affecting the availability of fertiliser copper on a yellow brown gravelly sand at Lake Grace WA locations
Aims

To investigate the effects of rates and granule size of copper containing superphosphate on wheat yields grown on yello9w brown gravelly  soil

Key messages

Cu greatly increased yield fro 560 kg/ha to 1570 kg/ha.  Grain yield and analyses of tops of wheat showed large granules greatly reduced the effectiveness of Cu incorporated into them, the effect being more marked at the lower granule number provided by the 100 kg/ha super mix compared with the 200 kg/ha. Doubling the rate of Cu applied by doubling the Cu concentration in the granule had little effect on Cu uptake and failed to ovecome the restrictivew effect of large granules. It is the number of granules in the root zone of the wheat plants that is critical for adequate uptake of Cu and that large granulated "wet mixed" Cu superphosphate mixtures are unsatisfactory Cu fertilisers.

In general oxide source was equal to or superior to the sulfate source in wet mixes. In dry mixes in the same trial Cu oxide was only 66 % as effective as the sulfate.

Shallow placement was miuch less effective than placing Cu fertiliser at 5 cm or more. Cu foliar at 0.54 kg cu/ha applied at 6 weeks after seeding gave highest yield.

It was concluded that application methods that reduce the number of CXu particles available for root copntact greatly reduce the effectuiveness of Cu fertiliser.

 

Lead research organisation N/A
Host research organisation Department of Agriculture and Food WA
Related program More Profit from Crop Nutrition
Acknowledgments N/A
Other trial partners Not specified

Method

Crop type Pasture: Clover
Treatment type(s)
  • Fertiliser: Application Method
Trial type Experimental
Trial design Replicated

Lake Grace Area 1977

Sow rate or Target density 60 kg wheat /ha
Sowing machinery

12 run drill at 17.5 cm spacings

Sow date Not specified
Harvest date Not specified
Plot size 2.1m x 50m
Plot replication 3
Fertiliser

Zn fertiliser basal @ 1 kg Zn/ha; Mo applied 100 g Mo/ha; N applied at 40 kg/ha.

CSBP supplied special mixes of 2 Cu sources (sulfate "& oxide) incorporated into superphosphate granules in the same way as for the company's normal range of mixes at 2 concentrations of Cu (0.66 & 1.32 %). the mixes were then siieved into 3 granule sizes: > 3mm , large; >1 <3 mm , medium; <1 mm , fine.

The mixes were sown at 200 kg/ha to give Cu rates of 1.32 & 2.64. In addition the 0.66 % mix was sown at 100 kg/ha (with extra super topdressed) giving a rate of 0.66 kg Cu/ha with half the particles of the 200 kg/ha mix.

Trial report and links


No trial reports or attachments found


Trial last modified: 28-05-2019 11:45am AEST