Soil amendments on a deep sand at American River

2006

Research organisaton
Funding source

Trial details

Researcher(s) Nigel Wilhelm
Year(s) 2006
Contributor Agriculture Kangaroo Island Incorporated
Trial location(s) American River, SA
Soil amendments on a deep sand at American River locations
Aims

To assess the effectiveness of a range of soil ameliorants.

Key messages
  • Crop production on these deep infertile sands is often well below the water-limited potential, partly because they have little capacity to hold mobile nutrients such as nitrogen but also because they are often compacted.
  • However, a major limitation on these soil types is the very infertile subsoils, which prevent efficient extraction of water by crop roots.
  • Adding fertilisers into this area can produce spectacular benefits to crop performance but techniques to produce these benefits need to be further refined to make them more cost-effective.
  • The addition of products, which will hold nutrients near the seed, showed some promise in this trial but further testing should be conducted to assess the reliability of this approach.
  • Deep ripping is usually beneficial on these deep sands.
Lead research organisation Agriculture Kangaroo Island Incorporated
Host research organisation N/A
Trial funding source NLP
Related program National Landcare Programme
Acknowledgments

Thanks to the funding bodies/sponsors:

  • National Landcare Program (Advisory Board of Agriculture and Kangaroo Island Natural Resources management
  • board),
  • Island Rural Supplies, and 
  • S and S Lovering.

Other trial partners Not specified
Download the trial report to view additional trial information

Method

Crop type Cereal (Grain): Barley
Treatment type(s)
  • Soil Improvement
Trial type Experimental
Trial design Replicated

American River 2006

Sow date Not specified
Harvest date Not specified
Plot size Not specified
Plot replication Not specified
Download the trial report to view additional method/treatment information

Download results

Trial results Table 1

# Treatment 1
Grain yield (t/ha) Protein (%) Screenings (<2.2mm sieve) (%)
1 Zeolite (200kg/ha) with seed 546 9.2 5.3
2 Zeolite (200kg/ha) deep 336 9.5 9
3 Zeolite (500kg/ha) deep 500 9.1 5.1
4 PAMS (2kg/ha) with seed 506 8.9 6.5
5 PAMS (2kg/ha) deep 523 10 9.5
6 PAMS (5kg/ha) deep 619 9.8 5.2
7 Pedocare (4kg/ha) 167 11 15.5
8 Stamina 90 (6kg/ha) 247 9.8 10.4
9 Deep nutrients 1046 9.8 7.6
10 Deep working 585 9.4 8.8
11 Control 225 10.7 14.2

Grain yield t/ha


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Protein %


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Screenings (<2.2mm sieve) %


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Observed trial site soil information
Trial site soil testing
Not specified
Soil conditions
Trial site Soil texture
American River, SA Not specified
Derived trial site soil information
Soil Moisture Source: BOM/ANU
Average amount of water stored in the soil profile during the year, estimated by the OzWALD model-data fusion system.
Year American River SA
2006 470.3mm
2005 444.6mm
2004 452.4mm
2003 474.4mm
2002 446.3mm
2001 468.8mm
2000 472.0mm
National soil grid Source: CSIRO/TERN
NOTE: National Soil Grid data is aggregated information for background information on the wider area
Actual soil values can vary significantly in a small area and the trial soil tests are the most relevant data where available

Soil properties

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Climate

Derived climate information

No observed climate data available for this trial.
Derived climate data is determined from trial site location and national weather sources.

American River SA

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Some data on this site is sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology

SILO weather estimates sourced from https://www.longpaddock.qld.gov.au/silo/
Jeffrey, S.J., Carter, J.O., Moodie, K.B. and Beswick, A.R. (2001). Using spatial interpolation to construct a comprehensive archive of Australian climate data , Environmental Modelling and Software, Vol 16/4, pp 309-330. DOI: 10.1016/S1364-8152(01)00008-1.

Trial report and links

2006 trial report



Trial last modified: 15-12-2021 09:17am AEST