Vivonne Bay drainage trial

2008

Research organisaton
Funding source

Trial details

Researcher(s) Lyn Dohle
Year(s) 2008
Contributor Agriculture Kangaroo Island Incorporated
Trial location(s) MacGillivray, SA
Vivonne Bay drainage trial locations
Aims
  • To test the ability of a range of drainage treatments to improve crop yields in soil prone to waterlogging.
Key messages
  • In a year where waterlogging caused yield penalties all treatments resulted in a yield increase compared to the control.
  • The raised beds increased yield by almost 200% followed by gravel moles, gravel slots and conventional moles.
  • On flat waterlogged land, raised beds provided the best yield result but they did have some management issues.
  • Gravel slots and gravel moles also worked extremely well but the slots were too expensive to install to consider for broadacre use. No commercial scale gravel mole is available at present.
  • Conventional moles are prone to collapse with Kangaroo Island’s sodic clays.
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 trial sponsors:

  • National Landcare Program through the Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board, and 
  • the Pontifex family.

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

Method

Crop type Cereal (Grain): Wheat
Treatment type(s)
  • Adverse Effects Management: Waterlogging
Trial type Demonstration
Trial design Unknown

MacGillivray 2008

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)
1 Raised bed 5.15
2 Gravel slot 4.14
3 Gravel mole 4.49
4 Conventional mole 3.87
5 Control 2.76

Grain yield t/ha


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Observed trial site soil information
Trial site soil testing
Not specified
Soil conditions
Trial site Soil texture
MacGillivray, SA Not specified
Derived trial site soil information
Australian Soil Classification Source: ASRIS
Trial site Soil order
MacGillivray, SA Tenosol
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 MacGillivray SA
2008 534.8mm
2007 507.3mm
2006 535.1mm
2005 535.7mm
2004 550.1mm
2003 573.2mm
2002 535.7mm
2001 544.8mm
2000 551.9mm
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.

MacGillivray SA

NOTE: Exact trial site locality unknown - Climate data may not be accurate
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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

2008 trial report



Trial last modified: 15-12-2021 09:22am AEST