To report on nitrogen inputs from pasture legumes in a cropping rotation.
Key messages
Legume pasture species and management practices have been investigated to determine the most important factors for improving nitrogen inputs to the soil.
Results have shown significant improvements in the soil available nitrogen after growing pastures with a high proportion (>75%) of legumes.
The increased soil nitrogen from good stands of pasture legumes is also reflected in the yield and quality of wheat grown the following year.
A short pasture (2-3 seasons) will provide a significant increase in soil nitrogen and a yield and/or protein response. A long pasture (5 seasons) may not provide more nitrogen than one of 4 seasons.
No legume species has performed consistently better than any other species.
Sowing a mixture of inoculated pasture legume species that are suited to the region is important to spread the risk and ensure a good stand of legumes is achieved.
Weed control using grazing management and/or chemical control is seen as the best way to maintain a high level of legumes in the paddock and therefore increase soil nitrogen
Trial source data and summary not available Check the trial
report PDF for trial results.
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.
Condobolin NSW
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.
