Soil Improvement trials Application Method,Form,Method,Rate,Soil Improvement,Timing,Type

To improve lentil establishment, biomass production and yield by soil amelioration and or lime application on Mallee sands

This project aims to establish field sites which demonstrate amelioration techniques that growers can use to address the specific sandy soil constraints for their local landscape type and where in the landscape different tactics are best deployed.  

To investigate non aggressive strategies to mitigate and manage non wetting sandy soils. These strategies include seed row placement, press-wheel design and the use of soil wetters / surfactants.

The aim of this project is to improve the capacity of growers to identify and manage subsurface acidity on the Northern Yorke Peninsula. Soil testing and pH mapping for acidity has become common practice in the district. However, this sampling and mapping has focused on the top 0-10 cm of soil. Recent reports and preliminary work have confirmed an acidic band of soil is often occurring at the 5-15 cm depth and beyond in certain soil types.

There are two main components to this project:

• Spatially identifying subsurface acidity by validating the relationship between soil pH and EC (electrical conductivity).
• Develop best management practices for lime amelioration to manage subsurface acidity.

To investigate if subsoil amelioration can increase faba bean root and shoot growth, nodulation and grain yield in soils with subsurface aciditiy and/or dense sodic subsoil

To determine how productive and profitable high value pulse crops are on soils that have been ameliorated. Paddock scale demonstration. Possibly with small plot demonstrations of weed control options on ameliorated soils. 

To improve lentil establishment, biomass production and yield by soil amelioration on non-wetting Mallee sands

This project aims to establish field sites which demonstrate amelioration techniques that growers can use to address the specific sandy soil constraints for their local landscape type and where in the landscape different tactics are best deployed.  

The aim of the focus paddock was to see if deep ripping could increase plant avaliable water by removing any compaction and allowing roots to access stored moisture deeper into the soil profile.

This research aims to trial and demonstrate different management practices which could be used by growers to ameliorate saline soil patches:

1) Amending soil with sand, straw or gypsum - application of amendments to the soil surface can improve crop emergence by reducing evaporation leading to more soil moisture, or by reducing the moisture required to germinate a seed by increasing the sand content of the soil surface. Gypsum was also included to increase the amount of calcium relative to the level of sodium (salt) and address sodicity in the longer-term.  

2) Selecting crop types/varieties – to investigate the differences in crop performance on saline soils between crop types and varieties with improved salt tolerance.

To investigate a range of soil amelioration strategies on the impact of pulse production. 

To explore soil ameriolation strategies for lentil, chickpea and faba bean across the landscape

This project aimed to provide support to landholders in the north­eastern area of the EP to address bare areas with repeated soil erosion events. This was done by providing funding to trial a range of practices to increase soil cover and providing technical support to deliver and evaluate these practices. 

To demonstrate the potential of pulse crops on soil that was previously only capable of producing lupins.

Influence of Soil Amelioration and Soil Amendments on Canola Yield and Profitability

To evaluate the legacy effects of deep ripping on the growth and yield of lentils grown on Mallee sands.

To demonstrate the effectiveness of liquid surfactants and related application methods at seeding on crop performance on non-wetting soils with differing stubble loads and types in the Albany, Esperance and Kwinana West port zones.

The aim of this trial is to quantify the value of lime applications using different incorporation methods and compare the economic and agronomic returns of each. This trial also includes an application of a rapidly acidifying Elemental Sulphur to demonstrate how soils and crops will perform 10-years into the future if no action is taken to maintain pH levels. The trial also aims to analyse the interactions between each incorporation technique and its effects on ameliorating other crop constraints.

The objective is to give growers a greater understanding of different methods of lime incorporation and the most cost-effective practice locally and to extend on these findings with other research being conducted on varying soil types throughout the state, so that growers can make informed decisions for implementing their own liming strategy.

Trials and demonstrations involving soil mixing either with a spader or ripping with inclusion plates have been shown to increase yields on sandy soils on Eyre Peninsula (EP). Many of these trials have included the addition of organic material incorporated at rates of 5-10 t/ha. Whilst generally these treatments have provided yield increases for a number of years post application, the rates applied have proven to be uneconomic (EPFS 2019, p 71). This project was originally developed by the Lower Eyre Ag
Development Association (LEADA) with two major objectives being:
1. To test ripping with inclusion plates on a wider range of soils.
2. To trial rates and sources of organic matter that are practical for broadacre use.

To investigate the impact of deep ripping and soil amelioration on sodic subsoils

To improve soil health and nitrogen availability through soil amendments and deep ripping

This current experiment investigated the potential of using farm grown crop residues as ameliorants for alkaline dispersive subsoils in the medium rainfall region of southern NSW.

The trial aims to explore management options for non-wetting soils in the Albany port zone.

Conventional methods of managing non-wetting soils involve mechanical disturbance to mix non-wetting particles with wettable particles. This trial explores the best options for placement of wetters, and wetter types for managing non-wetting soils.

Eleven treatments of differing placements and rates, as well as three seed placements were explored and analysed in this trial.

Two market available wetting agents were tested in this trial, SECOA’s SE14 and BASF Devine.

By 2023, growers will have increased the value of the cropping phase in the HRZ farming system by 10% by addressing both crop yield potential and the gap between potential and realised yields.

This trial aims to explore ways to optimise crop production in the HRZ. 
This trial looks at verity types, deep ripping and sowing times as ways to maximise yields in the HRZ. 

This trial aims to assess different treatments and there effectiveness in maximising water limited yield potentials.  

By 2023, growers will have increased the value of the cropping phase in the HRZ farming system by 10% by addressing both crop yield potential and the gap between potential and realised yields.

This research aims to evaluate the yield and economic benefits of using the Reefinator on ironstone sheet soils in the Lake Grace area.

Why do the trial? 
There are around 5 million hectares of sandy soils under agricultural production in the low to medium rainfall areas of south-eastern Australia. These soils have multiple constraints limiting production including water repellence, soil acidity, compaction and low organic carbon levels leading to poor biological cycling and nitrogen mineralisation. Estimates of the yield gap (the difference between water limiting potential and average actual crop yield) are between 1.8 and 2.1 t/ha on Upper Eyre Peninsula and as much as 2.3 t/ha on Lower Eyre Peninsula (http://yieldgapaustralia.com .au/ maps/). 
In 2016, GRDC invested in a research program to help grain growers identify and overcome the primary constraints to poor crop water-use on sandy soils in the low-medium rainfall environment (CSP00203). The 'Sands Impacts' component of this project enables grower groups to test outcomes from the research component by applying targeted mitigation and amelioration interventions to overcome production constraints. 

The aim of this project is to investigate the use of biosolids to overcome subsoil constraints in the high and low rainfall zones in Victorian grain growing regions: in brief,

• investigate whether subsoil physicochemical constraints that limit root growth and reduce water and nutrient-use efficiency can be overcome by using subsoil amelioration with pelletised T1C2 grade biosolids 
• determine whether subsoil amelioration with biosolids will have any adverse effects on plant availability of heavy metals
• investigate whether microbial populations will be impacted from the application of biosolids into the subsoils
• determine whether biosolids as a subsoil ameliorant can have  any impacts on grain quality

To evaluate the impacts of the soil amelioration practices of deep ripping and organic matter inputs on the growth and production of lupin, lentil and chickpea grown on deep sandy soils in the Mallee.

To investigate the response of faba bean to application of lime, macro and micro-nutrients

This paper reports 2019 results from a subsoil amelioration experiment aimed at minimising the yield gap on sodic subsoils by treating them with various organic and inorganic amendments in pelletised form

To evaluate agronomic strategies to overcome constrained soils where lentil is grown in high intensity production zones of the Yorke Peninsula.

To investigate the response of lentil to application of microbial inoculants and micro and macro nutrients across a sandhill and swale soil at Ouyen and a sandy loam at Curyo.

A three-year research trial aims to investigate the impact of precision lime application rate, placement and product on cropping land and will evaluate cost effective ways to ameliorate subsoil acidity.

The aim of this trial is to evaluate and analyse the effect of deep ripping with inclusion plates on moving surface-applied lime into acidic sub-soil of deep sandy duplex. Additionally, this trial tested farm-sourced lime against commercial grade lime. 

Trial 1: Lime comparison trial 
The use of new pH mapping technologies has increased the awareness and identification of soil acidity in many districts. However, there are several aspects of soil acidity management which remain a problem for growers. This trial aimed to investigate a range of lime and acidity management factors outlined in the three key areas below. 

• Lime source 
• Lime rate and particle size 
• Decline of soil pH from sulphur applications 

Trial 2: Comparison of lime incorporation techniques 

Acidic layers of soil are increasingly being identified in the topsoil (0-10 cm) and subsurface soil (10-30 cm) of no-till farming systems. Stratified low pH soil layers need appropriate lime treatment to maintain and prevent the decline of soil pH further. Surface application of lime alone is unlikely to raise the pH in subsurface layers quickly. Recent work has reported lime movement as little as 1 cm – 2.5 cm per year (Fleming et al. 2020, Burns et al 2017). Given the slow movement of lime, incorporation and mixing of surface applied lime to depth is expected to accelerate the movement of lime.

There are a range of machinery options that can provide different levels of lime incorporation and to different depths, such as cultivation, deep ripping with or without inclusion plates, spading and combinations of these. This trial was designed to investigate which of these are most effective on a sandy soil with stratified soil acidity at Bute.

To investigate the cost-effectiveness of on-farm lime for ameliorating soil acidity in Kwinana East Port Zone and to validate the iLime application (developed by DPIRD and Desiree Futures with funding from GRDC) by comparing simulations with field trial results.

There are a range of machinery options that can provide different levels of lime incorporation such as spading. However, research to date on rotary spaders has shown soil/amendment mixing is not uniform due to the cyclical process, and the mixing quality reduces significantly at faster speed (Ucgul et al. 2019). This trial aimed to understand how the uniformity of soil-lime mixing by spading affected crop response and soil pH. 

To determine if a soil wetter, such as SE14, improves plant establishment in years with a dry start.

To:

• determine if physical intervention and soil mixing improved grain yield on a sandy soil on eastern EP,
• compare deep ripping with inclusion plates to spading,
• determine if deeper ripping improved results, and
• identify if the addition of fertilisers or organic material (OM) provide additional benefits.

To assess the impact of deep ripping on crop yield over a two year period in the To assess the impact of deep ripping on crop yield over a two year period in the eastern wheatbelt

To assess changes in crop productivity as a result of overcoming the chemical, physical and biological constraints of a sandy soil at Cadgee.
 

To measure the effect of deep ripping on depth to free water (waterlogging) and the associated yield response of canola (2018) and wheat (2019) after deep ripping on this soil type.

To determine how long the ripping effect lasts for in a controlled traffic farming (CTF) system and when to repeat the deep ripping on deep sands

To evaluate and demonstrate the benefit of soil amelioration across a wider range of soil types that are common to the WA grain growing region.

• Assess the influence of soil renovation treatments on soil borne diseases.

1. Gain a better understanding of the impact of crop competition on rigid ryegrass (Lolium rigidum) and brome grass (Bromus spp.) quantities and seed set after deep ripping to raise awareness and improve management.
2. Monitor for differences in Pratylenchus neglectus levels between ripped and un-ripped plots throughout the season.

To investigate water repellence mitigation options at seeding. The trial aims to identify the driving chemistries (surfactants vs humectants) and application techniques (furrow surface, vs seed zone) that are better able to lift crop responses under local sowing conditions. This article reports on the Year 1 data, with more work being planned for the 2019-20 seasons.

This trial aims to establish the long-term value of deep ripping on compacted deep south coast sands. It investigates the longevity of the ripping benefit in a fully controlled traffic system (CTF).