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Subsoil manuring produces no measurable change in soil or yield in irrigated vegetable production in the first year after treatment

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-21, 14:50 authored by John McPheeJohn McPhee, Geoffrey DeanGeoffrey Dean, Chapman, TC, Marcus HardieMarcus Hardie, Stephen CorkreyStephen Corkrey
The expansion of irrigation infrastructure in Tasmania, Australia, has led to intensified irrigated crop production, including for vegetables. This has resulted in increased irrigation of texture contrast soils, and other soils with high clay content in the subsoil. Widely used for rain-fed grain production in other parts of Australia, these soils have been subject to a range of soil amelioration approaches in an effort to improve their soil physical characteristics and capacity to produce crops. Subsoil manuring – the process of placing organic soil ameliorants at a target depth using a specially modified deep ripper – has proven to be successful in increasing yields of rain-fed grain crops. Locally available organic materials (chicken manure and poppy seed meal) were placed in the upper zone of a clay subsoil at three sites used for irrigated vegetable production. The crops grown were green peas for processing and carrots for seed production. Normal grower management practices were the reference against which treatments were compared. Subsequent measurements showed no consistent or significant benefit from subsoil manuring one year after treatment under the soil and crop management conditions used in this research.

Funding

Department of Agriculture

History

Publication title

Soil and Tillage Research

Volume

226

Article number

105573

Number

105573

Pagination

872–875

ISSN

0167-1987

Department/School

Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA)

Publisher

Elsevier Science Bv

Place of publication

Po Box 211, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1000 Ae

Rights statement

Crown Copyright © 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Horticultural crops not elsewhere classified

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    University Of Tasmania

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