Abstract
Soil acidity potentially limits wheat production over about 750,000 ha in north-eastern Victoria. Soils in this region are progressively acidifying and, with concentration on an annual crop-pasture system, the sub-soil is often highly acidic. A deep tillage implement was used to inject slurries of lime into the subsoil on 2 soils with similar acidity, to evaluate the efficacy of this method and the effect on wheat yield. Replicated field experiments were conducted at 2 sites (Lilliput and Stewarton), with 6 soil management treatments. The treatments were a control; unlimed + deep tillage; surface incorporated lime (2.5 t/ha) + deep tillage; and 3 slurry injections (SI) of lime (1.0, 2.5, 5.01/ha) in the deep tillage operation. Wheat (cv. Oxley) was sown for 2 consecutive seasons, and grain yield, kernel weight and nitrogen as well as soil pH and Al and physical measurements were taken.
On the Lilliput soil, SI lime increased soil pH by 0.9 units (0–30 cm depth) with the highest rate, and increased the pH by 1.7 units along the tillage line. The pH was increased by 0.7 units mid-distance between the tines. Surface liming increased pH (0.8 units) only at 0–10 cm.
With the Stewarton soil, pH was increased by only 0.3 units at the highest SI rate, with the only significant pH increase occurring at the 0–30 cm depth along the tillage line. However surface liming increased pH (0–10 cm) by 0.9 units. The Stewarton soil was very dense and compacted.
Grain yield was increased with each lime treatment at Lilliput, with the 5.0 t/ha SI giving highest yields in both seasons. Deep tillage increased grain yield at Stewarton in both seasons, but there was no significant yield increase with any lime treatment. The data demonstrate that wheat yields can be increased by amelioration of subsoil acidity, but that soil physical characteristics have to be considered before practical application of this lime sub-soiling method.
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Coventry, D.R. (1991). The injection of slurries of lime, associated with deep tillage, to increase wheat production on soils with subsoil acidity. In: Wright, R.J., Baligar, V.C., Murrmann, R.P. (eds) Plant-Soil Interactions at Low pH. Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, vol 45. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3438-5_49
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3438-5_49
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