Deep soil cultivation to create improved soil profiles for dryland crop production

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2013

Conference Title

2013 Society for Engineering in Agriculture Conference: Innovative Agricultural Technologies for a Sustainable Future

Place of Publication

Barton

ISBN

9781922107114

Keywords

Soil, Deep cultivation, Subsoil, Soil profiles, Water resources, Dryland crop production

Disciplines

Agribusiness | Agricultural Science | Agronomy and Crop Sciences | Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment | Environmental Monitoring | Fresh Water Studies | Hydrology | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Soil Science | Water Resource Management

Abstract

Constraints to the productivity of crops in the water-limited environments of Western and Southern Australia include herbicide resistant weeds, subsoil acidity, subsoil compaction, soil water repellence and poor water and nutrient retention. One-off soil renovation using deep cultivation offers opportunities to help address these constraints. Over the past 8-years 'new' tools has become available providing more options to address these constraints. Soil inversion, using mouldboard or square ploughs, loosens the soil and buries herbicide-resistant weed seeds, non-wetting topsoil, nutrients and other soil amendments (e.g. lime) at depths of 35-45 cm. Complete inversion is critical for effective weed control and ameliorating water repellence. Attention has been given to plough share shape, skimmer design and plough setup to achieve this. Rotary spaders bury some topsoil and lift seams of subsoil to the surface helping overcome non-wetting and can incorporate lime, clay-rich subsoil and soil amendments to the working depth, typically 30-40 cm. These tools offer new opportunities in engineering soil profiles with improved function for crop production but they need development and are not without risks.

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