Pre-emergent herbicides and crop damage on inverted Soils

Authors

T. J. Edwards, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Esperance, Western AustraliaFollow
S. L. Davies, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Geraldton, Western AustraliaFollow
D. J. M. Hall, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Esperance, Western AustraliaFollow
G. P. McDonald, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Albany, Western AustraliaFollow
J. H. Moore, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Albany, Western AustraliaFollow

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

11-2018

Conference Title

National Soil Science Conference

Place of Publication

Bridgewater

ISBN

978-0-646-99723-0 (epubl)

Keywords

Herbicide damage, Soil water repellence, Soil inversion, Strategic tillage

Disciplines

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

Abstract

Proceedings of the National Soil Science Conference, Canberra, ACT, 18 to 23 November 2018.

Soil Science Society of Australia Inc.

Introduction Soil inversion through mouldboard, square or one-way ploughing is an effective practice for ameliorating soil water repellence (Roper et al. 2015). The technique is applied as one-off strategic intervention that buries the hydrophobic topsoil layer and brings hydrophilic subsoil to the surface. A number of experiments have demonstrated that this process can improve the uniformity of germination and increase crop yields for more than ten years (Davies et al. 2017). Additionally soil inversion can also aid in the deep placement of soil amendments (i.e. agricultural lime for increasing soil pH) and reduce weed competition by the burial of the weed seed bank. However isolated reports of dramatic crop establishment failures following soil inversion have compelled further research of the soil factors that could be contributing to the losses.

Inverting the soil may degrade the soil structure and organic matter levels in the ameliorated topsoil. Potentially this can alter the behavior of pre-emergent herbicides. Glasshouse studies have shown that with the reduction in organic carbon, less herbicide will be adsorbed and will more readily leach deeper into the soil profile (Bakker and Poulish 2015). Therefore we believe that standard label rates of pre-emergent herbicide are more active and are reaching the crop root zone at higher concentrations on inverted soils and that this can contribute to incidents of poor establishment in the first year after soil inversion

Recommended Citation

Edwards, T J, Davies, S L, Hall, D J, McDonald, G P, and Moore, J H. (2018), Pre-emergent herbicides and crop damage on inverted Soils, National Soil Science Conference, Bridgewater, pp.485-486.
https://library.dpird.wa.gov.au/conf_papers/272