Investment

This investment aims to improve grain growers and advisers' understanding of how soil modifications alter the availability of nutrients in the soil and for how long, and consequently how this may impact decision making regarding fertiliser requirements. Substantial modification of soils through one-off mechanical soil amelioration activities including ploughing, ripping, topsoil inversion, delving and spading alter the distribution of nutrients through the soil profile, whereby nutrients that are near the soil surface are redistributed through the soil profile. Given that the soil modifications are aimed at overcoming important constraints such as non-wetting, soil compaction, lime incorporation and herbicide resistance, there is every likelihood that the practice will expand in future. The effects of different mechanical soil modifications on the movement and subsequent plant availability of different nutrients will be measured. In addition, the suitability of previous methods for estimating quantities of plant-available nutrients after soil has been modified will be assessed.