Predicting Nitrogen cycling and losses in Australian cropping systems

Excessive rainfall has hit northern growers over the past six months.

With water logging across paddocks, growers are at heightened risk of losing nitrogen from denitrification, and it’s an issue GRDC is keen to understand better.

Recent research supported by GRDC and led by Senior Research scientist at the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Dr Graeme Schwenke, found that on average, paddocks with waterlogging could lose 28 per cent of nitrogen from denitrification.

To get the complete picture of nitrogen cycling and the conditions under which growers can lose nitrogen from the soil, GRDC has launched a new project to investigate how to better predict nitrogen cycling and losses in Australian cropping systems with a focus on augmenting measurements to enhance modelling.

In this podcast Dr Schwenke discusses the state of play on the ground right now, and the value of further research into nitrogen cycling.

Contact

Graeme Schwenke
NSW DPI
graeme.schwenke@dpi.nsw.gov.au

More information

GRDC Update Paper: Nitrogen volatilisation: Factors affecting how much N is lost and how much is left over time