Understanding soil nutrient concentrations down the soil profile offers more accurate information to support better fertiliser decisions.

Key points

• A range of soil test values used to determine if a nutrient is deficient or adequate is termed a critical range.
• Fertiliser decisions are in part based on where the soil test falls in relation to the critical range.
• Critical ranges for combinations of nutrient, crop and soil types are being established.
• Critical ranges are being established for topsoils (0 to 10cm) and subsoils (10 to 30cm in some cases, or to the depth of the crop root zone in others), depending on the nutrient.
• Deeper sampling is considered essential for understanding soil nutritional status and fertiliser requirement in northern cropping systems.

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