Can potassium help crops under stress?
GroundCover™ Supplement Issue: 108 | 20 Jan 2014
There is increasing interest in the role of potassium in alleviating the impact of frost, drought and salinity in crops
Murdoch University researcher Dr Richard Bell is leading a More Profit from Crop Nutrition project to determine if enhanced potassium nutrition can be used to better manage crop stressors.
Research is underway to determine if potassium can play a part in boosting crop resillience under frost and other environment stresses such as drought and salinity.
PHOTO: Ben Biddulph
“Potassium is central to many crop physiological processes including water relations, sodium uptake and photosynthesis so it makes sense to investigate whether improved potassium status can lift the resilience of crops exposed to frost, drought and salinity,” Dr Bell says.
Low potassium occurs across 30 per cent of soils in the western growing region.
“These areas are also prone to frost and drought,” he says.
Dr Bell will carry out field trials between 2013 and 2015 to determine whether supplying soil potassium at sowing and foliar potassium spray at booting can alleviate frost damage in wheat.
Additional trials will investigate whether soil potassium supply can increase drought resistance in wheat.
Results from the trials on sandy and low potassium (30 to 40 milligrams of Colwell-K per kilogram) soils in frost-prone zones will be used to derive a relationship between concentration of shoot potassium and frost damage in wheat.
Nutritional benefits of claying
About 160,000 hectares of sandy soils across southern Australia have been clayed to address water repellence.
A new More Profit from Crop Nutrition project will examine the spin-off benefits of claying for crop nutrition.
Project leader Dr Richard Bell says there is potential for claying to benefit crop nutrition through improved soil nutrient retention and availability and increased soil water capacity.
“Sands generally have a low water-limited yield potential due to their low nutrient and water-holding capacity, low pH buffering and high water repellence and erosion potential,” Dr Bell says.
The project will measure the soil fertility and crop nutrition status of clay-amended sands and investigate whether growers have adjusted their crop nutrition management following claying and/or spading.
Field trials will be complemented with glasshouse and laboratory studies to better understand the relationship between clay rate and incorporation method on nutrient availability and uptake in a range of sands. The goal is to develop guidelines for growers on how to adjust nutrient management after clay enhancement and cultivation of sands.
More information:
Dr Richard Bell,0405 131 429,
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More accurate soil tests sought
GRDC Project Code UMU00042, UMU00041
Region West, National, North, South
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