Information
Level 2 Detail of experimental conditions (what might be found in a journal paper or project brief in Hydstra)
Description of study
What?
Nutrient runoff and soil concentrations of nitrogen were measured in a commercial macadamia plantation.
When and Where?
The study commenced in October 2005 and concluded in July 2006. The study was conducted on a macadamia farm in the coastal Burnett catchment of South-East Queensland. The region is subject to a subtropical climate with an average maximum temperature of 30oC and average rainfall of 1002 mm.
Soil present on site is classified locally as a Kandosol and is gradationally textured. Trees were planted at a density of 351 trees/ha.
Trees were irrigated with micro-jet sprinklers that were spaced equidistant between trees and 30 cm above bed surfaces. A granular form of ammonium potassium sulfate fertiliser (14.7% N, 0% P, 11% K, 18.1% S) was mechanically distributed onto these beds periodically.
How?
A 0.24 ha catchment with a gradient of 3.1% was established on the farm to measure and sample surface runoff. Temporal and spatial changes in soil mineral nitrogen were also measured in the runoff block.
Sediment and water samples were collected from 10 different locations along a stream which is located approximately 8 km from the coastline of the nutrient management zone (NMZ). The runoff block was located at the midpoint of the stream length.
Project administration
Site identifier code: na
Principal investigator: Stork PR
Principal data manager: -na
Principal organizations: Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Agriculture State Investments Program
Data custodian: Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries
Key co-operators: na
Data access policy: Research has been published but base data is not archived
Planned pathway for data: completed study, no evidence of formal database records.
Data warehousing: for ongoing studies -na
Planned data upload frequency: for ongoing studies -na
Key references and sources of this data synthesis
These data summaries have been extracted from:
- Stork PR, Lyons DJ, Bell MJ. 2009. Losses of nitrogen in surface runoff from a plantation horticulture farm in coastal Queensland, Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 47: 565-573.
Keywords:
Nitrate, ammonium, eutrophication, macadamia