Information
Level 2 Detail of experimental conditions (Rutherglen)
Description of study
What?
The effects of tillage and stubble management on soil nutrients that are potentially mobilised into runoff from a long-term trial site at Rutherglen (established in 1981) were investigated.
When and Where?
The study commenced in 2006 and the site is located within the high rainfall zone (HRZ) of south-eastern Australia. The mean annual rainfall for 2006 was 240mm. The mean annual maximum temperature at the site is 22oC with a minimum of 7.4oC. The site has been used for cropping since 1986, primarily wheat-grain legume rotations.
How?
On 2 different sampling dates (February and August 2006) soils from the 0–20, 20–50, and 50–150mm depths were collected from 3 treatments: conventional cultivation with stubble burning (CCb); direct drill with stubble burning (DDb); and direct drill with stubble retained (DDr).
In 2004, the trial was sown with wheat (Triticum aestivum cv. Dollarbird), followed by faba beans in 2005 (Vicia faba L.) and wheat again in 2006. In August 2006, a rainfall simulation experiment was also conducted on these sites and data was collected following the simulation.
Soil moisture content was estimated by weighing samples before and after drying to a constant weight at 105oC. Soil water was extracted from the post-rain 0–20mm depth soil samples by centrifugation of 200 g of moist soil at ~1500G for 15 min. Surface runoff was filtered through 0.45 µm membrane filters immediately following collection.
Project administration
Site identifier code: na
Principal investigator: Mathers NJ and Nash DM
Principal data manager: -na
Principal organizations: Victorian Department of Primary Industries and Grains Research and Development Corporation.
Data custodian: Victorian Department of Primary Industries
Key co-operators:
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:
- Mathers NJ, & Nash DM. 2009. Effects of tillage practices on soil and water phosphorus and nitrogen fractions in a Chromosol at Rutherglen in Victoria, Australia. Australian Journal of Soil Research 47: 46-59.
Keywords:
Direct drill, stubble retention, conventional cultivation, nutrient export, simulated rainfall