Level 2 Detail of experimental conditions

Description of study

What?

The study monitored soil loss and runoff over a four year period on a range of treatments (bare, conventional and furrow mulching) at a commercial pineapple farm near Gympie.  In addition, to the existing farmer’s practice (convention treatment) and furrow mulching, other practices were incorporated into the study (compaction of furrows, construction of tied ridges in furrows to trap both runoff and sediment). However, for comparison in this report, the main treatments analysed were bare, conventional and furrow mulching.

When and Where?

The research site near Goomboorian is approximately 18 km north east of Gympie. The pineapple farm abuts a pine forestry. The landscape is highly dissected with steep hills.

At the Goomboorian site research plots were constructed across the slope (14%) to create furrow gradient to less then 6%, as the soil was highly erodible. Pineapples were planted on raised beds to improve drainage.

Goomboorian contains very sandy soils with low organic matter, which is typical of such virgin conditions. The C:N ratio of organic matter in the surface of the Goomboorian soil is 78, this is due to accumulated charcoal in the surface of the Goomboorian site. Furthermore, organic matter is higher in the 0.5-0.6 m (26%) layer than in the surface. This is due to leaching and deposition of organic matter in the profile of this sandy soil. The surface soil is well structured, while the permeability of the profile is approximately 1 day (well drained). As with most sandy soils the water holding capacity is generally low. The estimated plant available water capacity is approximately 90 mm.

How?

Field experiments were carried out on hydrologically bounded plots with areas varying from 18 to 3500 m².  Rainfall was measured using pluviometers constructed from standard 2000 mm daily rainfall gauges by incorporating a 0.22 mm PVC tipping bucket.

To allow measurement of both total soil loss and runoff rates, sediment-laden water leaving the plot was collected in a modified Gerlanch trough consisting of a concrete or galvanised iron collecting channel of low slope (1%). Once the bedload has settled the remaining water was passed through a device for measuring flow rate. A flume (plots over 400 m²) or a tipping bucket was used to measure flow. As water passes out of the tipping bucket, a small portion of the suspended load was sampled by slotted pipes and stored in a plastic container (this represents the average suspended sediment concentration during a runoff event). The suspended sediment is calculated by multiplying the average concentration of suspended load by the total volume of runoff.

Estimates of aerial crop cover were taken for both green and residue cover, surface roughness, extent of rill erosion (or ephemeral gully) formation after a runoff event. Soil shear strength and particle settling velocity distribution after rainfall were also monitored at regular intervals.

Project administration

Site identifier code: na

Principal investigator: Cyril A.A. Ciesolka

Principal data manager: -na

Principal organizations: Queensland Department of Primary Industries.

Data custodian: Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM)

Key co-operators: Ray Walker Imbil; Buchanan's at Goomboorian; Beerwah Pineapple Research Farm.

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

1. Coughlan KJ, Rose CW. 1997. Field experimental results - runoff, soil loss and crop yield in Tropical Steeplands (Chapter 3) in A New Soil Conservation Methodology and Application to Cropping Systems A comparative synthesis of results obtained in ACIAR Project PN 9201 ACIAR Technical Reports No 40. 147 pp. ISBN 1 86320 211 0
2. Ciesiolka CAA, Hashim GM. 1997. Watershed management for erosion control in steeplands of tropical Asia and Australia (Chapter 6) in Tropical Steeplands  A comparative synthesis of results obtained in ACIAR Project PN 9201 ACIAR Technical Reports No 40. 147 pp. ISBN 1 86320 211 0
3. Various documents including field day notes kindly provided by Cyril Ciesiolka.
4. Interview with Cyril Ciesiolka

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