Information

 

Runoff, soil loss and crop yield from Pineapples under a range of management practices -Goomboorian

Level 1

Purpose

To identify appropriate land management practices for pineapple farming.

Method

This pineapple study commenced in 1991, with monitoring conducted for 4 consecutive years near Goomboorian, Gympie. Runoff and soil loss were measured for three treatments (bare plot, conventional practice and furrow mulching).

Key findings (brief)

For the period 1991 to 1995 annual average rainfall was 1045 mm, while runoff and sediment loss for each treatment can be viewed in the below table. Annual runoff and soil loss concentrations were sustainably lower in the improved practice (furrow mulching) (150 mm and 3 t/ha, respectively), while the bare research plots recorded the greatest losses (286mm and 216 t/ha).

This brief results summary was used to tune the Howleaky model with minimla tuning and reasonable confidence in model robustness.

Table 5. Mean annual runoff, erosion and water quality exploring the impact of slope and slope length in steep-land pineapples - Imbil (Ciesiolka et al. 1985). Duration of study:1988-91 (3 Water Years), AAR 1232 mm.

Treatment

Slope length

m

Slope

%

LS1

Runoff

mm

Soil loss t/ha

EMC 1

 

gm/L

Normalised2 Soil loss

t/ha

Normalised3 EMC

gm/L

Bare

36

5

5.0

286

216

75.5

43.2

15.1

Conventional

36

5

5.0

213

51

23.9

10.2

4.8

Furrow mulching

36

5

5.0

150

3

2.0

0.6

0.4

1 Soil loss divided by runoff, primary sediment source, no allowance for deposition.

2 USLE factor used to correct normalised data to an LS =1

3 EMC normalised to an LS =1

Location

Buchanan’s farm at Goomboorian Is Lat 26° 3’ 26.97’’S, Long 152° 47’ 39.71’’E

Related studies

Beerwah Pineapple Research Farm Lat 26° 56’ 0.17’’S, Long 152° 57’ 18.97’’E

Ciesiolka C.A.A, Coughlan K.J, Rose C.W, Smith G.D. 1995. Hydrology, sediment and erosion in pineapples in steep areas of south eastern Queensland (Imbil). Soil Technology. 8: 245-258.

Capelin MA, Truong PN 1985. Soil erosion within pineapple fields in south-east Queensland.

Level 2, Level 3, Level 4 and Level 5