Treating production constraints on the sandy soils of upper and lower Eyre Peninsula

Why do the trial?There are around 5 million hectares of sandy soils under agricultural production in the low to medium rainfall areas of south-eastern Australia. These soils have multiple constraints limiting production including water repellence, soil acidity, compaction and low organic carbon levels leading to poor biological cycling and nitrogen mineralisation. Estimates of the yield gap (the difference between water limiting potential and average actual crop yield) are between 1.8 and 2.1 t/ha on Upper Eyre Peninsula and as much as 2.3 t/ha on Lower Eyre Peninsula (http://yieldgapaustralia.com .au/ maps/).In 2016, GRDC invested in a research program to help grain growers identify and overcome the primary constraints to poor crop water-use on sandy soils in the low-medium rainfall environment (CSP00203). The 'Sands Impacts' component of this project enables grower groups to test outcomes from the research component by applying targeted mitigation and amelioration interventions to overcome production constraints.

为何开展本试验？
澳大利亚东南部低至中等降雨区的农业生产区域内，有约500万公顷砂质土壤用于农业生产。这些土壤存在多种限制生产的制约因素，包括斥水性（water repellence）、土壤酸性（soil acidity）、压实（compaction）以及有机碳（organic carbon）含量低，这些因素导致生物循环（biological cycling）不畅和氮矿化（nitrogen mineralisation）能力弱。产量差距（Yield Gap，即水分限制潜力与平均实际作物产量之间的差值）估计值在上艾尔半岛为1.8至2.1吨/公顷，在下艾尔半岛则高达2.3吨/公顷（http://yieldgapaustralia.com.au/maps/）。

2016年，GRDC投资了一项研究项目（项目编号：CSP00203），旨在帮助谷物种植者识别并克服低至中等降雨环境下砂质土壤中作物水分利用效率低下的主要制约因素。

该项目的"Sands Impacts"子组件允许种植者团体通过应用针对性缓解与改良措施来测试研究组件的成果，以克服生产制约因素。