Diagnosis and Management of Sodic Soils under …...Diagnosis and Management of Sodic Soils under...
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Diagnosis and Management of Sodic Soils under Sugarcane Edited by P N Nelson Con tributors: Pa ul Nelson (C SIRO Land and Water); Gary Ham, Graham Kingsto n, Dr ewe Bu rgess, A da m Law er (Bu r eau of Sugar Experime nt Stations); Andrew Woo d (CSR) ; Nev Christianos, Peter Wi lson, M ik e Grundy, Donna Smith (Queenslan d Department of Natu ral Re sources); Scott Hardy (Whitsunday Sh ire Council). A CRC Suga r Technical Publication, M arch 2001. eR e lor Sustainable Sugar Production, Townsville. 64 pp. ISBN - 1 876679 08 5 COOPERATIVE RESEARCH C E TRE FOR SUSTAINABLE SUGAR PRODUCTION CS I RO L A ND and WATE R • 4 42 £ ; .,-•. .&Z $
Transcript of Diagnosis and Management of Sodic Soils under …...Diagnosis and Management of Sodic Soils under...
Diagnosis and Management of
Sodic Soils under Sugarcane
Edited by P N Nelson
Con tributors: Paul Nelson (CSIRO Land and Water); Gary Ham, Graham Kingston, Drewe Burgess, Adam Lawer (Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations); Andrew Wood (CSR) ; Nev Christianos, Pete r Wi lson ,
M ike Grundy, Donna Smith (Queensland Department of Natu ral Resources); Scott Hardy (Whitsunday Shire Council).
A CRC Sugar Technical Publication, March 2001.
eRe lor Sustainable Sugar Production, Townsville. 64 pp.
ISBN - 1 876679 08 5
COOPERATIVE RESEARCH C E TRE FOR
SUSTAINABLE SUGAR PRODUCTION CS I RO L A ND and W ATE R • 4 42 £ ; .,- •. .&Z $
What is this manual about?
Soil sodicity has a marked detrim ental effect on sugarcane growth and yield . This manual deals with the diagnosis and management of sodicity and related problems
in the soils and irrigation waters of the Australian sugar industry.
This manual is part of a toolkit designed for use by extension officers , agribusiness con sultants and growers in the Australian sugar industry. The other components of the toolkit are a diagnostic Field Kit and a computer program Gypsy, Llsed for gypsum rate ca leu lations.
Throughout the manual, words and abbreviations that may be unfamil iar are defined in the Glossary sect ion.
Diagnosis and Management of
Sodie SOils under Sugarcane
Sodie Soils Field Kit
Sodie Soils Manual
S O D I e S OI L S MA NU A L
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Gypsy
Contents WHY ARE SODIC AND SALINE SOILS AN ISSUE? 5 Effects of sodicity and salinity on sugarcane growth 5
How does sodici ty affect growth? 5 Other effects of sodicity 6
Nutrit ion and disease 6 Cu lt ivatio n and trafficabi li ty 7 Su ga r qua lity 7 Env ironmenta l im pacts 7
WHY DO SODIC SOILS BEHAVE AS THEY DO? 9 What are sodicity and salinity? 9 How sodicity affects soil physical properties 10
Cl ay dispersion and soi l st ruct ure 10 Inte ract ion of sod icity with other soi l properties 11
DIAGNOSIS OF SODICITY AND RELATED PROBLEMS 15 Laboratory analysis and interpretation of tests 15 Diagnosis in the field 17
WHERE DO SODIC AND SALINE SOILS OCCUR? 19 Classification and mapping 19 Orig in and occurrence throughout the industry 20
Ath erton Tab leland 20 Herbert 21 Burdekin 22 Proserpi ne and M ackay 23 Bundaberg 25
HOW SHOULD SODIC AND SALINE SOILS BE MANAGED? 27 Principles 27 Farm planning, block design and levelling 27 Irrigation 28
Ir rigation tech nique 28 Ir rigation w ater quality 28 Water qu ali ty t ypes 30 Ot her aspects of irrigat ion w ater qua lity 31 Improving w ater quality 32
Drainage 33 Trash management 33 Ameliorants 34
Lime or gyps um? 34 Gypsum 35 Lime 37 Gypsum and l im e quality 38 Mi ll byp roducts 39 Acid ification of alkaline sod ie soils 40 Other ame liora nts 40
Varieties and nutrition 40 Cultivation 40 Managing salinity 41 Managing water penetration problems in non-sodic soils 42
BACKGROUND INFORMATION 43 General references 43 Cited references 43 Glossary and abbreviations 45 Units and conversions, prefixes of SI units 52 Maps of sodic soils in sugarcane districts of Queensland 54 Building a dissolvenator 62
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S aD i e SOILS M ANUAL
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