Chickpea in wheat-based cropping systems of northern New South Wales I. N2 fixation and influence on soil nitrate and water

1998 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 391 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Marcellos ◽  
W. L. Felton ◽  
D. F. Herridge
Keyword(s):  
N2 Fixation ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Soil N ◽  
Cereal Crop ◽  
Mineral N ◽  
South Wales ◽  
N Fertility ◽  
Summer Fallow

Chickpea has potential as a rotation or break crop in the northern grains region of New South Wales and Queensland. Definition of that potential requires information on chickpea N2 fixation and on effects of chickpea on maintenance of soil N fertility and delivery of mineral N for use by a following cereal crop. Results from 6 experiments in northern NSW in which chickpea and wheat in one season were followed by wheat in subsequent seasons indicated variable N2 fixation by chickpea (mean 73 kg/ha; range 4-116 kg/ha), associated with variable Pfix (percentage of chickpea N derived from N2 fixation) (mean 57%; range 4-79%). There were no consistent differences between chickpea and wheat in effects on soil water, either pre-harvest or after the summer fallow. Chickpea ‘spared’ nitrate, relative to wheat (mean 15 kg/ha; range 1-35 kg/ha), and mineralised additional nitrate during the summer fallow (mean 18 kg/ha; range 5-40 kg/ha). Nitrate-N in the top 1·2 m of the soil profile at sowing of the following wheat crop was on average 89 kg/ha after chickpea (range 63-113 kg/ha) and 56 kg/ha after wheat (range 33-94 kg/ha). Nitrogen mineralisation rates during the summer fallow at 2 sites of 0·17 and 0· 21 kg N/ha · day (after chickpea), although greater than the rates after wheat (0· 07 and 0·12 kg N/ha · day), were not sufficient to meet the N requirements of a moderate to high yielding cereal crop. We concluded that chickpea did not fix sufficient N2 or mineralise sufficient N from residues either to maintain soil N fertility or to sustain a productive chickpea{wheat rotation without inputs of additional fertiliser N.

Chickpea in wheat-based cropping systems of northern New South Wales. II. Influence on biomass, grain yield, and crown rot in the following wheat crop

1998 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 401 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. L. Felton ◽  
H. Marcellos ◽  
C. Alston ◽  
R. J. Martin ◽  
D. Backhouse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cropping Systems ◽  
New South ◽  
Disease Incidence ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Crown Rot ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Soil N ◽  
Grain Yields ◽  
Plant Soil ◽  
South Wales

Rotational effects of chickpea, an important N2-fixing pulse legume of the northern grains region, on subsequent wheat require quantification of the contribution of the legume to soil N and the N status of the wheat, and of suppression of soil and stubble-borne pathogens, such as crown rot (Fusarium graminearum Schwabe Group 1). Results from selected treatments of 10 experiments in northern New South Wales in which chickpea and wheat in one season were followed by wheat in following seasons indicated generally higher dry matter (DM) and grain yields of wheat after chickpea than after wheat. Responses to chickpea were -0·8 to 3·3 t/ha (shoot DM) and -3 to 39 kg N/ha (shoot N). Responses in wheat grain yields were -0·1 to 1·7 t/ha (mean 0·85 t/ha); grain N responses were -2 to 33 kg/ha (mean 19 kg/ha). Grain protein responses were small (0·6%) and variable. Although these productivity responses could be explained largely in terms of additional nitrate-N following chickpea, we measured reduced incidences of crown rot in wheat after chickpea (range 1-36%, mean of 12%), compared with wheat after wheat (range 5-52%, mean 30%). Modelling the incidence of crown rot indicated highly significant interactions between prior crop and total water (pre-plant soil water plus in-crop rainfall). When wheat followed chickpea, incidence of the disease declined sharply with increasing water. When wheat followed wheat, there was a marginal decline in disease incidence with increasing water. Our results support the strategy of using legumes in rotation with wheat in the northern grains region for enhanced soil-N supply and disease-break effects.

Does nitrogen fixation of commercial, dryland chickpea and faba bean crops in north-west New South Wales maintain or enhance soil nitrogen?

1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. D. Schwenke ◽  
M. B. Peoples ◽  
G. L. Turner ◽  
D. F. Herridge
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Fixation ◽  
Faba Bean ◽  
N2 Fixation ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Soil Nitrate ◽  
North West ◽  
Nitrate N ◽  
South Wales ◽  
N Fertility

Summary. Nitrogen (N2 ) fixation accords pulse crops the potential to sustain or enhance total soil nitrogen (N) fertility. However, regional field experiments have shown that this potential is often not realised because N2 fixation is inhibited by the supply of nitrate N in the root zone (0–90 cm) coupled with a low demand for N during plant growth. The objectives of this study were to establish whether commercially grown chickpea and faba bean crops in the northern grain belt of New South Wales were depleting, maintaining or enhancing soil N fertility, and whether current farm management practices were maximising the N2 fixation potential of the crops. Fifty-one rainfed crops of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) and faba bean (Vicia faba L.) were surveyed in the Moree, Walgett and Gunnedah districts of north-west New South Wales during the winters of 1994 and 1995. Nitrogen fixation was measured using the natural 15N abundance technique. Net N balance was calculated for each crop by subtracting grain N harvested from fixed N2. Soil, plant and fallow conditions with potential to influence N2 fixation were also documented. The percentage of crop N derived from N2 fixation (Pfix) ranged from 0 to 81% for chickpea and 19 to 79% for faba bean. Nitrogen fixation of chickpea was uniformly low in the 1994 drought. Total N2 fixed ranged from 0 to 99 kg/ha for chickpea and 15 to 171 kg/ha for faba bean. Net N balance ranged from –47 to +46 kg N/ha for chickpea crops, and –12 to +94 kg N/ha for faba bean crops. About 60% of the difference in Pfix between chickpea and faba bean at the average level of soil nitrate (65 kg/ha) was explained by the higher N demand of the latter. The remaining 40% could be due to greater tolerance of the faba bean symbiosis to nitrate effects. In addition, faba bean had a lower N harvest index than chickpea, which meant that proportionally less N needed to be fixed by faba bean to offset removal of grain N. On average, Pfix needed to exceed 35% for chickpea and 19% for faba bean to balance soil N. The equivalent soil nitrate levels were 43 kg nitrate N/ha for chickpea and 280 kg/ha for faba bean (extrapolated from the relationship between measured Pfix and soil nitrate). Double-cropping chickpea into summer cereal or grass pasture stubble provided the most consistent strategy for achieving the low levels of soil nitrate.

The availability of mineral nitrogen in a wheat soil from southern New South Wales

1962 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 185 ◽  
Author(s):  
RR Storrier
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Uptake ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Nitrogen Deficiency ◽  
Ammonia Nitrogen ◽  
Mineral Nitrogen ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Wagga Wagga ◽  
Emergence Period ◽  
South Wales

In a red-brown earth soil from Wagga Wagga the fluctuations in the level of mineral nitrogen (ammonia plus nitrate-nitrogen) and its availability to wheat under growing period rainfalls of 6 inches and 16 inches were studied. Ammonia-nitrogen did not exceed 8 lb nitrogen per acre 6 inches but showed statistically significant short term fluctuations. Mineral nitrogen decreased steadily from the 4-5 leaf stage of plant growth, reaching minimum values in the ear-emergence period when a temporary nitrogen deficiency occurred. Following rainfalls of about one inch or more, conditions favoured biological activity and nitrogen was mineralized, absorbed by the crop and/or leached down the profile. In one season a release of mineral nitrogen about two weeks before flowering contributed an estimated 20-30 per cent of the total nitrogen uptake of the crop. Nitrogen uptake by the wheat crop ceased after flowering and subsequent changes in mineral nitrogen level reflect the net result of mineralization and demineralization processes, and nitrogen uptake by weeds, particularly skeleton weed. Absorption of nitrogen from the profile depended upon seasonal conditions, with the surface 18 inches suppling the greater part of the nitrogen absorbed by the crop. This indicates the need to sample regularly to at least a depth of 18 inches, particularly during the period from 4-5 leaf to flowering, when studying the relation between mineral nitrogen and crop growth. The data suggest that the response of wheat, as measured by grain yield and protein content, to the higher levels of mineral nitrogen in the improved soils of southern New South Wales is determined by soil moisture levels, particularly in the post-flowering period.

Production of summer crops in northern New South Wales. I. Effects of tillage and double cropping on growth, grain and N yields of six crops

1992 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
DF Herridge ◽  
JF Holland
Keyword(s):  
N2 Fixation ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Growth Yield ◽  
No Tillage ◽  
Tillage Practice ◽  
Grain Yields ◽  
Double Cropping ◽  
South Wales

The effects of tillage practice and double cropping on growth, yield and N economies of summer crops were examined in field experiments near Tamworth, northern New South Wales. Sorghum, sunflower, soybean, mungbean, cowpea and pigeon pea were sown into alkaline, black earth soils which contained either high (Site A, sown January 1983), moderate (Site B, sown December 1983), or low concentrations of nitrate (Site C, sown December 1984). During the previous winters, the land had been sown to wheat (double crop) or fallowed using cultivation or no-tillage practices. At Sites A and B, dry matter yields, averaged over all crops, were increased by 34 and 14% under no-tillage. Average increases in grain yields at the two sites were 22 and 11%. At Site C, tillage practice did not affect yields. Soybean showed the greatest responses to no-tillage. Increases in grain yields were 46, 15 and 18% for Sites A, B and C respectively. The least responsive legume was mungbean. Yields of sorghum were increased by 41% at Site A; responses at Sites B and C ranged between a 9% decrease and a 7% increase. With double cropping, grain yields were, on average, 18 (Site A), 81 (Site B) and 72% (Site C) of the yields in the cultivated (fallow) plots. However, when comparisons were made for the 12 month periods, i.e. wheat and summer crops v. fallow and summer crops, production was more than doubled at Site B and tripled at Site C, compared with the cultivated fallow. Significant in the responses to double cropping were the 192 (Site B) and 230 mm rainfalls (Site C) during November and December that replenished the soil profile with water to a depth of >0.75 m. Assessments of soybean N2 fixation using the ureide method indicated large effects of site and season on the proportion of plant N derived from N2 fixation (range, 0-0.83), on the amount of N2 fixed (range, 0-233 kg N ha-1) and on the N balance as a result of the cropping (range, -69 to +45 kg N ha-1).

Survey of the productivity, composition and estimated inputs of fixed nitrogen by pastures in central-western New South Wales

2004 ◽  
Vol 44 (12) ◽  
pp. 1165 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Bowman ◽  
W. Smith ◽  
M. B. Peoples ◽  
J. Brockwell
Keyword(s):  
White Clover ◽  
N2 Fixation ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
New South ◽  
Perennial Grass ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Subterranean Clover ◽  
Legume Species ◽  
Forage Production ◽  
South Wales

Total productivity and legume nitrogen fixation (N2 fixation) in dryland pastures were examined in a 2 year study (1999–2001) on 118 farms in central-western New South Wales. Pasture exclosure cages, placed at 217 on-farm sites, were harvested on 7 occasions and the foliage hand-sorted according to species in order to measure shoot dry matter (DM). The separated legume shoot material collected in spring 1999 (52 different legume samples) and 2000 (76 different legume samples) from a subset of representative pastures (41 cages on 28 different farms in 1999, 32 cages on 25 different farms in 2000) was also analysed for concentration of nitrogen (%N) and 15N natural abundance. These data were subsequently used to calculate the proportion of the legume shoot N derived from atmospheric N (%Ndfa), comparative measures of the relative efficiency of N2 fixation (kg N fixed/t DM accumulated) and the amounts of shoot N fixed (kg N/ha). The survey encompassed 8 common pasture types, and 5 others that were less common, ranging from native perennial grass pastures with little legume content to lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) pastures with and without companion clovers. Fifteen legume species were found in the pastures, some only occasionally. Lucerne and white clover (Trifolium repens L.) were the only perennials. Mean spring estimates of %Ndfa were similar in 1999 and 2000 for lucerne (72 and 81%, respectively), rose clover (T. hirtum All., 82 and 77%) and annual medics (Medicago spp., 89 and 86%). For the remaining 12 legume species, measures of %Ndfa ranged from 64 to 95% and averaged 83%. Shoot %N contents were greater for lucerne than for the other 14 legumes and this was reflected in the comparative measures of N2 fixation which ranged from 14.5 kg N/t DM for rose clover to 25.7 kg N/t DM for lucerne in 2000. The most productive pasture type comprised lucerne plus balansa clover [T. michelianum Savi var. balansae (Boiss.) Azn.], white clover or arrowleaf clover (T. vesiculosum Savi), but all pasture types that contained lucerne were highly productive. Spring was the most productive season and summer the least. Lucerne was overwhelmingly the most productive legume and was responsible for >83% of the fixed N in those pastures that contained both lucerne and other legumes. Lucerne productivity was approximately uniform throughout the year whereas, for other pastures, especially those based on rose clover or subterranean clover (T. subterraneum L.), there were sharp peaks in spring and little or no dry matter production over summer. The presence of lucerne in pastures significantly (P<0.05) reduced broadleaf weeds. It was concluded that, where there are requirements in central-western New South Wales agriculture for uniform forage production throughout the year and a high input of fixed N, lucerne is substantially superior to other species.

Production of summer crops in northern New South Wales. II. Effects of tillage and crop rotation on yields of sorghum

1992 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 123 ◽  
Author(s):  
JF Holland ◽  
DF Herridge
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Threshold Value ◽  
No Tillage ◽  
Tillage Practices ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
One Year ◽  
N Fertility ◽  
Rotation Crop

Two crops of sorghum were grown in successive summer seasons at 3 sites on alkaline, black earth soils near Tamworth, New South Wales following either soyabeans, mungbeans, cowpeas, pigeonpeas, sunflowers or sorghum. Tillage practices were cultivation using a chisel plough and scarifier, and no-tillage using atrazine and glyphosate for weed control. Variation in grain yield (1.0-8.4 t/ha) was largely associated with variation in Dec.-Feb. rainfall (128-475 mm). An average of 15 kg grain/ha was produced for each mm water above the threshold value of 83 mm. At the high (Site A) and low (Site C) N-fertility sites, the rotation effect on sorghum yields was significant for one year, but did not carry over to a second sorghum crop. Cowpeas were the best rotation crop, followed by sunflowers mungbeans and soyabeans. At the low N-fertility site, sorghum following cowpeas outyielded sorghum after sorghum by 47% in the unfertilized plots and by an aExperiments to examine the effects of tillage practice and crop sequence on the production of sorghum grain in northern New South Wales are described. Two crops of sorghum were grown in successive seasons at three sites on alkaline, black earth soils near Tamworth following either soybean, mungbean, cowpea, pigeonpea, sunflower or sorghum. Tillage practices were cultivation using a chisel plough and scarifier, and no-tillage using atrazine and glyphosate for weed control. Variation in grain yield (1.0 to 8.4 t/ha) was largely associated with variation in December-February rainfall (128 to 475 mm). We calculated that an average of 15 kg/ha of grain was produced for each mm water above the threshold value of 83 rnm. At the high (Site A) and low (Site C) N-fertility sites, the rotation effect on sorghum yields was significant for one year, but did not carry over to a second sorghum crop. Cowpea was the best rotation crop, followed by sunflower, mungbean and soybean. At the low N-fertility site, sorghum following cowpea outyielded sorghum after sorghum by 47% in the unfertilized plots and by an average of 27% over all N treatments. It is likely that the increased yields of sorghum in the rotation plots resulted from higher levels of plant available N from both N2 fixation activity (legumes only) and reduced amounts of N removed with the harvested grain (particularly cowpea and sunflower). At the non-responsive, moderate-fertility Site B, water, rather than N, was limiting. Responses to no-tillage were apparent only in the very dry 1984/85 season (December to February rainfall, 42% below average). In the other three seasons, the cultivated crops outyielded the no-tilled crops or the differences between the two practices were not significant.

Growth, yield and nitrogen requirements of winter sown cereals grown after cotton or summer fallow in the lower Namoi Valley, New South Wales

1984 ◽  
Vol 24 (125) ◽  
pp. 236
Author(s):  
GK McDonald ◽  
BG Sutton ◽  
FW Ellison
Keyword(s):  
Grain Yield ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Dry Matter ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Grain Yields ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Matter Production ◽  
Summer Fallow ◽  
Applied Nitrogen

Three winter cereals (wheat varieties Songlen and WW 15, triticale variety Satu) were grown after cotton or summer fallow under three levels of applied nitrogen (0, 100 and 200 kg N/ha) at Narrabri, New South Wales. The cereals were sown on August 7, 1980 and growing season rainfall was supplemented by a single irrigation. Leaf area, total shoot dry matter production and ears per square metre were lower after cotton than after summer fallow, while grain yields of cereals sown immediately after cotton were 33% lower than those sown after fallow. Adding nitrogen increased leaf area, dry matter and grain yields of crops grown after cotton and fallow, but significant increases were not obtained with more than 100 kg/ha of applied nitrogen. Crops grown after cotton required an application of 100 kg N/ha for leaf and dry matter production at anthesis to equal that of crops grown after fallow with no additional nitrogen. The corresponding cost to grain yield of growing cotton was equivalent to 200 kg N/ha. The low grain yield responses measured in this experiment (1 8 and 10% increase to 100 kg N/ha after cotton and fallow, respectively) were attributed to the combined effects of late sowing, low levels of soil moisture and loss, by denitrification, of some of the applied nitrogen. The triticale, Satu, yielded significantly less than the two wheats (1 99 g/m2 for Satu c.f. 255 and 286 g/m2 for Songlen and WW 15, respectively), and did not appear to be a viable alternative to wheat in a cotton rotation.

Effect of timing of pasture grass removal on subsequent take-all incidence and yield in wheat in southern New South Wales

2002 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 1087 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. Kidd ◽  
G. M. Murray ◽  
J. E. Pratley ◽  
A. R. Leys
Keyword(s):  
Grain Yield ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
The Other ◽  
Gaeumannomyces Graminis ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Pasture Grass ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Take All

Winter cleaning is the removal of grasses from pasture using selective herbicides applied during winter. We compared the effectiveness of an early (June) and late (July) winter cleaning with an early spring herbicide fallow (September), spring (October) herbicide and no disturbance of the pasture on development of the root disease take-all in the subsequent wheat crop. Experiments were done at 5 sites in the eastern Riverina of New South Wales in 1990 and 1991. The winter clean treatments reduced soil inoculum of Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici (Ggt) compared with the other treatments at all sites as measured by a bioassay, with reductions from the undisturbed treatments of 52–79% over 5 sites. The winter clean treatments also significantly reduced the amount of take-all that developed in the subsequent wheat crop by between 52 and 83%. The early and late winter clean treatments increased the number of heads/m2 at 3 and 1 sites, respectively. Dry matter at anthesis was increased by the winter clean treatments at 3 sites. Grain yield was increased by the winter cleaning treatments over the other treatments at the 4 sites harvested, with yield increases of the early winter clean over the undisturbed treatment from 13 to 56%. The autumn bioassay of Ggt was positively correlated with spring take-all and negatively correlated with grain yield of the subsequent wheat crop at each site. However, there was a significant site and site × bioassay interaction so that the autumn bioassay could not be used to predict the amount of take-all that would develop.

Wheat response after temperate crop legumes in south-eastern Australia

1991 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Evans ◽  
NA Fettell ◽  
DR Coventry ◽  
GE O'Connor ◽  
DN Walsgott ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Wheat Yield ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
First Year ◽  
Mineral N ◽  
Total N ◽  
Available N ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Eastern Australia

At 15 sites in the cereal belt of New South Wales and Victoria, wheat after lupin or pea produced more biomass and had a greater nitrogen (N) content than wheat after wheat or barley; on average these crops assimilated 36 kg N/ha more. The improved wheat yield after lupin averaged 0 . 9 t/ha and after pea 0.7 t/ha, increases of 44 and 32% respectively. The responses were variable with site, year and legume. Soil available N was increased by both lupin and pea and the levels of surface inorganic N measured at the maturity of first year crops was often related to N in wheat grown in the following year. Of two possible sources of additional N for wheat after legumes, namely mineral N conserved in soil by lupin or pea (up to 60 kg N/ha) and the total N added in the residues of these legumes (up to 152 kg N/ha), both were considered significant to the growth of a following wheat crop. Their relative contribution to explaining variance in wheat N is analysed, and it is suggested wheat may acquire up to 40 kg N/ha from legume stubbles. Non-legume break crops also increased subsequent wheat yield but this effect was not as great as the combined effect of added N and disease break attained with crop legumes.

Modelling the effect on stocking rate and lamb production of allowing ewes to graze a dual-purpose wheat crop in southern New South Wales

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (10) ◽  
pp. 1625 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. McGrath ◽  
J. M. Virgona ◽  
M. A. Friend
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rates ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Wheat Crop ◽  
Stocking Rate ◽  
Gross Margin ◽  
Dual Purpose ◽  
Mixed Farming ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Gross Margins

Slow pasture growth rates during winter limit the potential gross margins from autumn and early winter lambing in southern New South Wales (NSW) by limiting stocking rates and/or increasing supplementary feed requirements. Dual-purpose crops can reduce the winter feed gap in mixed-farming systems by increasing the available feed in winter. The simulation software AusFarm was used to model a mixed-farming system at Wagga Wagga with Merino ewes joined to terminal sires and grazing lucerne-subterranean clover pasture over a 41-year period. A paddock of dual-purpose wheat was then added to the system, and ewes were allowed to graze the wheat crop when feed on offer reached 850 kg DM/ha and before GS31. Weaned lambs were sold after late August if lamb growth rates fell below 20 g/head.day, mean lamb weight reached 45 kg or production feeding of lambs was required. Lambing in June resulted in the highest median gross margin whether or not ewes were able to graze the wheat crop during winter. Grazing of a dual-purpose wheat crop resulted in greater proportional increases in gross margins as stocking rate was increased, increased lamb production and reduced supplementary feeding costs, and reduced interannual variability in gross margin returns.

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