Factors influencing the soil-test calibration for Colwell P and wheat under winter-dominant rainfall

2020 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Mark Conyers ◽  
Richard Bell ◽  
Michael Bell

Critical ranges for soil tests are based on results that inevitably involve some broad variance around the fitted relationship. Some of the variation is related to field-based factors affecting crop response to nutrients in the soil and some to the efficiency of the soil-test extractant itself. Most attempts to improve soil tests focus on the extractant, whereas here, we explore the variation that could be accounted for by field-based factors in the soil-test calibration relationship between Colwell phosphorus (P) and wheat yield, using the Australian Better Fertiliser Decisions for Crops database—the biggest dataset available for this relationship. Calibrations developed from this dataset have been criticised, and so we aimed to explore factors accounting for more of the variation in the relationships for the dryland, winter-dominant rainfall region of southern New South Wales. As reported previously, soil type was shown to influence the critical range and r-value for the Colwell P soil-test calibration for P responses by wheat. We also identified a tendency for dry conditions, at sowing or during the season, to lower relative yields for a given soil-test value, indicating increased reliance on fertiliser P over soil P. A similar trend was evident for later sowing date, again suggesting an increased probability of crop P requirements being met from the fertiliser P. However, additional records need to be generated to establish definitively that early sowing or subsurface P reserves minimise response to fertiliser P. In general, factors that influence crop access to soil P will have an impact on response to fertiliser P. Although this analysis shows that it is possible to ‘tighten’ the response curve for Colwell P and wheat by restricting the data for a given soil type to ideal management and seasonal conditions, the ‘outliers’ that are excluded frequently reflect an important subset of environmental conditions encountered by wheat crops in dryland agriculture.

2003 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. McKenzie ◽  
E. Bremer

Soil tests for available P may not be accurate because they do not measure the appropriate P fraction in soil. A sequential extraction technique (modified Hedley method) was used to determine if soil test P methods were accurately assessing available pools and if predictions of fertilizer response could be improved by the inclusion of other soil P fractions. A total of 145 soils were analyzed from field P fertilizer experiments conducted across Alberta from 1991 to 1993. Inorganic P (Pi) removed by extraction with an anion-exchange resin (resin P) was highly correlated with the Olsen and Kelowna-type soil test P methods and had a similar relationship with P fertilizer response. No appreciable improvement in the fit of available P with P fertilizer response was achieved by including any of the less available P fractions in the regression of P fertilizer response with available P. Little Pi was extractable in alkaline solutions (bicarbonate and NaOH), particularly in soils from the Brown and Dark Brown soil zones. Alkaline fractions were the most closely related to resin P, but the relationship depended on soil zone. Inorganic P extractable in dilute HCl was most strongly correlated with soil pH, reflecting accumulation in calcareous soils, while Pi extractable in concentrated acids (HCl and H2SO4) was most strongly correlated with clay concentration. A positive but weak relationship as observed between these fractions and resin P. Complete fractionation of soil P confirmed that soil test P methods were assessing exchangeable, plant-available P. Key words: Hedley phosphorus fractionation, resin, Olsen, Kelowna


1975 ◽  
Vol 15 (72) ◽  
pp. 93
Author(s):  
B Palmer ◽  
VF McClelland ◽  
R Jardine

The relationships between soil tests for 'plant available' phosphate and wheat yield response to applied superphosphate were examined and the extent to which these relationships were modified by other soil measurements was determined. Soil samples and wheat yield data were obtained from experiments conducted in the Victorian wheat belt. The sites were grouped into four relatively uniform classes using soil pH measurement and geographic location. The soil test values differed widely and were accountable for by the soil characteristics measured. However, the overall and within group yield responses to applied superphosphate could not be accounted for in terms of either the soil test value or the associated chemical measurements. By inference, yield response was clearly dependent on factors other than those determining the results of soil tests.


Soil Research ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 355
Author(s):  
GD Batten

Twenty soils from southern New South Wales were analysed for acid extractable phosphate in 1971, and again in 1977 when it was found that an increase had occurred. These same samples were also analysed using reciprocating shakers with different distances of travel. More phosphate was extracted when a shaker with a greater distance of travel was used and when more soil, but at the same soil : solution ratio, was placed in a large vessel. It is suggested that such variations in technique contribute to inter-laboratory error in soil tests for phosphate.


1985 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 881 ◽  
Author(s):  
DR Kemp ◽  
WJ McDonald ◽  
RD Murison

Soil phosphate (P) values were determined for 49 improved pasture sites on 11 occasions over a 3-year period. Each sample was taken from under an improved pasture on the Central Tablelands of New South Wales and analysed using the Bray No. 1 and Colwell (modified Olsen) tests. Variations in soil P values between samplings over time were significant (P<0.05). For individual sites, the 95% confidence limit, as a percentage of the mean, averaged � 19% for Bray P values and � 13% for Colwell P values. The pattern of variation in P values over time was not significantly (P<0.05) affected by soil P level, soil type or soil test. Variation in P values over time with both tests was significantly (P<0.05) correlated with a general estimate of soil moisture and thermal index for the sampling month. Both Colwell P and Bray P values showed negative correlations with increasing soil moisture or increasing thermal index. The correlation between Colwell P and Bray P values on any one soil type was not reliable enough to allow prediction of one soil-test P value from the other.


1990 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jari Peltonen ◽  
Tuomo Karvonen ◽  
Erkki Kivi

Interrelationships between climatic factors and spring wheat yield and quality were examined with 21 years field experiments. The formation of gluten was less at dry conditions (total precipitation under 50 mm) and total precipitation exceeded 130—140 mm. The optimum daily temperature for gluten production was some 15—17°C during grain filling. The gluten content decreased if daily minimum and maximum temperatures exceeded 11—12°C and 21—22°C, respectively. The effect of temperature and rainfall were not, however, significant in early maturing varieties. The climatic factors and grain yield did not correlate. Grain yield and protein yield had strong positive relationship, which was perhaps a consequence of supply and utilization of nitrogen. It is concluded that climatic factors affecting yield to quality ration in wheat may be excessive rains before heading and high temperature during grain filling. Interaction between weather and nitrogen are discussed to optimize correct timing of nitrogen fertilization for amount and quality of economic wheat yield.


1968 ◽  
Vol 8 (30) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
JV Mullaly ◽  
JKM Skene ◽  
R Jardine

The predictability of three different measures of wheat yield response to superphosphate from each of four soil test measures of available phosphorus (0-6 inches) was examined, using data from field experiments over the period 1951 to 1965. The associations were studied separately within the three great soil groups that are dominant over the wheatgrowing areas of Victoria. Whichever measure of yield response was considered, soil bicarbonate P test measurement gave the best basis for prediction. However, at most, only 26 per cent of the yield response variability was predictable, and the other three tests were substantially less successful. Under the general conditions considered, where yield response is subject to a variety of uncorrected environmental deficiencies, it is concluded that the soil tests for P investigated in this paper are of doubtful practical value.


1970 ◽  
Vol 10 (42) ◽  
pp. 62 ◽  
Author(s):  
EG Cuthbertson

The relationship between seed colour and viability and also the effect of seed age, moisture stress, depth of seed burial, and soil type on the germination of skeleton weed (Chondrilla juncea L.) were studied at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. As the developing seeds matured their colour changed from greenish-white through yellow to yellow-brown or olive-green. Some 25 per cent of the yellow seeds were capable of germination but then only for a short period after shedding. Fully coloured, mature seeds showed 80 to 90 per cent germination capacity and remained viable for two to three years when stored in open containers. A few samples were dormant for about 12 weeks but the majority germinated rapidly when ample moisture was available. Germination was delayed and decreased with increasing water stress. Soil type had no apparent effect on germination but emergence was inversely related to depth of planting. There was no emergence from below 13 mm (1/2 inch) in heavy clays or 38 mm (19 inches) in other soils. Surface sown seeds did not establish readily on compacted surfaces, emphasizing the importance of the cultivated fallow in increasing the rate of spread.


2013 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon D. Speirs ◽  
Brendan J. Scott ◽  
Philip W. Moody ◽  
Sean D. Mason

The performance of a wide range of soil phosphorus (P) testing methods that included established (Colwell-P, Olsen-P, BSES-P, and CaCl2-P) and more recently introduced methods (DGT-P and Mehlich 3-P) was evaluated on 164 archived soil samples corresponding to P fertiliser response experiments with wheat (Triticum aestivum) conducted in south-eastern Australia between 1968 and 2008. Soil test calibration relationships were developed for relative grain yield v. soil test using (i) all soils, (ii) Calcarosols, and (iii) all ‘soils other than Calcarosols’. Colwell-P and DGT-P calibration relationships were also derived for Calcarosols and Vertosols containing measureable CaCO3. The effect of soil P buffer capacity (measured as the single-point P buffer index corrected for Colwell-P, PBICol) on critical Colwell-P values was assessed by segregating field sites based on their PBICol class: very very low (15–35), very low (36–70), low (71–140), and moderate (141–280). All soil P tests, except Mehlich 3-P, showed moderate correlations with relative grain yield (R-value ≥0.43, P < 0.001) and DGT-P exhibited the largest R-value (0.55). Where soil test calibrations were derived for Calcarosols, Colwell-P had the smallest R-value (0.36), whereas DGT-P had an R-value of 0.66. For ‘soils other than Calcarosols’, R-values >0.45 decreased in the order: DGT-P (r = 0.55), Colwell-P (r = 0.49), CaCl2-P (r = 0.48), and BSES-P (r = 0.46). These results support the potential of DGT-P as a predictive soil P test, but indicate that Mehlich 3-P has little predictive use in these soils. Colwell-P had tighter critical confidence intervals than any other soil test for all calibrations except for soils classified as Calcarosols. Critical Colwell-P values, and confidence intervals, for the very very low, very low, and low P buffer capacity categories were within the range of other published data that indicate critical Colwell-P value increases as PBICol increases. Colwell-P is the current benchmark soil P test used in Australia and for the field trials in this study. With the exception of Calcarosols, no alternative soil P testing method was shown to provide a statistically superior prediction of response by wheat. Although having slightly lower R-values (i.e. <0.1 difference) for some calibration relationships, Colwell-P yielded tighter confidence intervals than did any of the other soil tests. The apparent advantage of DGT-P over Colwell-P on soils classified as Calcarosols was not due to the effects of calcium carbonate content of the analysed surface soils.


1969 ◽  
Vol 9 (38) ◽  
pp. 320 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Spencer ◽  
D Bouma ◽  
DV Moye

Values obtained by a number of established soil test procedures for phosphorus and sulphur were correlated with yield responses to addition of the relevant nutrient, by subterranean clover-based pastures at 21 sites in south-eastern New South Wales. Colwell's bicarbonate-soluble P and Bray's P, phosphorus values showed sufficiently close associations with response to added phosphorus to be useful for predictive purposes ; Bray's P, values generally gave smaller coefficients. In general, the pasture on soils testing less than 25 p.p.m. bicarbonate-extractable P in the surface three inches responded appreciably to applied phosphorus (relative yields were <85 per cent). The corresponding value for the Bray P, procedure was 10 p.p.m. P. Soil samples from 0-1, 0-3, and 3-6 inch depths gave similar correlations with response. The time of soil sampling did not affect the relationships but winter pasture production was not as closely related to soil test values as was spring production. By contrast, soil tests for sulphur were not reliable but some discrimination between soils could be made with a 500 p.p.m. phosphate extraction. Values from soil samples collected in the winter were less closely related to response than were values from samples collected in the autumn.


Soil Analysis: An Interpretation Manual is a practical guide to soil tests. It considers what soil tests are, when they can be used reliably and consistently, and discusses what limits their application. It is the first nationally accepted publication that is appropriate for Australian soils and conditions. The first three chapters review the general principles and concepts of soil testing, factors affecting soil test interpretation and soil sampling and handling procedures. The next two chapters describe morphological indicators of soil and include colour plates of major Australian agricultural soils. These are followed by a series of chapters which present soil test calibration data for individual elements or a related group of tests such as the range of soil tests used to interpret soil acidity. Each of these chapters also summarises the reactions of the particular element or parameter in the soil and describes the tests commonly used in Australia. The final chapter presents a structured approach to nutrient management and making fertiliser recommendations using soil test data. The manual will be of particular interest to soil and environmental scientists, farm advisers, consultants and primary producers who will find the manual an essential reference to understanding and interpreting soil test data. Many of the soil tests evaluated in the book are used throughout the world. Soil Analysis: An Interpretation Manual was commissioned and developed by the Australian Soil and Plant Analysis Council (ASPAC). It comprises the work of 37 experts, which has been extensively peer reviewed.


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