Soils
Acidity threatens large areas of south-eastern Australia. AWI is undertaking research to determine the cost effectiveness of applying lime to acid soils for wool production.
Increasing our understanding of soil biology under pastures has the potential to deliver increased pasture productivity in the future.
Overview
Growing productive pastures requires a foundation of healthy soil to support and sustain it. Having healthy soils involves managing your soils according to their capability, making the right fertilizer decisions, implementing solutions for problem pastures, maintaining ground cover, and looking after the soil microbes.
Soil salinity and acidity have a significant impact on pasture productivity. It is estimated that 2.4 million ha of land in Australia is affected by salinity and this costs Australia $270 million a year in lost agricultural production, infrastructure damage and environmental degradation.
There are also more than 7 million hectares of acid soils in Australia which costs approximately $300 million per annum in lost income. AWI is investing in research and development into soil salinity and acidity to provide woolgrowers with economic and environmentally sustainable strategies to manage and utilise these difficult soils.
The soil biota under pastures accounts for up to 75% of all living material in the system. It plays an important role in many of the ecosystem processes that are vital for plant growth. However, our current knowledge of and identification techniques for pasture soil biota is poor. AWI’s investment into soil biology is looking at both increasing our current knowledge of pasture soil biology and developing better research techniques for identifying soil microbes.