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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 59(4)

High subsoil chloride concentrations reduce soil water extraction and crop yield on Vertosols in north-eastern Australia

Y. P. Dang A L , R. C. Dalal B , D. G. Mayer C , M. McDonald D E , R. Routley F G , G. D. Schwenke H , S. R. Buck I , I. G. Daniells H , D. K. Singh F , W. Manning J and N. Ferguson K
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Department of Natural Resources and Water, Toowoomba, Qld 4350, Australia.

B Department of Natural Resources and Water, Indooroopilly, Qld 4068, Australia.

C Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Yeerongpilly, Qld 4105, Australia.

D Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Goondiwindi, Qld 4390, Australia.

E Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia.

F Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Roma, Qld 4445, Australia.

G Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Emerald, Qld 4720, Australia.

H NSW Department of Primary Industries, 4 Marsden Park Road, Callala, NSW 2340, Australia.

I Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, State Farm Road, Biloela, Qld 4715, Australia.

J NSW Department of Primary Industries, PO Box 546, Gunnedah, NSW 2380, Australia.

K NSW Department of Primary Industries, PO Box 3, Tumut, NSW 2720, Australia.

L Corresponding author. Email: Yash.Dang@nrm.qld.gov.au

Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 59(4) 321-330 https://doi.org/10.1071/AR07192
Submitted: 17 May 2007  Accepted: 14 January 2008   Published: 8 April 2008

Abstract

Salinity, sodicity, acidity, and phytotoxic levels of chloride (Cl) in subsoils are major constraints to crop production in many soils of north-eastern Australia because they reduce the ability of crop roots to extract water and nutrients from the soil. The complex interactions and correlations among soil properties result in multi-colinearity between soil properties and crop yield that makes it difficult to determine which constraint is the major limitation. We used ridge-regression analysis to overcome colinearity to evaluate the contribution of soil factors and water supply to the variation in the yields of 5 winter crops on soils with various levels and combinations of subsoil constraints in the region. Subsoil constraints measured were soil Cl, electrical conductivity of the saturation extract (ECse), and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP). The ridge regression procedure selected several of the variables used in a descriptive model, which included in-crop rainfall, plant-available soil water at sowing in the 0.90–1.10 m soil layer, and soil Cl in the 0.90–1.10 m soil layer, and accounted for 77–85% of the variation in the grain yields of the 5 winter crops. Inclusion of ESP of the top soil (0.0–0.10 m soil layer) marginally increased the descriptive capability of the models for bread wheat, barley and durum wheat. Subsoil Cl concentration was found to be an effective substitute for subsoil water extraction. The estimates of the critical levels of subsoil Cl for a 10% reduction in the grain yield were 492 mg cl/kg for chickpea, 662 mg Cl/kg for durum wheat, 854 mg Cl/kg for bread wheat, 980 mg Cl/kg for canola, and 1012 mg Cl/kg for barley, thus suggesting that chickpea and durum wheat were more sensitive to subsoil Cl than bread wheat, barley, and canola.

Additional keywords: bread wheat, durum wheat, barley, chickpea, canola, ridge regression.


Acknowledgments

We thank the Grains R&D Corporation for partial funding of this study. The generous support of our collaborative growers and their families in providing sites and managing the trials is greatly appreciated. Thanks are also due to Denis Orange, Michael Mann, Jim Perfrement, Dougal Pottie, Tony Cox, Anthony Mitchell, and Russell Carty for helping with data collection, and to Dr Jeremy Whish and two anonymous reviewers for comments and valuable suggestions.


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