A root pest of cereal was found for the first time in Australia in a wheat crop in central New South Wales. It was identified as Parajapyx isabellae and is worldwide in distribution. Species distribution was restricted to soils below 5 cm and almost exclusively in minimum tillage plots.

Reuse of wastewater for irrigation depends on the effect of water quality on soil structural stability. The aim of this work was to incorporate potassium into a soil-water infiltration decline model that currently only includes the structural instability effects of sodium. The results suggest that potassium has a varying effect on soil structure, depending on salinity, and allow a conservative approximation for potassium inclusion into the model.

The replacement of peat in growing media with biochar (produced from biosolids and greenwaste) is a potential win–win situation. We have found that the addition of biochar to growing media reduces loss of both nitrogen and phosphorus in leachate and had a positive effect on plant nutrient use efficiency. Using a higher rate of biochar in growing media has the additional advantage of reducing urban waste streams and landfill costs.

Soil water repellency is a property of the soil that reduces soil water infiltration and is strongly affected by the organic material in the soil, but is poorly understood in tropical agroecosystems. Different manures and composts were added to a range of soils under different temperatures and we found that the addition of plant compost to manure greatly reduced the repellency of the soil. These results can influence the management policies in agroecosystems with respect to the type and application of different organic materials to soils.

Soil salinity and sodicity are two of the most limiting soil constraints for agriculture. This study monitors the impact that land use and climatic fluctuations have on these soil properties in a semi-arid region at a decadal scale. The importance of soil monitoring was reinforced, as land use strongly impacted salinity and sodicity dynamics, with the direction and degree of these changes influenced by the individual land use and irrigation type.

Vegetation restoration influences near soil-surface characteristics and thus likely affects soil erodibility. Six erodibility indicators and an integrated erodibility index were applied to indirectly evaluate the effects of vegetation restoration on soil erodibility on steep gully slopes on the Loess Plateau. Both shrubs and grasses were effective in decreasing soil erodibility, but grasses seemed more effective than shrubs.

The ‘carbon footprint’ associated with growing rain-fed grain crops like wheat, barley, canola and chickpea was assessed by measuring soil emissions of greenhouse gases and modelling farm input data. We assessed four 3-year crop rotations and two fertiliser application strategies. Nitrogen fixation by grain legumes and delayed availability of nitrogen from fertiliser reduced the carbon footprint of cereal-based grains cropping.

Indisputably, a high level of environmental protection may be obtained by having access to reliable and comparable data on the properties of composts. This study assessed the influence of three various composts on the microbial and biochemical activity of soil. Taking into account the BA (biochemical indices of soil fertility taking into account the total activity of particular enzymes), their effectiveness is ranked as follows: poultry manure compost > vermicompost > sewage sludge compost.

Applying a nitrification inhibitor (NI) with pre-plant anhydrous ammonia can reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas, nitrous oxide, from irrigated cotton soils. Both an existing NI (nitrapyrin) and a new NI formulation (DMPS) effectively reduced emitted nitrous oxide in two Vertosols. This environmental benefit needs to be supported by agronomic and economic benefits for farmer adoption.