Professor Richard Bell
Project Leader
Murdoch University
The challenge
Crop productivity is generally lower on sandy soils than on loam and clay soils under the same environment and technology. Sandy soils cover over 16 million hectares of agricultural land in southern Australia. The focus of most research to improve performance of sandy soils is on their limited capacity to supply water and nutrient resources to the roots of crops.
While sandy soils vary across a continuum, they have a number of distinctive limitations including poor pH buffering capacity, low biological activity, low water holding capacity, high water repellence, and a high susceptibility to compaction. These all combine to limit crop production.
Aim of this project
The major aim of the project was to assess the potential for using novel amendments to increase the reactive surface area of sands and thereby create a root environment that delivers water and nutrients to plant roots more effectively for enhanced crop growth.
The project designed a long-term, multi-site field program for improvement of sandy soils with clay and organic amendments. The results should help farmers to manage their sandy soils more productively.
Results
Read our research findings fact sheet to learn more and to find out what comes next.
More information
Additional project resources can be found on this page.
