Search

To assess the risks and benefits of more intensive pasture management, 2 or 3 treatments with contrasting fertiliser regimes were selected from each site of the Sustainable Grazing Systems national experiment. The assessment used soil coring data, modelling and runoff nutrient concentration data.Soil acidification rates were estimated from the simulated nitrate leaching and product removal estimated from the stocking rates at each site. Much higher acidification rates were estimated at sites in Victoria and southern Western Australia than in northern New South Wales. This was because of a lower level of nitrate leaching in summer-dominant rainfall environments coupled with lower stocking rates. Simulations showed highest nitrate leaching on annual pastures, but that a phalaris pasture could reduce this, and a kikuyu pasture could almost fully control leaching.The concentration of P in surface runoff was related to soil P status at the 4 southern sites, indicating that greater use of P fertiliser would increase P movement into waterways. There was no relationship between soil P status and P in surface runoff at the northern New South Wales sites, and across all sites there were no relationships between P fertility and runoff N levels. Concentrations of P and N in runoff greatly exceeded stream water quality guidelines, even on treatments where only minimal P had been applied as fertiliser. There was also evidence of high spatial variation in surface runoff generation, with surface runoff from some plots less than 5% of the streamflow in nearby reference streams. There is therefore scope to control P concentrations in streams by retiring from production the parts of the landscape that generate high quantities of surface flow, but to intensify production on areas that produce little runoff.

The effects of combinations of different fertiliser rates and grazing methods applied to phalaris-based pastures on an acid, saline, yellow sodosol on the Dundas Tablelands of western Victoria (mean annual rainfall 623�mm) were measured from 1997 to 2000. The objective was to help identify management systems that improve phalaris growth and persistence, water use, and animal production, and thereby the productivity and sustainability of grazing systems. Pastures were either set stocked with low [mean 6.4 kg phosphorus (P)/ha.year] or high (mean 25 kg P/ha.year) fertiliser rates, or rotationally grazed with high fertiliser (mean 25 kg P/ha.year). Rotational grazing was implemented as either a simple '4-paddock' system (fixed rotation length), or a more intensive system where rotation length varied with pasture growth rate. Unreplicated paddocks of volunteer pasture (dominated by onion grass and annual grass weeds) receiving an average of 8 kg P/ha.year were also monitored. All treatments were stocked with spring-lambing Merino ewes. Stocking rate was an emergent property of each treatment, and was driven by pasture quality and availability. Total pasture herbage accumulation ranged from 7150 to 9750 kg DM/ha.year and was significantly lower on the set-stocked, low-fertility treatment than on all other treatments. A significant treatment.day effect in the spline analysis of herbage mass was explained by a trend toward higher pasture mass in the rotationally grazed treatments than set-stocked treatments from the break of season until mid-spring. Rotational grazing led to significantly higher phalaris herbage accumulation than set stocking (mean 3680 v. 2120 kg DM/ha.year), but significantly lower subterranean clover herbage accumulation (1440 v. 2490 kg DM/ha.year). Despite the stronger growth of deep-rooted phalaris in the rotationally grazed treatments, maximum soil water deficits at the end of summer differed only slightly between treatments, with the difference between driest and wettest treatments amounting to only 14 mm. Summer growth of phalaris was apparently insufficient to generate significant differences in soil water extraction at depth, even when phalaris content was increased by rotational grazing, and re-wetting of the soil profile occurred at a similar rate for all treatments. Rotationally grazed treatments supported higher stocking rates than set-stocked treatments at high fertiliser rates (mean 14.9 v. 13.7 ewes/ha), but apparent losses in pasture feeding value due to lower legume content under rotational grazing meant that there were few significant differences between treatments in lamb production per hectare. The experiment showed that grazing method can have a substantial and rapid effect on pasture botanical composition. There are clear opportunities for producers to use temporal and spatial combinations of set stocking and rotational grazing to manipulate herbage mass and pasture composition within broad target ranges for achieving both animal production (e.g. high per-head animal performance) and sustainability (e.g. persistence of perennial grasses) objectives. Rigid application of either set stocking or rotational grazing imposes limitations on both pasture and animal production, and neither grazing method will optimise system performance under all conditions. The experiment also demonstrated that management and land-use changes that have much greater potential to increase water use than those examined here will be needed to ensure the sustainability of pasture systems in the high rainfall zone of western Victoria.

Changes in soil pH from a long-term experiment at Hamilton, Vic., associated with time, fertiliser application, and stocking rate were assessed. The pH was measured in a 1 :5 suspension of soil in water (pHW) from 1980 onwards and in a 1:5 suspension of soil in 0.01 M CaCl2 (pHCa) from 1984 onwards. Topsoils (0–10 cm) were sampled regularly from 1980 to 1999, and the soil profile to a depth of 80 cm in 1994. The site was sown to perennial ryegrass, phalaris, and subterranean clover in 1977. Treatments fertilised with different amounts of superphosphate were grazed by sheep at stocking rates of 7–19 dry sheep equivalents (DSE)/ha. Average applications of phosphorus (P) ranged from 0.5 to 38.7 kg P/ha.year. The pHCa of the topsoil in 1984 was 4.9. It decreased at an average rate of 0.005 pHCa or 0.008 pHW units/year, with little variation due to fertiliser or stocking rate. Measurements in 1994 revealed subtle but statistically significant (P < 0.01) trends in soil pHCa that were associated with grazing pressure, inputs of fertiliser, and whether or not areas sampled were used by the sheep for camping. The top 0–5 cm of soil was slightly less acidic (+0.07 pHCa units) in the camp areas compared with non-camp areas. Below 5 cm to a depth of 80 cm, camp areas were more acidic (–0.19 pHCa units). At the highest stocking rates, heavier applications of superphosphate were associated with greater subsoil acidity: –0.06 pHCa units per 100 kg phosphorus (P) applied. There was no relationship at medium stocking rates. At low stocking rates, higher P applications were associated with more alkaline subsoils. Net removal of product from 1979 to 1994 (wool and meat removed from plots and excreta transferred to camps) was estimated to be equivalent to 140–380 kg/ha of lime over this 15-year period. The organic carbon (OC) content of the topsoil did not change over 20 years of records from 1979, and was unaffected by inputs of P. In 1994, the OC content of the 0–5 cm layer of topsoil was greater than the 5–10 cm layer (mean values 5.5% and 3.8% respectively; P < 0.001). The OC content of camp areas was higher than that of non-camp areas, this difference being more pronounced in the 0–5 cm layer (P < 0.01). It was concluded that the rate of change of pH was slow because of the high pH buffering capacity of the soil, the small amount of alkalinity removed in product, and the generally high perennial grass content of the pastures. Soils shown to be at greatest risk of acidification from this study were those under camp areas, and where high fertiliser rates were applied to pastures with a low perennial grass content. Rotational grazing should diminish these problems by reducing the concentration of excreta in camp areas, and favouring perennials over annuals in both camp and non-camp areas. Inputs of lime may eventually be needed to compensate for the acidifying effect of product removal.

Relationships between amounts of superphosphate applied to pasture and stocking rate on available nutrient status were assessed from 1979 to 2000 on a chromosol derived from basalt at Hamilton, Victoria. The pastures were stocked with sheep at low, medium, or high grazing pressures in factorial combination with 6 levels of superphosphate. Overall annual amounts of single superphosphate (8.8% P, 11% S, 19% Ca) applied ranged from 0.4 to 36 kg P/ha. Potassium chloride (KCl) was applied to all plots periodically. Average stocking rates ranged from 7 to 19 dry sheep equivalents (DSE)/ha. The nutrient status of plots was monitored by sampling the soil to a depth of 10 cm, avoiding the areas used by the sheep for camping. In 1994, samples of topsoil (0–5 cm and 5–10 cm) were taken from the camp areas and non-camp areas in each plot in order to assess 'plant-available' P, S, and extractable cations. Changes in P and S with depth to 80 cm in high and low grazing pressure treatments were also assessed. The influence of cumulative P applied on Olsen P varied with time and grazing pressure. During the first 12–15 years, the Olsen P of high grazing pressure plots was greater than that of low grazing pressure plots, but subsequently the reverse has been the case. Plant-available S also increased where more superphosphate had been applied. Levels were greater than 7 mg S/kg soil except at the lowest level of superphosphate, indicating that forms of P fertiliser with less S could be used here. After initial applications of KCl, this fertiliser was not applied for 8 years. During this time the K status fell from 270 to 120 mg K/kg soil, just above where plant responses to K are likely, emphasising the need to monitor the K status of productive pastures on these soils. Levels of exchangeable Mg2+ fell as more superphosphate was used, whereas levels of Ca2+ rose. The Olsen P of soil deeper than 10 cm was always less than 5 mg P/kg soil. P supply to deep-rooted pasture plants may thus be limiting when the topsoil is dry. These results, together with published assessments of animal production at this site, show that for pastures fertilised annually, the Olsen P associated with the most profit varied from 7 mg P/kg soil at 7 ewes/ha (10.5 DSE/ha), to 14 mg P/kg soil at 18 ewes/ha.

A nutrient audit was conducted on a long-term grazed fertiliser experiment at Hamilton in south-western Victoria to determine the fate of applied phosphorus (P) and sulfur (S). Single superphosphate had been applied at rates averaging between 1 and 33 kg P/ha.year since the start of the experiment in 1977. Soil samples were taken in 1994 by coring to a depth of 80 cm, and analysed for total soil nutrient concentration. Most (80%) applied P was in the top 43 cm of the soil profile. A further 6.5% had been transferred to sheep camp areas and 6.5% had been exported as product. It was estimated that

Three methods were compared for providing data to accompany a daily rainfall record: (i) a seasonal mean calculated from smooth curves; (ii) a seasonal mean modified by rainday effects; and (iii) actual data with missing observations filled in by method (ii). Existing plant growth models developed for the Australian tropics were used to compare the three data generation methods. These models were used to predict the number of growth days (a measure of how much plant growth would be expected in a season), green days (a measure of the duration of weight gain by rangeland cattle), runoff, and germination days. Three stations were used, one each from the monsoonal tropics, the coastal dry tropics, and the coastal subtropics. Comparatively little bias was introduced from methods (i) and (ii). Differences were greater for episodic events such as runoff and germination, than for more continuous events such as growth. There were no significant effects of generation method on calculated growth days or green days. Runoff calculated from method (i) averaged 7% lower than when actual data were used, compared with only a 3% underestimate from method (ii). The number of germination days were underestimated by between 4 and 17% when method (i) was used, compared with between a 3% underestimate and a 6% overestimate with method (ii). It was concluded that method (ii) should be used in preference to the seasonal mean alone, because of the more accurate model predictions from method (ii). A stochastic weather generator would however be required where events such as frosting would be important in risk analyses.