Spading eliminates compaction and increases cereal grain yield on two deep sands in the Upper South East

Authors: Melissa Fraser

Rural Solutions SA, PIRSA, Struan 5271

Funded By: GRDC Sandy Soils CSP00203

Peer Review: Nigel Wilhelm (SARDI)

Key Words: soil constraints, spading, plozza plough, deep ripping, amelioration

Key Messages

• At Sherwood, soil disturbance and mixing with a rotary spader improved wheat yields by 0.4 t/ha above the unmodified control (1 t/ha) on a deep infertile sand in the year the intervention was applied.
• Spading a deep, compacted, acidic, water repellent sand at Malinong increased barley yields by 0.6 t/ha above the control (3.4 t/ha).
• Ripping to 30 cm or 40 cm had no positive impact on crop production at either site in 2019.
• All deep tillage treatments reduced compaction throughout the top 30 cm.
• Monitoring will continue in 2020 and 2021 to determine how long the treatment responses last, and to what degree, across multiple crop types and seasons.