Summer active perennial grasses influence biological functions in Mallee soils in South Australia

Gupta, V.V.S.R., Kroker, S.J., Hicks, M., Davoren, C.W. and Llewellyn, R.
CSIRO Agriculture Flagship

Background
Summer-growing perennial grasses have been recommended to fill the summer-autumn feed-gaps generally faced in the winter rainfall dominated regions of southern Australia. Perennial grasses support extensive root systems and deposit large amounts of carbon (C) into soil through rhizodeposition. In the low organic matter Mallee soils C inputs by the summer active perennial grasses have the potential to influence microbial populations and activities related to C turnover, N mineralization, non-symbiotic (NS) N2 fixation and soilborne plant diseases.