Fertility investigations on the black earth wheatlands of the Darling Downs, Queensland. III. Mineral nitrogen in the soil and its relation to the wheat crop

Abstract

The level of mineral nitrogen in the soil under fallow and crop was measured for the years 1951 to 1953. Relationships of mineral nitrogen at planting to yield and nitrogen content of wheat grain and straw were examined. Values for nitrate nitrogen at the end of the fallow period ranged most commonly from 10 to 20 µg/g in the surface 2 ft and from 0 to 10 µg/g at 2-4 ft. Approximately one-third of the sites showed an increase from the third to the fourth foot. One site showed extremely high values throughout the profile, particularly at 3-4 ft where a value of 127 µg/g was recorded. Values for ammonia nitrogen were most commonly in the range of 0-3 µg/g . Under the growing crop, mineral nitrogen declined for most depths in the period from planting up to September or October, after which there was little further change to harvest. Uptake of mineral nitrogen was normally greatest from the surface 2 ft of soil. Below 3 ft there were two groups of sites. One group showed moderate to high uptake and the second group low uptake. The low uptake in the latter group provides a reason for mineral nitrogen accumulation below 3 ft at some sites. Mineral nitrogen to 4 ft at planting averaged 126 lb/ac, excluding the one site with exceptionally high values. This was double the mean value of 63 lb/ac for nitrogen recovered in grain and straw, for crops planted in May-June. These figures, combined with trends in the soil under crop, suggest that most of the nitrogen used by the crop was derived from that in the soil at planting. Correlations between mineral nitrogen at planting and grain yield were mostly non-significant, suggesting that in general nitrogen was not an important factor limiting yield. Low grain yield and protein percentage were recorded at a number of sites which had been cultivated more than 50 years.