Phosphate responses in some central Australian soils by seedlings of exotic perennial grasses

Abstract

Five species of perennial grasses from western Rajasthan, India, were grown in pots. Growth was extremely poor in soils obtained from spinifex and mulga communities which cover 54,000 square miles in Central Australia alone. Additions of superphosphate gave large increases in growth. No response to phosphate was obtained in the flood-plain soil tested. The establishment of exotic pastures on the spinifex and mulga soils would be severely hampered without the addition of fertilizers. It is suggested that the pockets of flood-plain amounting to some 2000-3000 square miles, are the most favourable for pasture establishment and potentially the most productive.