Soil moisture and salinity under bladder saltbush (Atriplex vesicaria) pastures in the New SouthWales Riverine plain

Abstract

Soil moisture, soil salinity, and phenological measurements were made over two years on adjacent pastures with and without bladder saltbush (Atriplex vesicaria) in the Riverina district of New South Wales. Soil moisture percentages beneath pastures with and without saltbush were similar in the first year. In the second year moisture percentages were slightly higher under pastures without saltbush. The soil profile was at matric tensions higher than 15 atmospheres for 48 per cent of the first year and 64 per cent of the second. Phenological observations related soil moisture levels to vegetative and reproductive response of the pastures. The maximum depth of soil wetting was 30 inches in the exceptionally wet autumn-winter of and 10 inches in the slightly drier than average winter of 1964. Salt was leached during the first winter of sampling, the chloride level at four inches falling from 0.107 per cent in the previous summer to 0.008 per cent. The level was partly restored during the following summer (0.055 per cent) and this was maintained during the drier second winter.