Residual effects from lime application on soil pH, rhizobial population and crop productivity in dryland farming systems of central New South Wales
N. A. Fettell A E , C. M. Evans A B , D. J. Carpenter A C and J. Brockwell DA NSW Department of Primary Industries, Agricultural Research and Advisory Station, Condobolin, NSW 2877, Australia.
B Present address: PO Box 280, Condobolin, NSW 2877, Australia.
C Present address: ‘Glen Lynn’, Yerong Creek, NSW 2650, Australia.
D CSIRO Plant Industry, GPO Box 1600, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
E Corresponding author. Email: neil.fettell@dpi.nsw.gov.au
Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 47(5) 608-619 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA06070
Submitted: 3 March 2006 Accepted: 6 October 2006 Published: 13 April 2007
Abstract
A mildly acidic (pHCa 4.79, 0–10 cm depth) red-brown earth soil (Chromosol) at Condobolin in central-western New South Wales was cultivated and limed (once only) at six rates (range 0–4 t/ha) and sown with field peas (Pisum sativumL.) with and without inoculation (once only) with Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae – the rhizobium for peas. The soil already contained a very small population of pea rhizobia (<4 per g soil). The experiment embraced two parallel rotations, each over 4 years: (1) year 1, inoculated peas; year 2, wheat; year 3, wheat; year 4, uninoculated peas; and (2) year 1, inoculated peas; year 2, wheat; year 3, inoculated chickpeas; year 4, uninoculated peas. The objectives of the work were to establish whether liming had any immediate and residual benefits for rhizobia and plants and, if so, to determine if the two events were linked.
Liming had an immediate effect on soil pH (0–10 cm depth). Increases in pH were greater per unit of lime at lower rates of application than at higher rates. Although lime effects existed for the duration of the experiment (four seasons of cropping), there was a small decline in soil pH over time (mean decline in unlimed plots 0.16 pHCa units, mean decline in limed plots 0.47 pHCa units).
In the first year (pea crop), there was a very large and highly significant response to inoculation on populations of rhizobia in soil and rhizosphere. The number of rhizobia that occurred naturally in uninoculated plots increased rapidly in high-lime plots until, by the third year, they were substantial and, by the fourth year, equal to those in the inoculated treatment. By the end of the experiment, the mean population of rhizobia in the 4 t/ha lime treatment was 7250 per g soil, compared with <4 rhizobia per g in the nil lime treatment. It was noteworthy that, in those years in the rotations when peas were not grown, populations of R. leguminosarum bv. viciae were sustained by their ability to colonise the rhizospheres of wheat and chickpea.
In the first pea crop, eight parameters of plant production responded overwhelmingly to inoculation, while there was an underlying response to liming in two of those parameters. The positive effect of inoculation on peas in the first year carried over to the wheat crop of the second year, which was interpreted as a consequence of increased soil N in the inoculated plots. By the third and fourth years, soil populations of pea rhizobia in the plus inoculation and minus inoculation treatments were approximately equal, and inoculation was no longer a determinant of crop production. On the other hand, application of lime, which had only an underlying effect on pea production in the first year, significantly enhanced several parameters of the symbiosis and growth of the chickpea and pea crops, including legume nodulation and percentage nitrogen in the seed.
R. leguminosarum bv. viciae, legumes and cereals each responded differently to increasing rates of lime application. Populations of rhizobia in soil and plant rhizospheres increased with each additional rate of liming. Legume productivity responded to additional lime up to 2 t/ha. There was no significant evidence that liming per se had any effect at any time on wheat production. The practical implications of these results are discussed.
Acknowledgements
We greatly appreciate the support in field and laboratory given by Jim Presley, Jenene Kidston, Bob Gault and Ann Pilka. We thank field and technical staff at the Condobolin Agricultural Research and Advisory Station for their contribution to the maintenance of the experiment and for help with data collection.
Anderson AJ, Moye DV
(1952) Lime and molybdenum in clover development on acid soils. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 3, 95–110.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Barrow NJ, Cox VC
(1990) A quick and simple method for determining the titration curve and estimating the lime requirement of soil. Australian Journal of Soil Research 28, 685–694.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Brockwell J
(1962) Studies on seed pelleting as an aid to legume seed inoculation. I. Coating materials, adhesives, and methods of inoculation. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 13, 638–649.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Brockwell J
(1963) Accuracy of a plant-infection test for counting populations of Rhizobium trifolii. Applied Microbiology 11, 377–383.
| PubMed |
Brockwell J,
Holliday RA, Pilka A
(1988) Evaluation of the symbiotic nitrogen-fixing potential of soils by direct microbiological means. Plant and Soil 108, 163–170.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Brockwell J,
Pilka A, Holliday RA
(1991) Soil pH is a major determinant of the numbers of naturally occurring Rhizobium meliloti in non-cultivated soils in central New South Wales. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 31, 211–219.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Bromfield SM,
Cummings RW,
David DJ, Williams CH
(1983) Changes in soil pH, manganese and aluminium under subterranean clover pastures. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 23, 181–191.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cass-Smith WP, Goss OM
(1958) Inoculation and lime pelleting of leguminous seeds. Journal of the Department of Agriculture of Western Australia [3rd series] 7, 119–121.
Chartres CJ,
Cummings RW,
Beattie JA,
Bowman GM, Wood JT
(1990) Acidification of soils on a transect from plains to slopes, south-western New South Wales. Australian Journal of Soil Research 28, 539–548.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Corbin EJ,
Brockwell J, Gault RR
(1977) Nodulation studies on chickpea (Cicer arietinum). Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 17, 126–134.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Coventry DR,
Hirth JR,
Reeves TG, Burnett VF
(1985) Growth and nitrogen fixation by subterranean clover in response to inoculation, molybdenum application and soil amendment with lime. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 17, 791–796.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Cregan PD,
Sykes JA, Dymock AJ
(1979) Pasture improvement and soil acidification. Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 90, 33–35.
Donald CM, Williams CH
(1954) Fertility and productivity of a podzolic soil as influenced by subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) and superphosphate. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 5, 664–687.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Evans J
(2005) An evaluation of potential Rhizobium inoculant strains used for pulse production in acidic soils of south-east Australia. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 45, 257–268.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Evans J,
Hochman Z,
O’Connor GE, Osborne GJ
(1988) Soil acidity and Rhizobium: their effects on nodulation of subterranean clover on the slopes of southern New South Wales. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 39, 605–618.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Evans J,
Wallace C,
Dobrowolski N,
Pritchard I, Sullivan B
(1993) Requirement of field pea for inoculation with Rhizobium and lime pelleting in soils of Western Australia. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 33, 767–773.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Evans J,
Eberbach P,
Luckett D, Cormack S
(2001) Pre-season soil establishment of legume inoculant rhizobia is not effective for the nodulation of lupin and faba bean crops in acidic soils. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 41, 1149–1160.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fettell NA,
O’Connor GE,
Carpenter DJ,
Evans J,
Bamforth I,
Oti-Boateng C,
Hebb DM, Brockwell J
(1997a) Nodulation studies on legumes exotic to Australia: the influence of soil populations and inocula of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae on nodulation and nitrogen fixation by field peas. Applied Soil Ecology 5, 197–210.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Fettell NA,
O’Connor GE,
Carpenter DJ,
Evans J,
Bamforth I,
Oti-Boateng C,
Hebb DM, Brockwell J
(1997b) Erratum to ‘Nodulation studies on legumes exotic to Australia: the influence of soil populations and inocula of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae on nodulation and nitrogen fixation by field peas’. Applied Soil Ecology 7, 103–104.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Grassia A, Brockwell J
(1978) Enumeration of rhizobia from a plant-infection dilution assay using test plants grown in vermiculite. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 10, 101–104.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Guthrie FB
(1894) On the choice and use of artificial manures (continued). Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 5, 144–148.
Hely FW
(1959) Adjustable shading to modify glasshouse temperatures. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research 4, 133–138.
Hely FW,
Hutchings RJ, Zorin M
(1976) Legume inoculation by spraying suspensions of nodule bacteria into soil beneath seed. Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 42, 241–244.
Helyar KR
(1976) Nitrogen cycling and soil acidification. Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 42, 217–221.
Helyar KR,
Cregan PD, Godyn DL
(1990) Soil acidity in New South Wales: current pH values and estimation of acidification rates. Australian Journal of Soil Research 28, 523–527.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Kuykendall LD,
Devine TD, Cregan PB
(1982) Positive role of nodulation on the establishment of Rhizobium in subsequent crops of soybean. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 7, 78–81.
Loneragan JF, Dowling EJ
(1958) The interaction of calcium and hydrogen ions in the nodulation of subterranean clover. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 9, 464–472.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Loneragan JF,
Meyer D,
Fawcett RG, Anderson AJ
(1955) Lime-pelleted clover seeds for nodulation on acid soils. Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science 21, 264–265.
Marks G
(1906) Hawkesbury Agricultural College and Experimental Farm. Experiments with nodule culture. Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales 17, 136–141.
Marshall DJ,
Bateman JD, Brockwell J
(1993) Validation of a serial-dilution, plant-infection test for enumerating Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae and its application for counting rhizobia in acid soils. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 25, 261–268.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
McKnight T
(1949) Efficiency of isolates of Rhizobium in the cowpea group, with proposed additions to this group. Queensland Journal of Agricultural Science 6, 61–76.
Reyes VG, Schmidt EL
(1979) Population densities of Rhizobium japonicum strain 123 estimated directly in soil and rhizospheres. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 37, 854–858.
| PubMed |
Ridley AM,
Helyar KR, Slattery WJ
(1990) Soil acidification under subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L.) pastures in north-eastern Victoria. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 30, 195–201.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Turk D,
Keyser HH, Singleton PW
(1993) Response of tree legumes to rhizobial inoculation in relation to the population density of indigenous rhizobia. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 25, 75–81.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Williams CH
(1980) Soil acidification under clover pasture. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry 20, 561–567.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Williams CH, David DJ
(1976) Effects of pasture improvement with subterranen clover and superphosphates on the availability of trace elements to plants. Australian Journal of Soil Research 14, 85–93.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Williams CH, Donald CM
(1957) Changes in organic matter and pH in a podzolic soil as influenced by subterranean clover and superphosphate. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 8, 179–188.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
