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    Farmers John and Heather Mason conducted an on-farm trial to test the effects of fertilizer on the production of an old pasture under changing climate conditions. They applied phosphorus and urea fertilizers by hand to strips of an 8-year-old improved grass pasture and measured the dry matter production. The results showed that fertilizer application greatly increased dry matter yields, with the urea treatment producing over 7,000 kg/ha compared to 1,379 kg/ha without fertilizer. While not a controlled experiment, these results indicate that fertilizer can help maintain the productivity and profitability of pastures under climate change.

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    A flier on Fertiliser Options

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    Farmers John and Heather Mason conducted an on-farm trial to test the effects of fertilizer on the production of an old pasture under changing climate conditions. They applied phosphorus and urea fertilizers by hand to strips of an 8-year-old improved grass pasture and measured the dry matter production. The results showed that fertilizer application greatly increased dry matter yields, with the urea treatment producing over 7,000 kg/ha compared to 1,379 kg/ha without fertilizer. While not a controlled experiment, these results indicate that fertilizer can help maintain the productivity and profitability of pastures under climate change.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    6 views1 page

    Fertiliser

    Uploaded by

    ChinchillaLC
    Farmers John and Heather Mason conducted an on-farm trial to test the effects of fertilizer on the production of an old pasture under changing climate conditions. They applied phosphorus and urea fertilizers by hand to strips of an 8-year-old improved grass pasture and measured the dry matter production. The results showed that fertilizer application greatly increased dry matter yields, with the urea treatment producing over 7,000 kg/ha compared to 1,379 kg/ha without fertilizer. While not a controlled experiment, these results indicate that fertilizer can help maintain the productivity and profitability of pastures under climate change.

    Copyright:

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    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    FARM GROUP ACTIVITIES TO ADAPT TO CLIMATE CHANGE

    Fertiliser to improve production and make pastures a more profitable adaption to climate change

    KEY QUESTION How much extra pasture production will I get from adding fertiliser as my sown pastures get older? LOCATION Gavindale FARMER John and Heather Mason

    REASON
    Improved pastures are commonly proposed for mixed farmers to adapt to climate change. Pastures may be more resilient and be less risky than crops in hotter, drier and more variable climates. However, many people believe pastures are less profitable and will reduce overall farm returns. Pastures must therefore be as productive and profitable as possible to be an economic adaptation option. Using nitrogen and phosphorus fertiliser is one option to maintain soil fertility, pasture production and profits in mixed farming systems. This on-farm research and demonstration was designed to test the response of a long-term improved grass pasture to applied fertiliser at Chinchilla.

    METHODS
    Strips of fertiliser were applied by hand into old pasture which was ploughed 8 yrs ago and had creeping blue and bambatsi established. The paddock was previously cropped as far back as 1940s with oats for sucker control. John had applied the fertiliser out the back of a ute two months earlier, and there was an opportunity to assess the impact on plant growth. The plots were not replicated but were sampled at three locations to measure dry matter production.

    RESULTS Treatment Control (no fertiliser) MAP (180 kg/ha) Urea (100 kg/ha) CONCLUSION
    The addition of fertiliser greatly increased the amount of dry matter produced in Johns pastures. Indeed, the increases are much larger than the 30-35 kg of extra dry matter expected from the addition of each extra kilogram of nitrogen per hectare. However, the evenness of the fertiliser application from the back of a moving ute can not be guaranteed. So, further testing with more rigorous trial designs with replications and handspreaders to apply the fertiliser have been used in more recent trials. However, these test strips do confirm that better nutrition from fertilisers (or perhaps legumes) has the ability to produce more reliable pasture growth in a changing environment.

    Rate of Nitrogen (kgN/ha) 0 23 46

    Dry Matter 1379 kg DM/ha 3200 kg DM/ha 7408 kg DM/ha

    This project is funded by GRDC and the Australian Governments Climate Change Research Program

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