Report on Langhorne Creek Compost

Trial 2014-2016
Rebecca Tonkin

Rural Solutions SA
21/12/16

Contacts:
Kelvin Candy bremerglen1@bigpond.com
Trevor Giles trevor.giles1@bigpond.com
Brett Phillips katbrett@bigpond.com
NRM
2016 – Tony Randall tony.randall2@sa.gov.au
2014 – Bernadette Lawson bernadette.lawson@sa.gov.au
Rural Solutions SA
Rebecca Tonkin rebecca.tonkin@sa.gov.au bec_tonkin@bigpond.com
1 Aim
The aim of the trial was to use locally available organic matter fertilisers (pig manure, chook manure,
etc) to help remediate clayed soil which was not performing well. This used an area of land that had
been clay spread in the past, and was now being spaded to work clay (and the organic matter) to a
deeper level. The group wanted to know which manure (if any) was best for improving the soil and
crop yield.

2 Materials and Methods

Jackson's paddock had already been clayed ~ 6 years ago and was not performing as well as
expected. The clay was incorporated in the top 15-20 cm.
Roger Groocock used his spader to spade in the clay to a deeper depth (30-40 cm). The group put
strips of various OM treatments in the paddock to see if adding OM to the soil when spading would
help the process. The whole area was spaded with gypsum and trace elements added.

Table 1: Layout of trial site.

Rep A B C
Plot
1 Chook Biochar P Biochar C width
2 Control Chook Biosolids 2 9m each plot
3 Pig Biosolids 3 Chook
4 Biosolids 4 Mix Control
5 Turkey Pig Biochar P
6 Biochar C Turkey Peats
7 Biochar P Biochar C Pig
8 Mix Peats Mix
9 Peats Control Turkey
plot length 100m 12m buffer between plots

Composts and manures were sourced locally, biosolids were from Bolivar Wastewater treatment
plant, and Biochar was donated by SANTFA.
The manure products were analysed for nutrient content (see Appendix 1).
Biochar C is plain biochar with no additions.
Biochar P is biochar loaded with phosphorus nutrition.
Table 2: Treatments used in trial

Product Rate Notes

Control (from ecoshelters, mixed with straw)
Pig manure 3 t/ha (mixed with straw)
Chook manure 3 t/ha (mixed with straw?)
Biosolids 3 t/ha (from Bolivar)
Turkey manure 3 t/ha (mixed with straw?)
Peat’s compost 3 t/ha (green waste from Adelaide, composted at Monarto)
Mix 3 t/ha (mix of Peat’s, Chook and Turkey)
Biochar C ask Greg Butler, SANTFA
Biochar P ask Greg Butler, SANTFA

The site was sown to barley in 2014, and reaped using a standard harvester, with each plot emptied
into a weigh bin and the weights noted. This had an accuracy of ~ ± 20kg.
No results were recorded in 2015.
The site was sown to xxxx in 2016 and reaped as in 2014.

3 Results

3.1 2014
The results show that in 2014 there was considerable variation across the trial, both within
treatments and across plots. Genstat calculated that there needed to be a difference of 0.7 t/ha for
the difference to be significant (LSD = 0.698). The Biochar C treatment had higher yields than the rest
of the treatments. This may be due to variation. It is also possible that the higher nutrient levels in
the composted plots resulted in high growth earlier in the season, and with the very dry spring
conditions the crop was unable to finish, resulting in a yield penalty. However, the control plots and
Biochar P plots were not significantly higher than the rest of the treatments, so this seems unlikely.
Table 3: Average yields for Langhorne Ck trial, 2014 (barley).

Treat Yield (t/ha)

Biochar C 2.44
Biochar P 1.93
Biosolids 1.93
Chook 1.38
Control 2.07
Peats 2.22
Pig 1.78
Spare 1.48
Turkey 1.7

Langhorne Creek Composts & Bio-fert trial 2014.

Yield (t/ha) (outliers removed, std error 0.328, lsd 0.698)
3

2.5 2.44
2.22
2.07
2 1.93 1.93
1.78
1.7
1.48
1.5 1.38
t/ha

0.5

0
Biochar C Biochar P Biosolids Chook Control Peats Pig Spare Turkey
Treatments

Figure 1: Average yields (barley) Langhorne Creek compost trial 2014

Table 4: Least significant differences table (Tukey). Different letters indicate a statistically different
result.

Tukey
significanc
Treat Mean t/ha e
Chook 1.375 a
Spare 1.481 a
Turkey 1.704 a
Pig 1.778 a
Biochar P 1.926 a
Biosolids 1.926 a
Control 2.074 a
Peats 2.222 a
Biochar C 2.444 a

Also, given the unusual weather pattern in 2014 with such an early dry spring, the treatments might
have performed better if there had been more rain in spring, allowing the crop to make better use of
the nutrition available.

3.2 2015
No harvest or other results in 2015.

3.3 2016