Hamilton soils feature in groundbreaking research
Text by JACQUELINE WILSON
SOIL from the Hamilton Branch trial site near Dunkeld will be part of a groundbreaking research project undertaken by leading CSIRO soil scientist, Dr Clive Kirkby.
A series of surface soils from the Dunkeld site, some with added nutrients and some without, will be incubated in the CSIRO laboratory in Canberra for two years.
Every three to four months, the incubating soils will be sub-sampled and the sub-samples will be assayed for a number of different measurements including microbial biomass, which is how many microbes are in the soils, and the amount of “stable” carbon.
“More nutrients will then be added to soil samples that had nutrients originally. The soils will be stirred up and the whole process will continue,” Dr Kirkby said.
“In this way we can simulate about eight seasons in a time frame of only two years.”
This project has been made possible through funding provided by the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme (NLP).
Enquiries, information and comments to:
Michelle McClure
Hamilton Branch Coordinator
Southern Farming Systems
P: 03 5572 3426
M: 0417 228 233
E: mmclure@sfs.org.au
Information current at October 2007
