Yield responses to lime of wheat and barley on acid soils in north-eastern Victoria

Abstract

Liming experiments were conducted at 13 sites (soil pH range 4.99-6.27, 0-10 cm depth) in the dryland cropping region of north-eastern Victoria with wheat grown at all sites and barley at 3 sites. Lime increased wheat yields at 9 of the 13 sites with the acid sensitive cultivar Oxley, but the yield increase was not correlated (r2=0.07) with exchangeable Al. Exchangeable A1 was closely related to pH (in 0.01 mmol/L CaCl2). The acid-tolerant wheat cultivars (Matong and Millewa) out-yielded Oxley at a soil pH (CaCl2) of 4.7 and the acid-tolerant cultivars were less responsive to liming. The barley responded to the lime treatment at each of the 3 sites. The use of acid tolerant crop species is recommended on these soils, but an improvement in the predictability of a lime response is required before liming is widely recommended.