Yellow-brown Pumice Soils Research Articles

Differences in maximum resistive bending moments of Pinus radiata trees grown on a range of soil types

The maximum resistive bending moments ( M b) were measured for 164 Radiata pine ( Pinus radiata D. Don) trees spanning a range of sizes and growing on six different New Zealand soil types. M b was significantly and positively correlated with tree height, diameter at 1.4 m (DBH) and stem volume with the latter explaining the greatest proportion of the variation in M b ( R 2=0.854). Trees with higher taper (lower ratio of tree height to DBH) had higher maximum resistive bending moments than trees with low taper. Both root plate diameter and root plate depth were significantly and positively associated with M b. For trees which failed by uprooting, stem volume, height:DBH ratio and root plate width explain over 91% of the variation in M b. Differences in M b were also found between soil types. Trees growing on northern yellow-brown earths and southern yellow-grey earths had significantly greater values of M b than those growing on yellow-brown pumice soils. A higher incidence of stem failure was also recorded on yellow-grey and yellow-brown earths. This type of failure could not be successfully modelled using elementary beam theory because of the breakdown of the uniform stress assumption and the presence of stem defects.

Effect of cobalt application on the cobalt status of pastures 1. Pastures with history of regular cobalt application

Abstract Pasture and soil cobalt (Co) concentrations were monitored for 8–9 years on six properties that had been developed in pasture for periods ranging from 15 to 24 years on yellow-brown pumice soils in the Rotorua-Taupo area, New Zealand. All sites had been topdressed annually with Co before the survey began in 1979, but from then the amount and frequency of Co applied was reduced considerably. Despite this reduction, pasture Co concentration remained adequate for grazing livestock and soil Co extracted with EDTA was maintained at satisfactory values throughout the survey period. Serum vitamin B12 in lambs grazed on the sampled pastures confirmed that they all had adequate Co intake. In a field trial near Taupo, small plots of white clover, perennial ryegrass, and lucerne were established on a site previously in permanent pasture which had received 16 applications of Co. Ryegrass had the highest Co concentration, lucerne the lowest, and white clover intermediate but the outstanding result was that Co concentration remained high in ryegrass and white clover and there was no decrease for 12 years even where no further Co was applied. Conclusions are that pastures on yellow-brown pumice soils, where soil Co reserves have been increased by repeated annual Co application, can be maintained as Co-sufficient for livestock by much lower rates than the traditional 350 g/ha per year of cobalt sulphate. This work indicates that 175 g/ha applied every third year or 100 g/ha annually are satisfactory and that the accumulated soil Co reserves can last for 10 years or more.

Accumulation of phosphorus fractions in yellow-brown pumice soils with development

Abstract Accumulation of soil phosphorus (P) as a result of fertiliser topdressing of pasture on yellowbrown pumice soils in the Taupo region was investigated using samples from a range of sites covering undeveloped land through to highproducing dairy farms. Organic and inorganic soil P were fractionated using a sequential extraction procedure and the amounts in each fraction compared with amounts of total soil P, soil microbial P, and Olsen P. Total soil P was used as a basis for comparing accumulation patterns as this partially integrates the duration and intensity of fertiliser application. The more labile organic P fractions (extracted by 0.5M NaHC03 and O.1M NaOH) increased curvilinearly with total P. These fractions account for the majority of the organic soil P and so there is a similar pattern for total organic P. All the other P fractions increased linearly with total P. Most of the inorganic P in these soils originates from fertiliser application, the inorganic P levels in samples from virgin sites being very low. Some residual fertiliser P accumulated in the residual inorganic fraction not extracted by alkaline or acid reagents. This form is unlikely to contribute to plant P requirements in the short term. Microbial P is significantly correlated with NaHC03-P0 (P < 0.001) and the other organic P fractions (P < 0.01), but none of these regressions can account for more than onethird of the variation in the microbial P data. There are no significant correlations with any of the inorganic fractions. Despite difficulties in the useof the Olsen P test with yellow-brown pumice soils, the Olsen P values reflect soil P status as they are significantly correlated (P < 0.001) with all the P fractions except residual Pi. Anomalies in interpretation of Olsen P values for yellow-brown pumice soils are discussed in the light of these results.

Residual effect of copper applied to lucerne on a yellow-brown pumice soil

Abstract The effect of copper sulphate applied to an established stand oflucerne (Medicago sativa L.) on a yellow-brown pumice soil was measured over a 4-year period. Dry matter yields were unaffected but plant and soil copper (Cu) were increased by Cu application. Plant Cu concentrations were maintained for 4 years at 7–8 mg/kg, which is adequate for sheep and beef cattle, by application of 3-4 kg Cu/ha. Extractable soil Cu values indicated that the residual effect of Cu application may last for a considerable time. It is concluded that a single application of Cu to lucerne when it is established is sufficient to provide herbage that contains adequate Cu for livestock for at least 4 years.

EFFECT OF CONTROLLED-RELEASE SELENIUM GRANULES APPLIED WITH FERTILISER ON BLOOD LEVELS OF GRAZING SHEEP

Two sheep grazing trials, at Awarua, Southland. and at Wairakei, central North Island, on selenium (&amp;)-deficient and Se-retentive soils under a rainfall of about 1000 mm were used to test the duration of effectiveness of a mixture of standard and controlled-release Selcote Se granules applied at 0.5 kg/ha each. Selenium concentrations in blood of ewes and lambs were maintained above deficiency levels for 2 years in both trials. Peak values were observed or inferred from both rapid-release and slow-release granules. The pattern of pasture Se was consistent with blood Se values where sampling was sufficiently intensive to allow for the low rate of granule application. Keywords: Pasture, ewes, lambs, yellow-brown pumice soils, lowland yellow-brown earths, Selcote.

Factors influencing dissolution of phosphate rock and oxidation of elemental sulphur in some New Zealand soils

Abstract Forty-eight Waikato soils representing six major New Zealand soil groups (yellow-brown earths, yellow-brown loams, yellow-brown pumice soils, brown-granular loams, gley, and organic soils) were incubated with Jordan phosphate rock (PR) with and without elemental sulphur (S) at 25°C for 10 weeks. S was determined by a recently developed high performance liquid chromatography procedure. Inorganic phosphorus (P) in bicarbonate extracts (Olsen Pi) increased significantly in PR and PR + S treatments, indicating that some Jordan PR was dissolved. The amount of organic P in bicarbonate extracts (Olsen P0) from the PR + S treatment was significantly larger than control and PR treatments. There was no significant increase in numbers of PR-dissolving bacteria in PR and PR + S treatments after 10 weeks' incubation. Soil pH and Olsen Pi were useful predictors of the relative dissolution of PR among the soil groups. S was oxidised in all soils. Among the soil groups from the S treatment, the gley soils were t...

A new approach to the interpretation of soil tests for phosphate response by grazed pasture

Abstract Five soil test methods (Truog, Olsen, Bray 1 and 2, and Egner et al.) using two depths of soil, and volumes of soil as well as weights for Truog and Olsen, were compared as methods of predicting response to phosphate by grazed clover - grass pastures. Sixty-two field experiments were run for four years on seven soil types representing three major soil groups of New Zealand (yellow-brown loams, yellow-brown pumice soils, and yellow-grey earths). Response to phosphate was measured in spring and autumnwinter by mowing, but for most of the year the experimental areas were included in the surrounding paddock and managed and grazed accordingly. Soil samples (0 – 38,0 –75 mm) were collected each season. Correlation coefficients between relative yield (RY) and soil tests within soil types were extremely inconsistent between times of measurement of response. For example, within a soil type, the R value for one method ranged from 0.85 to -0.32 over the 8 measurements of response. At anyone time of measurin...

Pasture responses to magnesium fertilisers on a yellow-brown pumice soil

Abstract Marked and consistent yield responses to magnesium (Mg) fertilisers were recorded over a 2-year-period from clover-dominant pasture growing on a yellow-brown pumice soil in the Central Plateau region of the North Island. Annual applications of serpentine superphosphate (24 kg Mg/ha), dolomite (25 kg Mg/ha), and magnesium sulphate (24 kg Mg/ha) respectively raised dry matter yield to 92, 94, and 96% of the maximum, produced by 48 kg Mg/ha, applied as magnesium sulphate. Mean Mg concentrations in white clover were increased from 0.11% in plots receiving no applied Mg to 0.18, 0.18, 0.22, and 0.29% respectively where Mg was applied in the 4 forms described. The mean critical Mg concentration of 0.22% associated with near-maximum yield was higher than those obtained in similar trials conducted earlier on Mg-deficient forest nursery sites in the region. Possible reasons for this are discussed. It is concluded that pasture on similar lighttextured soils with low Mg status may also benefit from Mg addit...

Sodium concentration in lucerne, phalaris, and a mixture of the 2 species

Abstract Lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) and phalaris (Phalaris aquatica L.) were grown as pure species or in a mixture in a pot trial on a yellowbrown pumice soil. Sodium (Na) concentration in lucerne grown alone was low but was increased to an adequate level for grazing animals by adding a large amount of Na fertiliser. Herbage with a similar and adequate Na concentration was produced by growing phalaris as a companion grass with lucerne, without the need to apply Na fertiliser. A field trial confirmed that a lucerne-phalaris mixture contained adequate Na for sheep and beef cattle, and ways of further increasing the Na concentration are discussed. We concluded that lucernephalaris mixtures could be grown on the pumice soils to improve the Na intake by grazing animals.

FERTILISER REQUIREMENTS OF GISBORNE-EAST COAST HILL COUNTRY

Soil fertility has a dominant influence on the productivity of many hill country pastures. In the Gisborne-East Coast hill country the dominant soil groups - the yellow-brown earths (YBEs) from mudstone/argillite and the yellow-brown pumice soils (YBPs) from Taupo pumice tephra - show variations in response to fertiliser inputs. Results from a series of eight field trials, commenced in 1980, indicate widespread phosphorus (P) deficiency across both groups with optimum Olsen P soil test values being calculated as 11.5 and 20.1 respectively. Sulphur deficiencies appear less important, in the short term, than previously thought. Lime (L) and molybdenum (MO) deficiencies appear widespread on YEEs with an indication on some sites that lime effects are over and above that due to increased MO availability. Potassium (KI is the dominant deficiency (after P) on YBPs. Element deficiencies in decreasing order of importance were - Y BEs, P &gt; L/MO &gt; S &gt; K; Y BPS, P &gt; K &gt; S &gt; L. Keywords: Fertilisers, hill country, pasture production.

Assessment of plant-available boron in some New Zealand soils

Abstract The boron (B) status of yellow-brown pumice and other soils was determined by a sunflower test and by hot water (HWS B) and ammonium acetate (NH4Ac B) extractions. Plant-available B in pumice soils was higher in soil from lucerne paddocks than from pasture because B fertiliser had been applied to the lucerne. In soils under both lucerne and pasture, available B was highest in the surface layer and decreased with depth. The available B in soil samples under pasture was much lower on yellow-brown pumice soils than on other soils. Hot-water extraction gave the same indication of B status as sunflowers for all soils, but NH4Ac did not. Pumice soils are low in B and fertiliser B is necessary when crops with high B requirement are grown. Hot-water extraction is a reliable and satisfactory method for determining available B in these soils.

Effect of copper application on copper concentration in white clover and perennial ryegrass on some Northland soils and a yellow-brown pumice soil

Abstract The effectiveness of copper sulphate (CuSO4) application in raising the copper (Cu) concentration of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) and perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) grown together in 5 soils from Northland and a yellow-brown pumice soil was investigated in a pot trial. Dry matter responses of clover were obtained on 3 soils which had less than 1 ppm of EDTA extractable Cu. Ryegrass yield was unaffected by Cu. Cu concentrations in clover and ryegrass increased on all soils except one where clover contained 10 ppm Cu before application. The effect of application on Cu concentration in clover persisted throughout the trial whereas the effect on ryegrass diminished as the trial proceeded so Cu concentration in clover was better than that in ryegrass for diagnostic purposes.

The effect of magnesium fertiliser applied to a pumice soil on magnesium concentration in grass herbage

Abstract Application of commercial calcined magnesite at 0, 20,40,60, and 80 kg/ha magnesium on a yellow-brown pumice soil of Mg status adequate for plant growth increased the concentration of Mg in soil and pasture proportional to the rate of Mg applied. Annual applications over 3 consecutive years resulted in a cumulative effect in comparison with the control. There was a measurable residual effect in pasture Mg and soil test values for 3 years after application had ceased. The increases obtained suggest that on hill-country pumice soils, where Mg supplementation by oral or other means to control hypomagnesaemia has severe practical limitations, a pasture Mg level conducive to stock health may be established with 1 or 2 initial applications of 60 – 80 kg/ha maintained by annual inputs of 20 kg/ha.

Relationships between phosphate retention,olsen and truog soil tests and the estimated short term phosphate fertiliser requirements of well established pasture

Abstract Available phosphorus (QT) determined by the Truog and Olsen methods and P retention (R) were calibrated with field trials against the mean quantity of P required annually in the three years following sampling to maintain 90&#x0025; of the yield obtainable with very high rates of P. The field sites fell mainly into two groups; 15 were on yellow–brown loams of the North Island with high R levels and 34 were on yellow–grey and yellow–brown earths and gley podzols in both the South and North Islands with low R levels. Most experiments with medium R values, i.e., on yellow–brown pumice soils and on mature soils derived from basalt, were excluded because of internally inconsistent results. A model in which R and QT were treated as a composite soil test accounted for 69% and 56% of the variation in P requirements for the Truog and Olsen tests respectively. Treating soils with high R as a separate group, 73% and 48% of the variation in P requirements were accounted for by the Truog and Olsen tests respectively but on soils with low R the corresponding values were only 40% and 32%. In the low R group the negative correlation between QT and P requirements was weak, partly because on many sites low QT values were associated with low P requirements. For this reason a few ‘elite’ trials rather than QT will continue to exert the major influence on P fertiliser recommendations in this group.

A lysimeter study of nutrient losses from urine and dung applications on pasture

Abstract The effects of superphosphate plus KCl alone, and with dung or urine, on pasture and soil were compared in a lysimeter experiment investigating the fate of applied potassium on a yellow-brown pumice soil. The percentages of K applied in KCl, dung, and urine recovered in herbage and lost in drainage were 73, 80, and 51 and 2, 3, and 4 respectively. Superphosphate plus KCl plus urine showed highly significant increases of exchangeable K down the soil profile compared with superphosphate plus KCl alone. The dung treatment resulted in only minor changes in exchangeable K in the soil. The concentration of magnesium in the herbage was depressed by urine but increased by dung which also increased exchangeable Mg in the soil to a depth of 30 cm. Drainage losses of sulphur from superphosphate, dung, and urine were 41, 0, and 67% respectively, of the amounts of S added. Calcium and Mg losses in drainage were approximately equivalent to nitrate and chloride losses, and it was apparent that the presence of mobile anions, especially chloride, play a major part in the leaching of Ca and Mg from yellow-brown pumice soils.

Investigations into the availability to lucerne (Medicago saliva) of copper applied to yellow-brown pumice soils

Cu concentration in lucerne at the hay stage was related (R2 = 0.84) to the soil Cu level in 28 stands where Cu was topdressed commercially. Plant values ranged from 2.6 ppm Cu (deficient for stock) to 13.2 ppm Cu. The extractant, 0.02m EDTA/0.1m NH4Cl, dissolved 67% of the accumulated Cu and established a range in soil Cu from 1 to 23 ppm Cu. On average the CV for the soil measurement was twice that for the plant. Lucerne Cu concentrations differed considerably between harvests within the growing season. Harvest 1 consistently gave the lowest values. Neither changes in growth rate nor soil moisture could account for this. It is postulated that lower insolation and temperature during the first growth period caused the low harvest 1 values. The plant Cu values measured in 14 stands over 3 years revealed that for stock health a useful residual effect exists for at least 3 years after topdressing.

Investigations into the availability to lucerne (Medicago sativa) of copper applied to yellow-brown pumice soils

Abstract The relationship between topdressing rate and Cu concentration in lucerne grown on Hinemaiaia sand was investigated using dressings of 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 4 kg Cu/ha. The changes in Cu concentration in the foliage over two years, with three harvests in each, are reported. Differences between years, and among treatments, were significant. In the first year, 4 kg Cu/ha increased the average harvest concentration from 3.6 to 6.7 ppm Cu. In the second year, the effect from 4 kg Cu/ha applied only in year 1, was as good as that from 2 and from 4 kg Cu/ha applied in both years. Cu application did not increase yield. The annual DM production was 11 960 kg/ha in year 1, and 11 780 kg/ha in year 2.

Effects of boron applications on yield and boron conentration of lucerne (Medicago sativaL.) grown on yellow-brown pumice soils

Abstract Two field trials comparing rates and times of application of borax to lucerne were conducted for 4 years on yellow-brown pumice soils in the Taupo area. Boron deficiency symptoms occurred at one site every year, but only when there was a prolonged dry period. Borax applications prevented boron deficiency symptoms and resulted in dry matter yield increases of 9–43% for individual cuts and an average annual increase of 1530 kg/ha (14%) over the 4 years. No response occurred at the other site where the soil contained a higher level of available boron. Annual rates of application greater than 11.2 kg/ha of borax increased the boron concentration of the lucerne at both sites but did not increase yields. Time of application also had no effect on yield. A single application of 22.4 kg/ha of borax at the start of the trial was as effective throughout the 4 years as repeated annual applications. This rate, applied with the spring topdressing every fourth or fifth year, is recommended to prevent boron defi...

Influence ofHeterodera trifoliicyst inoculum on white clover growth and final cyst count in pots of a yellow-brown pumice soil

Influence of<i>Heterodera trifolii</i>cyst inoculum on white clover growth and final cyst count in pots of a yellow-brown pumice soil

Residual effects of various magnesium fertilisers on grassland

Abstract After ending topdressing with magnesium fertilisers on a field trial on a magnesium-deficient yellow-brown pumice soil, residual effects of six of the fertilisers were compared with effects found from continued annual applications of kieserite. Compared with the regularly topdressed kieserite, all treatments showed a decline in dry matter yields, concentrations of magnesium in the herbage, and magnesium uptakes. Residual effects were smaller from serpentine superphosphate and magnesium phosphate than from dolomite treatments. Over a 6-year period, the percentage of applied magnesium recovered in herbage and soil ranged from 29 to 61 percent, suggesting high losses by leaching from the added magnesium.