Healthy Waterways
The Pumicestone Region has three main horticultural systems turf, strawberries and pineapple production. BioScience Australia in conjunction with DAFFQ and Turf Queensland is monitoring nutrient movement on a large Sunshine Coast turf farm. It is anticipated that this project will:
- Improve the understanding of the role of agriculture in water;
- Increase the understanding of the fate of applied nutrients in turf production systems;
- Utilise nutrient budgeting tools and information that better equips producers to make informed decisions when
developing and assessing their nutrient programs; and
- Identify new and emerging technologies that can assist in better managing nutrient use and loss reduction.
The project monitoring schedule has been developed and is currently collecting baseline data (‘before’ data). Leachate (soil water below the root zone) is being collected using soil solution samplers at 30 cm and 50 cm depths to measure the differences in nitrogen and phosphorus content in water moving through the soil profile to determine differences between current practice and the future, improved practices to be implemented.
The project is scheduled to continue through to the end of June with an extension expected to be negotiated into 2013/14 financial years.
- Improve the understanding of the role of agriculture in water;
- Increase the understanding of the fate of applied nutrients in turf production systems;
- Utilise nutrient budgeting tools and information that better equips producers to make informed decisions when
developing and assessing their nutrient programs; and
- Identify new and emerging technologies that can assist in better managing nutrient use and loss reduction.
The project monitoring schedule has been developed and is currently collecting baseline data (‘before’ data). Leachate (soil water below the root zone) is being collected using soil solution samplers at 30 cm and 50 cm depths to measure the differences in nitrogen and phosphorus content in water moving through the soil profile to determine differences between current practice and the future, improved practices to be implemented.
The project is scheduled to continue through to the end of June with an extension expected to be negotiated into 2013/14 financial years.