Increased yield through improved management of soil constraints in cotton farming systems

Each year, soil compaction costs the Australian cotton industry $30 million. It increases waterlogging, and restricts crop growth, nutrition, yield and water-use efficiency. Compaction is influenced by tillage history, soil type, and soil-moisture content at harvest, and is exacerbated by heavy harvesting machinery. There is no simple technique to assess its impact or guide remediation. This project assesses current techniques to address compaction and monitors strategies in the lag-time between such action and its response. In addition, many of the soils used for cotton production in Australia are sodic. This project aims to address both problems independently and in combination, identifying where improvement is viable, and where adaptive management is more economically feasible.