Subsoil amelioration with organic materials improves canola growth and water-use efficiency

摘要

Field trials examined the growth, water-use and grain production of a canola crop grown on a Sodosol that was 'subsoil manured' two years prior to the study. After three seasons of crop production, the organic-amended treatments continued to out-perform the non-amended treatments with 50-80% additional grain yield. The yield gain was attributed to the additional nutrient uptake, and water use mostly in the subsurface layers below 40 cm deep. Furthermore, the largest change in the subsurface structurewas associated with the treatment effect on growth of crop plants.