Cause of poor grain yields identified and solved

摘要

QUEENSLAND soil scientists have solved a 30-year-old mystery after completing three research projects in the graingrowing areas of central and southern Queensland. Funded by the Land and Water Resources R&D Corporation (LWRRDC), the researchprojects looked at the effects of conservation tillage practices on microscopic soil organisms, soil fertility and soil insects. In 1969, research at the Queensland Department of Primary Industries' (QDPI) Hermitage Research Station, outside Warwick, showed that zero or reduced tillage enabled the soil to store more water for use by the crop. However, the trial wheat crop did not respond to the extra water by producing significantly greater yields, as scientists had hoped.