Improving wheat production with deep banded Oil Mallee Charcoal ...
Improving wheat production with deep banded Oil Mallee Charcoal ...
Improving wheat production with deep banded Oil Mallee Charcoal ...
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<strong>Improving</strong> <strong>wheat</strong> <strong>production</strong> <strong>with</strong> <strong>deep</strong><br />
<strong>banded</strong> <strong>Oil</strong> <strong>Mallee</strong> <strong>Charcoal</strong> in Western<br />
Australia<br />
Paul Blackwell 1 , Syd Shea 2 , Paul Storer 3 , Zakaria Solaiman 4 ,<br />
Mike Kerkmans 5 , and Ian Stanley 6<br />
1 Department of Agriculture and Food, Geraldton WA<br />
2 <strong>Oil</strong> <strong>Mallee</strong> Company of Australia<br />
3 Western Mineral Fertilisers<br />
4 University of Western Australia<br />
5 <strong>Oil</strong> <strong>Mallee</strong> Association of WA<br />
6 "Bungadale", Kalannie , WA
WESTERN AUSTRALIA<br />
location<br />
• Mostly winter rain<br />
from May to October<br />
GERALDTON<br />
Pindar<br />
Kalannie<br />
PERTH<br />
WHEAT BELT<br />
• Many sandy soils<br />
<strong>with</strong> organic matter<br />
50% of Australia’s<br />
<strong>wheat</strong>
20 years<br />
R&D into<br />
charcoal<br />
and soil<br />
fungi in<br />
Japan and<br />
Indonesia<br />
Makoto Ogawa Syd Shea<br />
helped develop<br />
<strong>Oil</strong> <strong>Mallee</strong><br />
concept <strong>with</strong><br />
John Bartle of<br />
CALM<br />
Director of <strong>Oil</strong><br />
<strong>Mallee</strong> company<br />
ALLEY planting<br />
MALLEE in WA<br />
potential<br />
~10 Mt/yr biomass<br />
BLOCK planting
from Ogawa, M. 1994.Symbiosis of<br />
People and Nature in the Tropics.<br />
Farming Japan Vol.. 28 – 5, p10 21.<br />
CHARCOAL improves the MICRO-HABIAT of beneficial soil microbes
Some new fertiliser<br />
suppliers are using<br />
beneficial soil microbes<br />
and mineral fertilisers.<br />
Is charcoal a better<br />
source of<br />
microporosity than<br />
zeolite?
Research questions<br />
• Will charcoal improve crop yields from<br />
poor soil in a dry Mediterranean<br />
environment?<br />
– (50% increase in Sumatra; Yamato et al.,<br />
220% increase in Brazil; Lehmann & Rondon)<br />
• How much soluble fertiliser<br />
• Will mineral fertiliser and inoculated soil<br />
microbes enable more yield <strong>with</strong> charcoal?
Soil biological nutrition model <strong>with</strong><br />
charcoal<br />
charcoal<br />
particle<br />
plant<br />
root<br />
Symbiotic<br />
fungi (AM)<br />
mineral<br />
particle
THE OIL MALLEE INDUSTRY<br />
processing <strong>Mallee</strong><br />
for eucalyptus oil<br />
OIL DISTILLATION<br />
HARVESTING
Pyrolysis <strong>with</strong> an open pan ‘Moki’ method<br />
at Kalannie by Shea, Stanley and Okimori<br />
March 2005; air temp. = 40 o C+!<br />
Yasuyuki Okimori
wood charcoal (Jarrah)<br />
mallee charcoal (‘05 trials)<br />
<strong>Mallee</strong> biomass after oil<br />
extraction
<strong>Oil</strong> <strong>Mallee</strong> charcoal properties<br />
CEC meq/100g<br />
volatiles%dry<br />
ash%dry<br />
fixed C%wet<br />
fixed C%dry<br />
s.area m2/g<br />
0 20 40 60 80 100<br />
%<br />
pH(CaCl 2<br />
) 8.4 EC 25 uS/m N 1.2% P 0.12% K 0.7% Ca 2.8% Zn 38 ppm
<strong>deep</strong> banding charcoal at<br />
Pindar April 2005; Ausplow<br />
Deep Blade System.<br />
thanks to John Ryan
DEEP BANDED MALLEE CHARCOAL<br />
1 t/ha at broad-acre rate<br />
for row spacing of 600 mm<br />
visible effect at<br />
6 t/ha rate<br />
6 t/ha in 100 mm wide band
TRIAL SITES<br />
PINDAR; sandy clay loam<br />
40ppm av. P<br />
KALANNIE; yellow sand<br />
44ppm av. P
Pindar Kalannie 2 Kalannie 1<br />
2500<br />
2000<br />
55 kg/ha soluble fertiliser - May sown<br />
grain yield, kg/ha<br />
1500<br />
1000<br />
110 kg/ha soluble fertiliser - June sown<br />
500<br />
0<br />
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7<br />
rate of <strong>deep</strong> <strong>banded</strong> charcoal, t/ha<br />
poor yield increase <strong>with</strong> recommended rates of soluble fertiliser
half rate<br />
full rate<br />
2500<br />
2000<br />
+340 kg/ha<br />
grain yield, kg/ha<br />
1500<br />
1000<br />
Pindar<br />
500<br />
0<br />
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7<br />
rate of <strong>deep</strong> <strong>banded</strong> charcoal, t/ha<br />
18% yield increase <strong>with</strong> half rates of soluble fertiliser at 6 t/ha char
mineral plus microbes<br />
2500<br />
grain yield, kg/ha<br />
2000<br />
1500<br />
1000<br />
+640 kg/ha<br />
500<br />
0<br />
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7<br />
rate of <strong>deep</strong> <strong>banded</strong> charcoal, t/ha<br />
46% yield increase <strong>with</strong> at least 1.5 t/ha char added to the mineral fertiliser
values of yield increases<br />
Trial site#<br />
and fertiliser<br />
yield<br />
benefit<br />
<strong>banded</strong><br />
charcoal<br />
broad acre<br />
equivalent<br />
kg/ha<br />
charcoal<br />
value ($/ha) for<br />
<strong>wheat</strong> at<br />
carbon<br />
value<br />
kg/ha<br />
carbon $150/t $250/t $/kg C #<br />
kg/ha t/ha<br />
1. 100 kg/ha<br />
mineral+ 1 640 1.5 250 56 96 160 2.84<br />
1. 30 kg/ha<br />
soluble 2 344 6.0 1000 225 52 86 0.38<br />
2. 110 kg/ha<br />
soluble 3 76 6.0 1000 225 11 19 0.08<br />
3. 110 kg/ha<br />
soluble* 83 3.0 620* 140 12 21 0.15<br />
#<br />
<strong>wheat</strong> at $250/t<br />
~$3/kg = $3000/t of carbon!
Mineral+ half rate of soluble full rate of soluble<br />
2.6<br />
2.4<br />
2.2<br />
Pindar<br />
grain yield, t/ha<br />
2.0<br />
1.8<br />
1.6<br />
1.4<br />
1.2<br />
1.0<br />
10 15 20 25 30 35 40<br />
grains per head<br />
grains/ head explained 42% of yield variation = drought stress effect<br />
(the crop needed an ‘irrigation’ to survive 2005)
55 kg/ha Sol. 30 kg/ha Sol. Min+<br />
50<br />
root colonisation; flowering, %<br />
45<br />
40<br />
35<br />
30<br />
25<br />
20<br />
15<br />
10<br />
Pindar<br />
at flowering<br />
5<br />
0<br />
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7<br />
<strong>deep</strong> <strong>banded</strong> charcoal, t/ha<br />
char increased AMF colonisation (especially the inoculated microbes)
HS LS M+<br />
35<br />
30<br />
0<br />
6<br />
3<br />
6<br />
Grains per head<br />
25<br />
20<br />
0<br />
3<br />
6<br />
0<br />
3<br />
Pindar<br />
at flowering<br />
15<br />
10<br />
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50<br />
root colonisation September %<br />
AMF colonisation associated <strong>with</strong> grains/head<br />
- may have helped reduce drought stress – fungal hyphae extend root system
S55 S30 M+ S110<br />
30<br />
biomass at tillering, g/m 2<br />
25<br />
20<br />
15<br />
10<br />
SYMBIOTIC ?<br />
PARASITIC ?<br />
5<br />
0<br />
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7<br />
<strong>banded</strong> charcoal, t/ha<br />
char increased early growth for lower soluble P conditions<br />
But decreased early growth for higher soluble P conditions
Interpretations<br />
• Valuable yield increases from char addiction<br />
– broadacre agriculture, low native AMF<br />
• Very efficient Carbon sequestration <strong>with</strong> low<br />
rates of low C char<br />
– Few soil effects, long term benefits?<br />
• Char seems to have increased drought<br />
tolerance by encouraging symbiotic fungi.<br />
• Higher levels of soluble P may suppress<br />
symbiosis – more value in low fertility situations.
Questions<br />
• Can these results be repeated?<br />
– pot trials UWA, small plot trials. NLP submission<br />
• How low is the char requirement of the mineral<br />
fertiliser?<br />
– 2007 small plot trials<br />
• How long can the char effect last?<br />
– resowing Pindar and Kalannie trials<br />
– NLP submission<br />
– ARWA support a research potential seminar in June<br />
– KEY information for potential Char economics
INTEGRATED WOOD PROCESSING (IWP) plant at NARROGIN<br />
5MW plant = $6.2M over 20 years; est. Bell and Bennett (2002)
Ogawa and Okimori (2004)
Ogawa and Okimori (2004)
A BENEFICIAL SYSTEM?<br />
THANKYOU<br />
Sylvain Pottier<br />
Yasuyuki Okimori and Makoto Ogawa of<br />
Kansai Environmental Engineering Centre,<br />
Kansai Electric Co. Ltd and General<br />
Environmental Technos Co., Ltd. and the<br />
<strong>Oil</strong> <strong>Mallee</strong> Company for financial support<br />
Ausplow Ltd for the use of their plot<br />
airseeder. Andrew Donken<br />
Victor Dodd and Doug Cail<br />
Dave Gartner, Ben Parkin and Chris Gazey<br />
United Farmers Cooperative and Hans<br />
Schoof for soil testing and interpretation.<br />
Stephen Davies, Bill Bowden, John Bartle,<br />
and Tony Vyn for field advice and<br />
assistance.