Interrelationships between edaphic factors potentially limiting cereal growth on alkaline soils in north-western Victoria

Abstract

Calcarosols of the Victorian southern Mallee comprise subsoils that are typically saline, sodic, and have high concentrations of soluble boron (B), which have the potential to restrict growth of rain-fed grain crops. This paper reports relationships between various soil factors, from 150 soil profiles over a survey area of 3600 km2, to determine if field texture, pH1:5, electrical conductivity (ECe), and Na+ could be used to estimate exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) and B. Assessment of soil profiles across 5 layers to 1 m (n = 750) showed that exchangeable Na+ correlated well with both ESP (r = 0.96) and B (r = 0.88). High correlation also existed between ESP and ECe (r = 0.71) and betw..