UWA AG science students bury their heads in the sand

Thanks to the Sir Eric Smart Scholarship for Agricultural Research, two fourth year agricultural science honours students at The University of Western Australia have 'buried their heads in the sand' while attempting to unlock some of the keys to improving or ameliorating poor WA soils.

  Esperance farmer's son Gregory Campbell's project, 'Effectiveness of compost and gypsum as a soil amendment and their influence on mycorrhizal colonisation', supervised by Winthrop Professor Lyn Abbott, found that compost and gypsum amendment did not significantly improve crop growth in the single growing season studied.

"However, there was a significant, but inconsistent effect on mycorrhizal colonisation from the gypsum application," Mr Campbell said.

"While gypsum is commonly used on WA agricultural soils, applying compost is a relatively new concept in broadacre agriculture, although commonly used in horticulture."

To view the paper click on the following link:- http://www.esperanceregionalforum.org.au/documents/category/12-other-news.html