AUSTRALIA'S pasture research capabilities have been boosted through a grants program delivering funds to students and researchers involved in the area.
The AW Howard Memorial Trust, which fosters and supports pasture research throughout Australia, has just awarded another suite of scholarships, grants and awards.
Among the recipients was University of Adelaide Honours in Soil Science student, Jaylie Ryan, who has been awarded a Howard Trust Honours-Masters Scholarship she hopes to use to develop an inexpensive carbon measurement technique for pastures.
Ms Ryan said she was honoured to receive the scholarship for her project, 'Assessment of soil carbon in Waite Arboretum using infra-red spectroscopy as a predictor of aggregate stability and
erosion potential'.
The scholarship will enable Ms Ryan to extend her knowledge from an undergraduate research project she undertook in 2021 that showed soil carbon content in a small section of the Waite Arboretum in Adelaide varied widely, reflecting the litter input of the different trees and plants growing there.
"Through my Howard Trust scholarship, I will build on that work by measuring the carbon levels across the arboretum at a high spatial density," Ms Ryan said.
"This will be achieved using novel infrared sensor technology mounted on an autonomous tractor," she said.
The high throughput of soil carbon measurement will provide the spatial resolution in soil carbon mapping required for assessment of soil carbon in pastures, where variation in topography and patchiness of vegetation are common features.
"This assessment of soil carbon variation in the Waite Arboretum will act as a proof-of-concept test for using this technology for soil carbon measurement in pastures across South Australia."
"Current soil carbon measurement methodology is not viable for pastures due to the high cost associated with the patchiness; this is where infra-red spectroscopy could be a viable option as it is a quick, inexpensive methodology."
Ms Ryan said organic carbon levels were important in Australian farming systems, especially as soil desertification and degradation have caused up to 70 per cent of soil organic carbon to be lost from agricultural land.
"Soil organic carbon levels are highly important for determining soil quality in terms of pasture production and maintenance."
"Compared to cropping lands, patterns of soil carbon are complex across many landscapes used for grazing, due to variation in topography and a patchwork of vegetation.
She said there were unique challenges in finding suitable tests for pastures.
"Due to the patchiness of pasture soils, traditional methodology for soil carbon measurement is not viable due to the high costs per sample and the time required to sample at the required density."
Ms Ryan was one of three recipients of Howard Trust Honours-Masters Scholarships for projects that
facilitate pasture research. The other two recipients are:
- Brodie Crouch, University of Queensland: 'Brigalow, buffel, birds and bovines; integrating conservation with production in Central Queensland'.
- Marshall Tye, Murdoch University (Western Australia): 'Regulation of symbiotic nitrogen fixation in Mesorhizobium ciceri (chickpea rhizobia)'.
An Early Career Research Grant has been awarded to Vy Nguyen from the University of Adelaide whose study will focus on 'harnessing precision genome breeding for common vetch improvement by implementing multiplex CRISPR genome editing'.
Dylan Male from La Trobe University (Victoria) is the recipient of a Travel Study Award which will fund his attendance at an international grassland conference, while Rob Shea from Perennial Pasture Systems, Ararat (Victoria), has received a Grant-in-Aid for the commissioning of two papers to be presented by the authors at the annual PPS Conference in Ararat.