Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 

About: Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Pasture & Sowing. It has an ISSN identifier of 0816-1089. Over the lifetime, 5346 publications have been published receiving 94195 citations.

Understanding and promoting adoption of conservation practices by rural landholders

Abstract: Research on the adoption of rural innovations is reviewed and interpreted through a cross-disciplinary lens to provide practical guidance for research, extension and policy relating to conservation practices. Adoption of innovations by landholders is presented as a dynamic learning process. Adoption depends on a range of personal, social, cultural and economic factors, as well as on characteristics of the innovation itself. Adoption occurs when the landholder perceives that the innovation in question will enhance the achievement of their personal goals. A range of goals is identifiable among landholders, including economic, social and environmental goals. Innovations are more likely to be adopted when they have a high ‘relative advantage’ (perceived superiority to the idea or practice that it supersedes), and when they are readily trialable (easy to test and learn about before adoption). Non-adoption or low adoption of a number of conservation practices is readily explicable in terms of their failure to provide a relative advantage (particularly in economic terms) or a range of difficulties that landholders may have in trialing them.

The estimation of the phosphorus fertilizer requirements of wheat in southern New South Wales by soil analysis

Abstract: The usefulness of five contrasting methods of soil analysis for estimating the phosphorus fertilizer requirements of wheat in southern New South Wales has been investigated, using yield data provided by 27 field experiments. Because the level of yield of wheat is strongly affected by seasonal environmental conditions poor correlations are obtained between soil analysis and absolute or relative yield of wheat, Much better and often significant correlations are obtained between soil analysis and the absolute increase in yield from fertilizer application. The best correlations were obtained with an 0.5M NaHCO3 extraction of soil phosphorus. A regression response surface calculated from these relationships provides a method for making direct estimates of fertilizer requirements for maximum economic return to farmers under average climatic conditions. The precision of these estimates is limited more by the flatness of the response surface and uncontrolled variation in the field data, than by inadequacies in the representation of available phosphorus by the NaHCO3 analysis.

Nutritional management for enteric methane abatement: A review

Abstract: A variety of nutritional management strategies that reduce enteric methane (CH4) production are discussed. Strategies such as increasing the level of grain in the diet, inclusion of lipids and supplementation with ionophores (>24 ppm) are most likely to be implemented by farmers because there is a high probability that they reduce CH4 emissions in addition to improving production efficiency. Improved pasture management, replacing grass silage with maize silage and using legumes hold some promise for CH4 mitigation but as yet their impact is not sufficiently documented. Several new strategies including dietary supplementation with saponins and tannins, selection of yeast cultures and use of fibre-digesting enzymes may mitigate CH4, but these still require extensive research. Most of the studies on reductions in CH4 from ruminants due to diet management are short-term and focussed only on changes in enteric emissions. Future research must examine long-term sustainability of reductions in CH4 production and impacts on the entire farm greenhouse gas budget.

The comparative yield method for estimating dry matter yield of pasture

Abstract: This paper describes a new method for estimating pasture yield in which the yields of random quadrats are rated with respect to a set of reference quadrats preselected in the field to provide a scale which is available for reference throughout the sampling. Three alternative calibration procedures are described based either on the dry matter yields of the reference quadrats or on the yields of quadrats rated and cut either during or at the end of sampling. The second and third procedures are shown to have advantages over the first. When testing the method with four observers and two types of calibration scales, estimates of mean yield were generally within 4 per cent of the actual mean with a maximum difference of 8 per cent. Methods are given for calculating the number of samples required to obtain minimum variance for the estimate of mean yield for a given cost in terms cf time spent in the field.

Social principles for agricultural extension to assist in the promotion of natural resource management

Abstract: An understanding of social issues, the social nature of farming, and the social basis of adoption is needed if agricultural extension is to be effective in addressing natural resource management issues, and in promoting sustainability in its triple bottom line conceptualisation. Twenty-seven principles are presented here, with the key principles being: awareness of farming as a social activity; recognition of the social diversity of farmers and the social drivers in agriculture; and the socio-cultural basis of adoption.