Alan Harvey

B.Ag.Sci. Honours (2013)

Effectiveness of rhizobial inoculants on Caucasian clover and lucerne grown in a Lake Heron Station soil with or without lime and superphosphate (PDF unavailable)

Research Overview

At Lake Heron Station, Caucasian clover failed to establish in a new pasture and we suspected this was because the seed was not inoculated with the specific rhizobia that enable it to fix atmospheric nitrogen. Alan collected some of the soil and in a glasshouse trial he showed that the rhizobial inoculant ‘CC283b’ increased the shoot growth of Caucasian clover seedlings by 4-6x with and without lime and superphosphate (pH 6.1 v 5.6, exchangeable Al <0.5 v 5.1 mg/kg, Olsen P 34 v 5 mg/L), and the lime and superphosphate also increased shoot growth by 4-6x. In contrast the inoculant ‘Nodulaid group AL’ only improved the shoot growth of lucerne when superphosphate was applied without lime, but withholding lime and superphosphate suppressed lucerne growth by 8-10x. Alan was supervised by Dr Alistair Black and Dr Jim Moir.