More Profit from Crop Nutrition: Micronutrient Survey

A national survey of the extent of micronutrient (zinc, copper, managanese, boron, molybdenum) deficiencies across all regions and agroecological zones with analysis against environmental and management metadata by 2013.
Micronutrients or trace elements have been proposed as the next major nutrient limitation to improved grain production. Copper, zinc, boron, molybdenum and manganese have all been shown to give significant yield improvements in particular situations. The objective of this project is to assess the extent of micro-nutrient deficiency within each agro-ecological zone (AEZ) and build on data collected from wheat in an earlier survey (Norton 2011).
The assessment will aim to identify areas where wheat, lupins, chickpea and canola are at most risk from micronutrient deficiency (B, Cu, Mn, Mo and Zn). The following evidence about these nutrients will be considered and intergrated into a georeferenced database, linked through soil types within each agroecological zone (except the Burdikin, Tasmania and the Ord zones):
Part 1: Regional Soil characteristics (pH, texture, type, %OC – primary drivers). It is proposed that micronutrient availability is largely controlled by the primary properties of soil pH, soil texture and soil organic matter content, as well as underlying geology. Therefore, reference to existing soil database information should provide prima facea evidence about the risk of micronutrient availability.
Part 2: Soil Test Information. Even though soil tests for micronutrients are not strong indicators of responses to added fertilizer, existing data on soil test levels will be incorporated against the soil type information collected in part 1 of the project. Standard soil tests for Cu, Zn and Mn (0-10 cm as DTPA extracted) and B (0-60 cm or 10-60 cm as either Hot water or hot CaCl₂ extracted) from the NVT database. Some sites will not have the deep B tests although samples of mineral N are taken and these could be retested for B, and testing for heavy metals (to include Mo) will be undertaken. Historic data will also be collected from the NVT database where appropriate micronutrient analyses have been undertaken.
Part 3 Grain nutrient concentrations. Grain from the wheat and canola NVT series would be collected and analysed for nutrient content using ICP-OES. Analytes reported from this analysis are Al, B, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Se, Ti and Zn. Because of cultivar differences in nutrient uptake (eg for Zn in wheat Cakmak et al, 1998), it is proposed to collect samples from common cultivars across each site for each species tested.
Part 4 Collation of field experimental data on micronutrient responses. Literature from refereed and other sources will be collected and collated for presentation, with experiments georeferenced where possible.

References
Cakmak et al. 1998, Euphytica, 100, 349-357.
Norton, 2011, NVT Grains Analysis, http://anz.ipni.net/articles/ANZ0073-EN
Rayment and Lyons, 2011, CSIRO Publishing.