Journal
AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL AGRICULTURE
Volume 41, Issue 3, Pages 327-346Publisher
CSIRO PUBLISHING
DOI: 10.1071/EA99139
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Experimental estimates of amounts of foliage nitrogen (N) fixed in Australian pastures range from 2 to 284 kg N/ha. year for annual and perennial legumes growing in temperate and tropical environments. Differences in the amounts of N-2 fixed relate primarily to the legume content and net productivity of pastures. On average, close to 20-25 kg of shoot N are fixed for every tonne of legume herbage dry matter produced across a wide range of environments. Strategies likely to improve the potential for N-2 fixation include: (i) rhizobial inoculation at time of first sowing a new legume species; (ii) amelioration of nutritional problems (applications of superphosphate or lime); (iii) manipulation of pasture composition (herbicide applications to remove grasses in annual pastures in the year prior to cropping); and (iv) including lucerne to offset the year-to-year variability in N-2 fixation inputs from annual legumes. However, pasture response to such management treatments and the subsequent availability of soil mineral N may be modified by livestock effects on nutrient cycling, pasture productivity and botanical composition. Conclusions about the relative size of the contributions of fixed N to the N economies of Australian farming systems depend on whether or not estimates of fixed N are included for nodulated roots. Thus residual net inputs of fixed N after each year of a legume-based pasture are generally rated sufficient to balance the N removed by at least 1 subsequent wheat crop provided estimates of below-ground N are included in calculations. Pasture type influences the duration of subsequent rotational benefits and while residual effects on mineral N are commonly exhausted within 2 years after an annual legume-based pasture phase, N carry-over following lucerne generally lasts considerably longer.
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