In this section:
Nutrition
Nutrition management in broadacre cropping (.PDF 51.3KB) lists nutrients essential for plant growth, the main sources of some of these essential nutrients, deficiency symptoms and tools for assessment of nutrient pools and crop demands.
It is important to know whether there is too much or too little nutrient coming in or out the farm gate and to match fertiliser needs to your production requirements. A farm nutrient budget can provide valuable information on nutrient flows so you can target the right amount of fertiliser to different areas of the farm (different parts of the farm often vary widely in soil fertility).
Nutrient budgeting for dairy farms in South Australia (.DOC 134.5KB) gives advice on how to calculate a farm gate nutrient budget.
Phosphorus budgeting for dairy farms on the Lower Murray (.DOC 95.0KB) gives information on specific nutrient requirements for the Lower Murray area of flood irrigated pastures.
Fertilisers are vital for efficient productivity - but they are expensive and you need to manage your irrigation to minimise runoff. Minimising nutrient loss from fertilisers on pasture (.DOC 2.5MB) gives information on how to make the most of nutrients on the farm and how to minimise nutrient runoff to waterways.
More information about nutrient run-off in pasture based systems is given in the Land Management section.
