An evaluation of sulphur topdressing strategies in Eastland pastures : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Soil Science at Massey University

Abstract

Two sampling surveys for soil and herbage, one in autumn and the second in the following spring, were carried out to assess the pasture sulphur status in the Eastland area of the North Island. A preliminary glasshouse experiment using ryegrass as an indicator plant was also conducted to determine which soil test method best estimated the plant available sulphur pool in the soils covered by the survey. In comparison with calcium chloride extractable sulphur, soil sulphur extracted with calcium phosphate solution was shown to relate well to the yield response of ryegrass. Thus a calcium phosphate extractant was used as the criterion of soil sulphur status in the survey. In most of the soils surveyed, the levels of phosphate-extractable sulphur tended to decrease with depth down to 30 cm and were not constant throughout the year. Levels were lower in spring than in autumn, possibly due to the leaching loss of sulphate and the slow mineralisation rate of soil organic sulphur during winter. The decrease in soil sulphate levels during winter was observed even at sites with low annual rainfall (900 - 1000 mm) and in soils with anion retention capacities as high as 70% as measured by the phosphate retention test. Although the levels of Olsen extractable soil phosphorus also tended to decrease over winter, this decrease in available phosphorus was not nearly as great as for sulphate, suggesting that sulphate, being the more weakly adsorbed anion, had been leached more readily. Soil sulphur levels in autumn also reflected the sulphur fertiliser history more markedly than those in spring, thus providing further evidence of sulphate leaching during winter. The results obtained from the herbage survey were consistent with those derived from the glasshouse study and soil survey in showing that the sulphur status of pasture herbage, whether expressed in terms of total sulphur, sulphate or N:S ratios was generally lower in spring than in autumn. The lower sulphur status of soil and herbage in spring suggests that if sulphur deficiencies do occur in the Eastland pastures, they may be most apparent in early spring. To confirm the suspected spring sulphur deficiency observed in the survey, five field trials were laid down in the spring of the following year on soils belonging to three New Zealand soil groups: a yellow-grey earth, an intergrade between yellow-grey and yellow-brown earths and a yellow-brown pumice soil. Significant yield responses to spring application of sulphur were recorded at three out of the five sites. These sulphur-responsive sites included both those where there had been no recent application of sulphate-containing fertiliser and also those which had received regular autumn applications of sulphate at rates of 25 to 33 kg S hā¹ annum̄¹. Spring application of sulphur-free nitrogen fertiliser greatly increased dry matter yield but did not appear to aggravate the effect of sulphur deficiency on pasture growth at the sulphur-deficient sites, as evidenced by the fact that yield responses to sulphur application in the presence of nitrogen fertiliser were of similar or lower magnitude than those obtained with sulphur in the absence of nitrogen fertiliser. However, spring application of sulphur-free nitrogen led to very wide N:S ratios (18:1 to 23:1) in mixed herbage at two sulphur-deficient sites. In such situations, there may be a decrease in the nutritive value of the extra feed produced by a tactical application of nitrogen fertiliser.