Dr. Melanie Weckert & Dr. Loothfar Rahman

National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, 14th March 2014.

Effects of poultry litter biochar on vineyard soil and root biology

www.csu.edu.au/nwgic

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

"This work was supported by the Winegrowing Futures Program, a joint initiative of the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation and the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre"

Field trial

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

Poultry litter biochar

(continuous slow pyrolysis pilot unit at 550ºC maximum temperature)

Compared with three other organic amendments:

• rice hulls

•composted cow manure

• composted green waste

Yenda vineyard

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

Warm climate NSW vineyard

(mean January temperature 32.4º C)

Soil: Sandy clay

pH (CaCl2) = 6.3

OC = 1.0%

P avail (Colwell) = 156 mg/kg

Nitrate N = 17 mg/kg

Dispersion index = 8.2 (flood irrigation, cultivation)

Yenda vineyard

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

Grapevines:

Five year old Vitis vinifera cv. Chardonnay on Ramsey rootstock

Some healthy, some diseased

(Young Vine Decline: caused by root fungi (Ilyonectria) and trunk fungi (Botryosphaeriacea) in rootstock planting material from vine nursery).

Whitelaw-Weckert MA, Rahman L, Appleby LM, Hall A, Clark AC, Hardie WJ, Waite HL, 2013. Co-infection by Botryosphaeriaceae and Ilyonectria spp. Fungi During Propagation Causes Decline of Young Grafted Grapevines. Plant Pathology 62, 1226-1237

www.nwgic.orgThe National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the

NSW Wine Industry Association

"This work was supported by the Winegrowing Futures Program, a joint initiative of the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation and the National Wine and Grape Industry Centre"

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

*

Ilyonectria spp. (formerly Cylindrocarpon) causes grapevine root disease ‘black-foot’

Methods

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

Added volumes of each soil amendment (1.2 kg C) into soil around grapevines at budburst.

Fertiliser N was applied to the soil as a drench to produce a C/N ratio of 10 for each amendment

Monitored for two seasons only.

Biochar increased grapevine root mass

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

Grapevine root mass

Control

Biochar

Composted cowmanure

Composted greenwaste

Rice husks

l.s.d.

Biochar increased soil C (%)

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

0.85

0.9

0.95

1

1.05

1.1

1.15

1

Control

Biochar

Composted cow manure

Composted green waste

Rice husks

a

b

bb

(Bars with the same letter are not significantly different at 5% l.s.d.)

Biochar & rice increased soil moisture

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

(Bars with the same letter are not significantly different at 5% l.s.d.)

10

10.5

11

11.5

12

12.5

13

13.5

1

Control

Biochar

Composted cow manure

Composted green waste

Rice husks

a

ab

b

c

bc

Soil fungi and bacteria

(by traditional dilution plating )

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) by Ion Torrent (PGM) Platform to follow

Decrease in suppressive microbes

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

Fungal pathogen

Soil bacteria suppresses Bot canker fungus

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Cellulolytic fungi

So

il p

op

ula

tio

ns

(104 C

FU

/ g

dry

so

il)

Control

Biochar

Composted cowmanure

Composted greenwaste

Rice husks

Biochar increased soil cellulolytic fungi

*

Biochar did not increase soil total bacteria

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Total bacteria

So

il p

op

ula

tio

n (

104 C

FU

/ g

dry

so

il)

Control

Biochar

Composted cowmanure

Composted greenwaste

Rice husks

L.S.D.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Total bacteria

So

il p

op

ula

tio

n (

104 C

FU

/ g

dry

so

il)

Control

Biochar

Composted cowmanure

Composted greenwaste

Rice husks

L.S.D.a

aa

b

b

Predatory Bacteria feeder Parasitic

Nematodes – by microscopy

Ln parasitic nematodes per kg soil (healthy vines)

(Bars with the same letter are not significantly different at 5% l.s.d.)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

Control

Biochar

Composted cow manure

Composted green waste

Rice husks

e

ab abbcd

cde

Biochar & composts decreased parasitic

nematodes

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

1

Control

Biochar

Composted cow manure

Composted green waste

Rice husks

de

a

de

f

abc

Ln parasitic nematodes per kg soil (diseased vines)(Bars with the same letter are not significantly different at 5% l.s.d.)

But with diseased vines, composts did not

decrease parasitic nematodes

Ratio ln beneficial nematodes to ln parasitic nematodes (healthy vines)

(Bars with the same letter are not significantly different at 5% l.s.d.)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

1

Control

Biochar

Composted cow manure

Composted green waste

Rice husksa

bb

b b

Biochar & composts increased ratio of

beneficial to parasitic nematodes

Ratio ln beneficial nematodes to ln parasitic nematodes (diseased vines)

(Bars with the same letter are not significantly different at 5% l.s.d.)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

1

Control

Biochar

Composted cow manure

Composted green waste

Rice husksa

b

a

a

b

But with diseased vines, composts did not increase

ratio of beneficial to parasitic nematodes

Interesting?

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

Some effects of the soil amendments were notobserved when they were applied to soil under grapevines with root disease.

This indicates the importance of knowing the initial disease status of experimental plants before making conclusions regarding the effectiveness of soil amendments, including biochars.

Conclusion

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

The organic soil amendments improved vineyard soil health by generally increasing numbers of fungi, bacteria and beneficial nematodes.

Biochar had the greatest effect on soil fungi and nematodes.

Acknowledgements

The National Wine and Grape Industry Centre is a research centre within Charles Sturt University in alliance with the Department of Primary Industries NSW and the NSW Wine Industry Association

Grape & Wine Research & Development Corporation of Australia -funding.

•Lucas van Zwieten, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) for donating the PL biochar.

• Lynne Appleby; Rob Lamont for technical assistance.

• Bev Orchard (stats).

• Mark Conyers, Lorraine Spohr (NSW DPI) and Heidi Parkes Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) - critically review of the nematode part of this work.