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SOILS NEWS
No. 23
December, 1967
AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF SOIL SCIENCE
Registered in Australia for
transmission by post os a periodical
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SOIL NEWS is i ssued solely to financial members of the Australian Society of Soil Science and is an informal news service of that body. It is published every June and December. The statements printed in it are not for citation elsewhere, and there are no repr in ts .
Members are invited to send le t t e r s , communications, no t ices , short reviews and news i tems . Material for the next i s sue should reach the Editor by mid-April 1968.
AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF SOIL SCIENCE
FEDERAL COUNCIL, 1966-1968
Location - Adelaide
Off icebearers - President Dr. T .J . Marshall
Vice-President Mr . G-D . Hubble
Secretary
Treasurer
Hon. Editor S oils News
Dr. D J . Greenland
Mr. J . T . Hutton
Mr. C . B . Wells
Telegraphic address WAITINST, Address - Waite Ins t i tu te , Glen Osmond, South Australia 5064 Telephone 79.1691
BRANCHES, 1967-1968
Queensland
President: Dr. A.W, Moore Secretary: Dr. G , G . Beckmann Treasurer: Mr. H. Briggs
Dept. of Primary Inds . , William Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000
New South Wales
President: Prof. N . Coll is-George Secretary: Dr. D .E . Smiles Treasurer: Dr. D . E . Smiles
Dept . of Soil Science, University of Sydney, Sydney, N . S . W . 2006
(Continued inside back cover)
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S O I L S N E W S
The Newsletter of the Australian Society of Soil Science
(Price 50c)
Number 23 December 1967
Contents Page No.
President 's Letter 3
9th International Congress of Soil Science
Congress programme 5
The Editorial Procedure 5
Administration 5
Simultaneous interpreting for the Congress 5
Entertainment 8
Australian Society of Soil Science
Federal Council Notes 9
The Viability of A.J .S.R. 10
Dictionaries - a plea 1 1
Summaries of ta lks
Plant nutrition and the Queensland Sugar Industry -
K.C- Levermgton 12
Soil physics in Agriculture - C . W . Rose 13
Research at the I .R.R.I . , Philippines - 1. MacRae 13
Soil research in the improvement of plantation forest
productivity - R.C Florence 14
The use of Chemical analysis of soils in relation to
mineral surveys - D, Sampey 15
Quantitative determination of clay minerals - G . P . Briner 16
Urea, Urease and nitrogen losses - J.R. Simpson 17
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Contents Page No.
Summaries of Talks (Contd.)
Soil Phosphorus fractionation: Chang and Jackson -
S .M. Bromfield 17
Some aspects of Applied research to agriculture - R.J . French 18
Some aspects of the Availability of Soil Nutrients to Plants -
R . S . Beckwith 19
Personal Notes 20
Branch Activities 22
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PRESIDENT'S LETTER
Council has now entered the second year of its location at Adelaide. The President, Secretary and Treasurer continue in office under our by- laws but there are some changes in branch representat ion. Five of the seven branches have held elections and their new presidents are now on Counci l .
One item of business carried over during this transition concerns the report and recommendations of the Publication Committee with Mr. B.E. Butler as con-venor. This report gives an excellent account of how the main journals con-cerned with soil sc ience are operated and makes recommendations about the Society's future policies on publication. These had earlier been discussed by branches, and Council had no difficulty about agreeing to one of the recommen-dations - that Soils News should be continued as at present .
But decis ions on others were not reached and they have been held over to a later meeting. Questions to be decided include: should there be an editor (apart from the Editor of Soils News) with a four year term for greater continuity and should the Society have an Editorial Policy Committee?
Arrangements for the 9th International Congress are well in hand. The Programme Committee under the Chairmanship of Mr. B.E. Butler has recently met and drawn up its programme on the basis of the accepted papers and the framework which had been announced earl ier . More papers were offered than could be accepted a ad we may expect that the standard of the meetings and of the printed proceedings will be raised by the refereemg and selection which the Committee was able to exerc i se . Papers are now flowing to the printer through the hands of the Editor of the Proceedings, Mr. J .W. Holmes, and his band of sub-editors who are to have the papers in print at the time of the Congress . Refereemg and editing have been spread widely amongst our members . These have been especially heavy tasks because of the language complications that appear in papers drawn from so many countr ies .
Interest in the coming congress appears to be having an effect on the num-ber of admissions to membership of the Australian Society. Fifty new members are recorded by the Treasurer, Mr. J .T . Kutton as having joined since November of last year . These welcome additions to our l ist of members make up an un-usually large number for a 12-month period.
T J . Marshall
PRESIDENT.
9TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF SOIL SCIENCE
Congress Programme
A final selection of papers that will be presented in Adelaide and included in the Proceedings of the 9th International Congress of Soil Science was approved at a recent meeting of the Programme Committee held in Adelaide on October 12th-13th.
Officers of the seven commissions who chiefly comprise the Programme Committee, and referees to whom all papers were sent for comment and evalua-tion have thus completed a major t a sk . Moreover they have done this within the limited time which was available between the final date for the submission of manuscripts (August 1st 1967) and the pre-arranged deadline for papers to be in the hands of the Editorial Committee (October 16th) ,
In a great many papers there were many points which have reguired clarifi-cat ion, and this in turn has involved a need for rapid correspondence between commission officers and the authors concerned. Again there were many which greatly exceeded the prescribed limit of 3,000 words . These too have involved a quite voluminous correspondence and some modification of the original manu-scripts .
The number of manuscripts which were submitted exceeded by far the strict limitations which were imposed by the Congress Programme. For this reason alone nearly 20% had to be rejected and the final programme now makes provision for 310 papers . The committee has handled a very difficult task in selecting those which could be regarded as contributions of outstanding merit or as likely to promote worthwhile d i scuss ion . The committee regrets that under these cir-cumstances many good manuscripts were perforce rejected solely because they could not be accommodated .
In the Congress Proceedings all accepted papers will be printed in their original ' .,r;.; ";̂ (English, French or German) and the summaries of all papers -irrespective of language - will also be published in the three languages . The task of translating and checking translations of so many papers has been ably handled by our amateur interpreters and their contribution has been far more than expected in that original summaries were sometimes corrected and therefore needed to be retranslated. Papers in German or French were also translated before con-sideration by the commission referees . The committee would like to record its sincere appreciation of this co-operation by our amateur interpreters.
The Editorial Procedure
Papers accepted by the Programme Committee have again been reviewed by members and officers of the Editorial Committee. They were obliged to give more detailed attention to minor errors in spelling, terminology and construction and to general conformity throughout the four volumes of the Congress Proceedings.
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9TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF SOIL SCIENCE
The amount of work which this has involved was not envisaged 12 months ago when the original datel ines were approved, or in our written contract with Angus & Robertson whereby it was laid down that edited manuscripts must be in their hands by November 1st. The Editorial Committee have thus been obliged to work unceas -ingly and under extreme pressure to complete their t a sks on up to 20 papers per day.
A further difficulty which was quite unforeseen is that many papers which were submitted in English, French or German by authors who were not fluent in those three languages were badly constructed or lacking in clarity and in some ca se s they called for complete revis ion.
In spite of these difficulties the Editorial Committee has almost completed its monumental t a sk . More than 200 papers were in fact despatched and received by the printer by November 1st. The remaining 100 will be despatched within the next fourteen days from that da t e . The Editor in Chief (Mr. John Holmes) and his committee should be highly commended for what they have achieved .
Administration
Apart from the work of the Programme and Editorial Committees the Congress Manager would like to express his sincere appreciation of what has been achieved by the Congress staff during the past three months. The essent ia l procedure in maintaining records of abstracts and papers received and sent on to commission officers; of maintaining procedures for the translation and checking of foreign typescripts and of all summaries; the re tyyng and checking of each stage of the process have all been handled with commendable efficiency and without interrup-tion to more routine du t i e s . Formal notices of acceptance or rejection will be sent out from this office before mid-November.
The management would also like to record its equally sincere appreciation of the service given by other people. C .S.I .R..O. staff officials and our amateur interpreters have all devoted a great deal of time and energy to their contribu-tions . There have been times when it seemed that our Congress staff (both of-ficial and unofficial) could be located in every available corner and cubby-hole . Long hours of intensive and exhausting labour by so many people is gratefully acknowledged.
With such sterling work already poured into the foundations of the Congress there seems every chance that what is yet to be done will be as well done and that the final result will be as successful as we all expect it to be .
Simultaneous interpreting for the Congress .
Soil Science in Australia has advanced so effectively th :t it has now been recognised internationally as worthy to be witnessed by soil sc ien t i s t s through-out the world. Formal recognition of this was given by the International Society of Soil Science accepting Australia from among several other nations as the venue
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9TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF SOIL SCIENCE
for the 9th International Congress of Soil Science in 1968. To be effectively in-ternational it is necessary to be competently multil ingual. The Congress Man-agement has employed a few professional interpreters to help in achieving this and is looking to local ta lent to add to the number.
Since the end of 1966 Mr. Cedric Wells has been running a c lass in Adelaide for training l inguists to undertake simultaneous interpretation of the proceedings of the 1968 Congress . The first task has been to find those l inguists who have the relatively rare capacity to l isten to a lecture being given in one language and, while still l istening to what is being said, to speak in another lan-guage the meaning of what they have heard. They must do this at the same speed as the lecturer and about half to one sentence behind him the whole t ime.
The official languages of the Congress are English French and German. It has therefore been necessary to find linguists competent in any pair of these lan-guages . Because the vast majority of papers will be in English and because the greatest proportion of delegates will be able to understand English we have not sought l inguists for French-German and vice versa interpreting.
Most l inguists sufficiently competent fcr our purposes in English and either French or German are Arts graduates with very little formal science background, let alone soil sc ience , Part of the task therefore has been to teach those chosen the , to them, very foreign languages of scientific English, scientific French and scientific German. In order to give this training the right slant the proceedings of pievious International Congresses in Soil Science have been used as training material to a considerable extent .
The method of training, through the good graces of Mr. Hank Sihakus of the University of Adelaide, has been largely based on the use of the Language Laboratory. Papers m soil science subjects have been read on to tapes for the trainees to use; written versions of the original paper and its translation into English French or German have at the same time been handed out to help them learn the Soil Science language.
Because expressions m one language are often meaningless m another if translated verbatim, an interpreter cannot take the easier way out by translating direct from one language to another. Though there is little enough time given them while working to think about the meaning of what is bemg said, think about it they must if the listener is to understand the sense of the lecturer 's words. This means that the interpreters must be given some understanding of soil s c i ence . To do this recordings have been made, with the utmost co-operation of the Faculty of Agricultural Science in the University of Adelaide, of the under-graduate lectures in soil science and of a series of advanced lectures to post graduate students in soil s c i ence . The interpreters use these recordings as a means of learning some soil science as well as practice material for simultan-eous interpreting.
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9TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF SOIL SCIENCE
For further pract ice , under conditions more nearly approaching congress conditions - especial ly the l inguistically rather unpredictable d iscuss ion per-iods - and to get practice in understanding speakers having different accents and manners of speaking, a sound proof booth such as will be instal led at the Con-gress has been set up in the Conference Room at the C . S . I . R . O . Division of Soils laboratories in Adelaide. Interpreters come, as often as each is able , to work in the booth during seminars, d iscuss ion groups and society meetings .
For further training in soil sc ience , as opposed to training in the language of soil sc ience , it is planned to run, in conjunction with Dr. Dennis Greenland, a special lecture course for the interpreters based principally on the themes of the Congress . They have had some associat ion with Congress material by being given the task of translating into English for the referees the papers submitted in French or German, and of translating all the summaries into English French or German as necessa ry . The continual stream of questions they have had to ask to enable them to understand the concepts in order to produce meaningful t r ans -la t ions , is some measure of the immense amount of work they are putting into the task .
To lighten their burden a li t t le a training programme for speakers is also under way. The aim of this is to show lecturers that , though their first duty is to their audience, if they learn to lecture in a way that helps the interpreter, a much larger proportion of an international audience will be able to understand and appreciate the substance of the lecture .
The task of training the team and the task they are undertaking are in neither case simple, but the prestige of the Congress and the internationa] post-Congress reputation of Australian soil science will in large measure depend upon their effectiveness .
In the larger perspective the existence of a competent team available locally for training for conferences in Australia in other discipl ines will help to bring Australia into closer touch with international thinking in those d i sc ip l ines .
Entertainment
A programme of entertainments for delegates and assoc ia te s to the Congress is in the final phases of organisat ion. It will begin and end ai: the Australia Hotel, North Adelaide, with the A . S . S . S . reception on Monday, 5th August, and the Conference Banquet on Wednesday, 14th August.
Overseas visitors will be guests of members of the Australian Society of Soil Science at the Hotel Australia on Monday night, 5th August, the night be -fore the official opening of the Congress . The rece t "on will begin with an address by the President of the Society, which will be followed by a Buffet Supper with wines e t c . Wives of all delegates ere invited and the wives of
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9TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF SOIL SCIENCE
overseas delegates will be guests of the Society. The estimated cost is $2.50 per person for all members and wives at tending. Dress will not be formal.
The Banquet is on the night of the last Conference sess ions and will be an excel lent , if informal, closing ceremony.
In between, there will be held a formal reception by the State Government on Wednesday night, 7th August, at the National Art Gallery, North Terrace and a performance of the Australian Ballet Company on Monday, 12th August, to which delegates and assoc ia tes are invited g ra t i s . The programme for the Ballet has yet to be arranged.
The Australian Wine Bureau will hold wine tas t ings for 250 people on four occas ions . The tas t ings will be held in the University refectory at the c lose of the day ' s conference sess ions and it is anticipated that delegates will be able to attend at least one t a s t ing .
The conference exhibition of soil monoliths etc . , which will be housed in John Mart in 's Store, North Terrace, will be open, by courtesy of the company, on the nights of Thursday 8th and Friday 9th, August, specifically for the con-venience of delegates and their w ives .
Documentary films from the Australian Film Library collection will be shown in the Napier Building, venue of the congress sess ions at the University, on every night of the conference for free attendance by de lega tes . Finally the many theatre and entertainment groups, art gal leries and entertainment bus inesses will be advised of the event of the congress and will be encouraged to plan their pro-grammes for the two weeks to be commensurate with an international gathering of this type and size and will be free to advertise their programmes at the reception cen t re .
FEDERAL COUNCIL NOTES
Report of the Publications Committee:
This was received by Council and discussed at its last meeting. The recommendation, contained in the Report that Soils News should be continued in its present form, was passed as a resolution of Council . Other recommenda-tions gave rise to some discussion and were therefore accepted as foreshadowed motions, to be voted on at the next meeting of Counci l . These motions concern:
the appointment of an Editor,
the appointment of an Editorial Policy Committee,
publication of reports of Committees set up by the Society and of Presidential Addresses,
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the development of the Soil Publication ser ies of the Society as the technical publication of the Society.
Council expressed its thanks to the Convener and the members of the Pub-lications Committee for the work that had gone into the preparation of the Report.
Australian Tournal of Soil Research:
Following previous d iscuss ions in Federal Council , a letter had been sent to Mr. Downes, who is responsible for presenting the Society 's views to the Advisory Committee for A . J .S .R . , concerning the assignment of papers to A.J .S .R. and A.J.A.R. The views set out in the letter have been conveyed to the Editor-in-Chief of the journals published by C . S .1 .R . O. , but no reply has as yet been received.
Application for membership:
Twentysix applications were received, at the las t meeting of Federal Council , bringing the total for the year to sixty. There have been six resignations so that the number on the books of the Society now exceeds 400 .
International System for Soil Nomenclature:
Mr. Gibbons had reported that this was under discussion by the Soil
Classif icat ion Committee.
AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF SOIL SCIENCE
The Viability of A.T.S.R.
I have been asked to put a case for members to submit their papers to the Australian journal of Soil Research. You might think that no case was needed; that a soils paper would automatically be sent to this Journal for publication. However, the facts show otherwise. The number of papers appearing in the Journal since its inception in 1963 total eightyseven; during the same period at least twentyfive papers (on soil science) were publir.V ;d m the Australian Journal of Agricultural Research; while twelve papers, written by Australians and d e s -cribing research carried out in Australia, appeared in the Journal of Soil Science which is published m the U.K. There is no sign that this partition is changing very much. I have not included papers accepted by the Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, since the requirements for this Journal are different from those of the other three, which are reasonably com-parable. If all the A.J .A. R . soils papers had been diverted to A.J-S .R. , the former would have lost. 8% of i ts c l ients while the latter would have gained nearly 30%. Much of the loss is evidently due to the fact that soil fertility papers (which frequently include data from plants as well as soils) are equally acceptable to either Journal. There is no doubt in my mind that all soil fertility
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papers properly belong to A . J .S .R . , and that the scope of A.J.A.R. should be a l -tered to exclude this field of research from that Journal.
These matters are being d iscussed between Federal Council and the Editor-in-Chief of the C . S . I . R . O . Editorial and Publications Section. It is to be hoped that a firmer policy will be agreed on. Meanwhile, what li t t le experience I have suggests that it is authors themselves who decide to which of the Journals they will send their papers . This may often be a matter of habit , A.J.A.R. having been the usual receptacle for soil papers for many y e a r s . Perhaps the scope of A.J .S .R . should be widened to include papers that the Board of Standards d e s -cribe as "of local interest" , so that papers published in Aust. J. Exp. Agr. An. Husb . would also be acceptable to A.J .S .R. ; resu l t s of local interest are not necessar i ly of inferior scientific merit, and soils papers often possess a strong flavour of locality - obviously they have t o . Another view (which cannot, inc i -dental ly, be substantiated from the proportion of papers rejected by A.J .S.R.) is that referees are too tough. Yet another is that research workers may want to reach a larger group of readers than is covered by the Journal, which brings me to the point of this note - one way to augment the reputation of a scientific journal and to increase i ts overseas circulation is to publish a lot of papers of high qual-i ty . The most one can do in the present, context is to urge members and their co l -leagues to publish in A.J .S .R.
While it is desirable that authors should have a free choice of journal, it is not unreasonable to request that all soils papers forwarded to the Editor-in-Chief of the C . S . I . R . O . Journals be diverted to A. J. S .R. It i s strange that so many soi ls papers are published in A.J.A.R. , whose Editorial Advisory Committee does not contain one soil scientis t at the time of writ ing. The viability of A.J.S.R-is low; this Society has a proprietory interest in the future of the Journal and its members should a s s i s t in relieving the current drought. The International Soil Congress approaches rapidly and it i s most important that our overseas visitors gain a favourable view of the status of soil research in Australia. Better support of A.J .S .R. would help to sustain this impression, and would a s s i s t Federal Council materially in its efforts to improve the image of Australian research in this vital field of study.
DICTIONARIES - A PLEA
The task of training the local simultaneous interpreters for the Congress is being complicated by the lack of sufficient copies of the Dictionary of Soil Science that was prepared for the Bucharest Congress . The Secretary General of the I . S . S . S . informs us that supplies have been exhausted.
If you know of any that can be spared or are collecting dust somewhere, p lease let the Congress Manager know, as a matter of urgency.
We badly need another SIXTEEN copies , and are prepared to BUY or BORROW, whichever you wish - as long as we cio, get them.
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SUMMARIES OF TALKS
Plant nutrition and the Queensland Sugar Industry (Presidential Address by K .C . Leverington to the Queensland
Branch on 19th July, 1967)
Although field experimentation with fertilizers on sugar cane in Queensland commenced about 1900 it was not until the 1930's that work to relate crop r e s -ponses with soil nutrient levels met with any real s u c c e s s . Correlations be -tween soil analyses for phosphorous and potassium and the resul ts from some 85 trials on the major soil types in sugar growing areas formed the bas is for a Fer-tilizer Advisory Service operated on a free bas is by the Bureau of Sugar Experi-ment Stat ions. Although this early work has been subject to some criticism in recent yea r s , more detailed experimentation carried out since 1950, although providing data for refinements in the technique of calculating fertilizer require-ments, has generally confirmed the critical levels suggested by Kerr and von Stieglitz in 1938. Today between 2,500 and 3,000 soils are tested each year for sugar farmers in Queensland.
Unfortunately no satisfactory soil test has been worked out for nitrogen requirements and consequently recommendations are based only on field t r ials on various soil types in each d is t r ic t . The average nitrogen application is about 90-100 lb of N per acre per year . While some of the nitrogen is applied m mixtures with P and K a large proportion of the requirements are met with the straight nitrogenous fert i l izers, sulphate of ammonia, urea and aqua ammonia. The latter two fertilizers have a considerable price advantage over ammonium sulphate and their consumption is increasing. Experimental wo^k showed that to be efficient urea had to be covered with soil immediately after application.
In recent years magnesium deficiency has shown up in a number of north-ern areas and at the present time the economics of control measures are under invest igation. Lime is frequently recommended on the basis of pH in normal K CI suspension. However, although the soils may be very acid, many ate less than pH 4.5 in water, responses to lime are generally small and probably uneconomic when world sugar values are low.
Copper deficiency, which has very characterist ic symptoms has been found in many of the poor sandy coastal soils brought under cultivation in r e -cent y e a r s . It has been found that some 40 pounds of copper sulphate per acre is necessary to overcome the deficiency, but once this has been applied only light (7 lb/acre/year) dressings are necessary to maintain a sufficiency of this nutrient .
The development of fertilizer mixtures based on ammonium phosphate and the increasing use of nitrogenous fertilizers containing no sulphur has raised the possible development of deficiencies of this nutrient. Long range tr ials are now in their third year but no deficiencies have yet become apparent. It appears that a crop of cane removes 20 and 40 pounds of sulphur per acre per year.
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Soil P h y s i c s in ag r icu l tu re
(P res iden t i a l a d d r e s s by C . W . Rose to the A . C . T . Branch on 20th July 1967)
In ag r i cu l tu re the impor tance of bringing b a s i c d i s c i p l i n e s to bear on i t s
problems h a s long been r e c o g n i s e d , no tab ly in the involvement of c h e m i s t s in
nu t r i t iona l q u e s t i o n s . The a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n p h y s i c s and agr icu l tu re in the
more l imited a rea of ' s o i l p h y s i c s ' w a s i l l u s t r a t ed by the d e v e l o p m e n t s at
Rothamsted Exper imenta l S t a t i o n . The ph i losophy behind the appoin tment in 1913
of the first p h y s i c i s t at Ro thamsted , B.A. Keen, w a s " t h a t the b e s t t ra in ing for
r e s e a r c h in an app l ied sub jec t i s a thorough grounding in b a s i c s c i e n c e " ,
Two f ie lds of so i l p h y s i c s were c o n s i d e r e d , t oge the r with the way in which
they could con t r ibu te to our unde r s t and ing of s i t u a t i o n s or s y s t e m s of impor tance
to ag r icu l tu re .
W a t e r movement in so i l and from so i l t o a t m o s p h e r e . P o s s i b l e r e a s o n s
were examined for some t a r d i n e s s in the deg ree of app l i ca t i on of our current
knowledge of wate r movement in so i l s to field problems of agr icu l tura l conce rn -
The d e s i g n of d r a i n a g e s y s t e m s , and the a d v a n t a g e of unde r s t and ing the
p a t t e r n s of water wi thdrawal by plant roots were two e x a m p l e s of agr icu l tu ra l
problems where the predic t ion of wate r movement in so i l s is r e q u i r e d .
The theory behind both l iquid and vapour p h a s e w a t e r movement in s o i l s ,
and be tween soil and a tmosphe re w a s g iven , together with i l l u s t r a t i o n s of the
app l i ca t i on of such t h e o r y .
Solute movement accompany ing wate r f lux . E s p e c i a l l y if d r a inage i s r e s -
t r i c t ed , either b e c a u s e of the deve lopment of a high water t a b l e , or through low
hydraul ic conduc t iv i ty of the s o i l , the in t roduct ion of i r r igat ion to an arid e n -
vironment can lead to the development of s a l i n e s o i l s . Theory w a s given a l -
lowing the effect of the second factor ment ioned above on sal t accumula t ion to
be examined . Appl ica t ion of th i s theory w a s made to da ta from the Ord River
Irr igat ion Area .
Effects of water flux on movement of the mobile n i t ra te ion were i l l u s -
t r a t e d , and the b a s i c p r o c e s s e s r e s p o n s i b l e for the movement of s o l u t e s in s o i l s
were briefly c o n s i d e r e d .
Research at the In te rna t iona l Rice Research i n s t i t u t e , Ph i l ipp ines .
(Talk by Ian MacRae to the Q u e e n s l a n d Branch on 13th September , 1967)
Gej}£I^i.' T h e In te rna t iona l Rice Research I n s t i t u t e s i t ua t ed approximate ly 40
mi les s o u t h - e a s t of Mani la on the i s land of Luzon, Ph i l ipp ines is a p r iva te r e -
sea rch and t ra in ing o r g a n i s a t i o n suppor ted primari ly by funds from the Ford Foun-
da t ion and the Rockefel ler Founda t ion . The primary ob j ec t i ve of the Ins t i tu te is
to d e v e l o p and d i s s e m i n a t e knowledge and m a t e r i a l s that will provide a sound
b a s i s for i n c r e a s e d r ice p roduc t ion . Another major ob j ec t ive of the Ins t i tu t e is
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the post-graduate training of staff members for other research or educational organisations concerned with increasing rice production.
The chief reason for the exis tence of the Inst i tute is that yields of rice -the major food of Asian people - in the tropics are low. Average yields of rice in most tropical rice-growing countries range from 1,000 to 2,000 kg per hectare , as compared with yields in temperate zone countries of up to 6,600 kg per hec tare .
The Ins t i tu te ' s total research effort embraces all phases that appear to have any significant bearing on rice production. Some factors responsible for low production in the tropics are (a) the lack of variet ies of r ice capable of giving high yields in the t ropics , (b) poor weed, insect and d i sease control, and (c) unsatisfactory cultural methods and poor soil management practices .
The Insti tute has developed a variety of r ice , designated IR-8 which has consistently produced yields of over 7,000 kg per hec ta re . This variety is a short, lodging res is tant moderately early maturing, nitrogen responsive var ie ty . The future of this variety and some of the newer ones being developed seems bright and may do much to solve the immediate food problems of Asia.
One aspect of Soils Research. Denltrification in flooded samples of six Philippine soils was s tudied. N15 tagged nitrate was added to the soils im-mediately before flooding, and the fate of the N15 followed throughout a period of six weeks of submergence. Total soil N, nitrate + nitr i te, KCl-extractable ammonium and organic nitrogen, and the N15 content of each of these fractions was determined periodically during the six w e e k s . Nitrate disappeared rapidly in all soils after flooding, but was most rapid in the two soils having the highest native organic matter content . KCl-extractable ammonium increased in all soils after submergence, and values for the six soils ranged from 56-346 ppm after six weeks of submergence.
The total N15 content of the soils declined after submergence. In the two soils having the highest native organic matter content, the added N15 was completely lost after two weeks of submergence. The amount of N15 detected in the other four soi ls after s ix weeks submergence represented from 8 to 41% of the applied nitrate N15 . Only a part of this N15 ( 5 . 3 - 2 6% of applied N15) was traced to the nitrate fraction after six weeks submergence. From 4 .5 to 39% of the applied N15 was recovered from the organic fraction of four of the soi ls after six weeks submergence, indicating that assimilatory nitrate reduc-tion had occurred, and that a considerable proportion of the applied nitrate nitrogen had been immobilized into the soil organic fraction.
Soils research in the improvement of plantation forest productivity (Talk by R .G. Florence to the A . C . T . Branch on 28th September 1967)
This subject was broadly reviewed in three par ts , (a) soil factors which affect growth of forest spec ies , (b) use of fer t i l isers , and (c) problems of
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declining productivity in second and later rotations .
(a) Soil factors which affect growth of forest spec ies : There has been con-siderable research, particularly in the United Sta tes , on the evaluation of poten-t ial site production for a given spec ies , by defining those readily measurable climatic and soil factors best correlated with the growth of the species . How-ever, there has been lit t le investigation of the influence that variations in soil aeration, structure, depth, and moisture patterns may have on growth of major forest species .
(b) Use of ferti l izers: Major plantation forests have been established on soils marginal for agriculture. The historical development of fertiliser inves t i -gations was traced . Phosphorus has been the major limiting nutrient, and both total soil phosphorus level , and more lately foliar phosphorus leve ls , have been used as indices of deficiency or impending deficiency. In recent years the pos-sible role of nitrogen and site cultivation in improving early forest production has been examined. There is need for more research on types of phosphorus ferti-l i s e r s , and their placement, on soils of strong P-fixing capacity and on extremely permeable sands .
(c) Problems of declining productivity: Evidence of a substantial decline in productivity of second rotation plantations on the dune soils in the southeast of South Australia is a major concern to Australian forestry. Possible factors bearing on the problem are examined, including (i) the influence of species and species mixtures on theit s i t e s , (ii) redistribution of nutrients in, and losses from, the plantation ecosystem, (iii) problems of litter decomposition and nut-rient return, and (iv) deterioration in the forest-microflora re la t ionship.
The use of chemical analysis of soils in relation to mineral surveys (Talk by D, Sampey to the W,A. Branch on 14th July. 1967)
Mr. Sampey, a geologist , explained that his interest in soil depended on the fact that it is derived from a parent material and hence, at least for a soil developed in situ, the :.iineral content of the topsoil can give information regard-ing the minerals present in the underlying rock.
He outlined the procedures used in the search fcr mineral depos i t s . Costs play a large part m deciding the extent of sampling. The data obtained from chemical analysis of samples can be presented m the fc m of t ab les , graphs oi contour diagrams for interpretation. Areas showing "anomalies" (mineral con-tent higher than background} are tested by deep dri l l ing.
The speaker gave examples of artifacts due to incorrect sampling and com-plications introduced by sorting of minerals m s t reams. The use of analysis of vegetation growing on alluvial soils to gain information about the composition of underlying rocks was mentioned.
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Quantitative determination of clay minerals by ordinary chemical
techniques and the relevance to agriculture and engineering
(Talk by G . P . Briner to the Victorian Branch on 2nd June, 1967)
Quantitative determination of clay minerals by X-ray diffraction is impos-sible in s o i l s . This is due to:
Difficulty in preparing random, or totally oriented specimen. Effect of particle s i z e . Presence of amorphous layer (Beilby layer) on clay minera ls .
Thus while the X-ray diffractogram is an essent ia l semiquantitative tool it is u se l e s s for accurate mineralogical ana ly s i s .
Methods have been developed by M . L . Jackson and co-workers which rely only on equipment readily available in soils laborator ies . Essential to this is the stipulation that the sample must not be dried by normal methods as the ex-change capacity varies with pretreatment.
Methods included in this scheme are:
Cation exchange determination ( c . e . c . ) . This rel ies on the high exchange given by vermiculite and montmorillonite-nontronite on displacing calcium ions with magnesium. Use is a lso made of a modified definition that the vermiculite can fix potassium ions while the montmorillonite does not . This fits in with the X-ray properties of the minerals .
Hydrofluoric acid dissolution is used to determine released potassium and this estimation is used to calculate the amount of mica present .
Selective dissolution analysis with sodium pyrosulphate gives an es t ima-tion of quartz content .
Selective dissolution with boiling potassium hydroxide and a determination of re leased si l icon, aluminium and iron gives a value for the amorphous or micro crystal l ine fraction - allophane . Use is made of the SiOo/RoOo molar ratio to estimate free sil ica and gibbsite .
After heating to 550 C another S .D .A, - KOH gives an estimation of Kaolinite + halloysite on the assumption that the SiO^/AlnOo molar ratio is two and any excess must be due to decomposed nontronite. (These modifications are shortly to be published by BRINER and JACKSON.
Thermogravimetric analysis is used to estimate chlorite on the bases of water lost between 300-950 C . Many other minerals a lso lose water and this is allowed for by subtraction.
Other minerals can occur and these appear in various stages of the separat ion.
Application to the studies in applied agriculture and engineering practice is based on the realization thet soil is not a nice series of round balls but that
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the whole chemistry and physics of soils is dependent on the s i ze , composition, and reactions of the minerals.
The amorphous fractions const i tutes a substantial part of many Australian soils . This intermediate in the formation and transformation in clay minerals has an enormous surface area which is of prime importance in deciding soil propert ies .
Such important properties as permeability and soil stabilization is depend-ent on composition. Agriculturally, the exchange capacity and potassium fixa-tion are two of the most important properties of clay minerals .
The lecturer felt that while many improvements will occur in the method, Dr. Jackson and his co-workers have contributed a great deal to establ ish a quantitative bases for the estimation of clay minerals .
Urea, urease and nitrogen losses
(Talk by J.R. Simpson to the A .C .T , Branch on 31st August, 1967)
The losses of nitrogen which can occur when urea is applied to the surface of undisturbed pasture soils in an intermittently dry environment have been a s -s e s s e d . Losses reached 60% of the nitrogen applied at 67-112 kg N/ha , and 25°C, but were l ess under cooler condi t ions . Large losses occurred only when the urea was applied to the soil surface, not below i t .
The surface layers of pasture soils were found to possess much higher urease act ivi t ies than the subjacent l ayers . In a factorial experiment, the sur-face layers of undisturbed cores of pasture soil were progressively removed and urea was app1, ;:-d to the newly exposed surfaces under different moist ..re regimes and temperatures. The removal of the top 1 cm of soil reduced nitrogen losses from 60% to 46%. Removal of the second cm reduced losses further to 33% , Moisture and temperature also affected the l o s s e s .
Of the several soil character is t ics examined, the loss of urea nitrogen was related most closely to the urease activity of the first cm layer below the surface to which the urea was applied . It is concluded that losses in inter-mittently dry environments will be greater from pastures than from cultivated soils on the same soil type .
Soil phosphorus fractionation - a new fiddle on an oid theme by Chang and Tack son
(Talk by S .M. Bromfield to the A.C.T . Branch on 14th September.. 1967)
The procedure of Chang and Jackson has been used by many soil sc ient is ts to distinguish aluminium bound phosphate from iron bound phosphate in s o i l s . As a consequence a number of currently held views about the proportion of the
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various chemical forms of phosphate and the fate of fertilizer phosphate in soils are based on this procedure.
Notes of caution, modifications and corrections to the procedure have ap -
peared in the literature but these have gone largely unheeded.
A study of the solubility of phosphated aluminium oxides , phosphated iron oxides and of various calcium phosphates in 0.5N NH^F at pH7.0 and 8.5 showed that the latter two forms were considerably more soluble than the iron and calcium phosphate controls used by Chang and Jackson. This result indicates that the aluminium phosphate content of soils recently fertilized with superphosphate could be grossly overest imated.
In other soils NH^F-soluble phosphates could be underestimated due to the rapid sorption of the dissolved phosphate on active iron ox ides . Cor-rections for this sorption have been suggested in the literature but these appear to have serious l imitat ions .
It is concluded that the practice of equating NH^F-extractable soil phos-phate to the aluminium bound phosphate content of the soil does not appear valid for many types of soils .
Some aspec ts of applied research to agriculture
(Talk by R.J, French to the S.A. Branch on 6th April, 1967)
Applied research in overseas countries is conducted by organisations which range from university departments ( e . g . U ,S ,A , ) , special research ins t i -tutes ( e . g . Netherlands), government departments ( e . g . N .A.A.S . in the United Kingdom) and private firms. In addition, in some countr ies , fertiliser compan-ies provide funds for research officers to work within a government institute and investigate the effects of their particular products . Research by private firms is more common than in Australia and is often supported by their own extension., e . g . a brewery employing an extension officer to advise farmers how to produce the quality barley they need .
While excellent applied research programmes are conducted both here and overseas , many suffer from one or more of the following defects:
1. insufficient planning, often arising from undue haste to get results to publish
2 . experiments which merely show that treatment A is better than B, with-out defining soil and climatic parameters under which the result was obtained
3 . experiments of only one year duration - these can be misleading, e . g . a response to N in the first year can give a decrease in the second year due to greater incidence of d i sease
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4 . experiments that are too complex - in spite of the advances in s ta t is t ica l sc ience , the effects of individual growth factors on yield can only be disentangled satisfactorily in relatively simple systems with a limited number of variables .
The designs of long term trials need to be re-examined. These t r ia ls should not be required to answer current problems. They should, however, in-clude the main features of the current agriculture, e . g . fallow, wheat, pas ture . They should generate ideas for testing elsewhere and should also be capable of incorporating proven ideas from other a r e a s . The plots need to be large enough to carry the standard treatment in one half and have an experimental half where new developments, e . g . var ie t ies , ferti l isers or weed control methods, are t e s ted . When any of these developments increase yield, they are incorporated in the standard treatment at the end of a rotation cyc l e .
A serious defect in field tr ials is the lack of knowledge of spatial and seasonal variation in soil propert ies . A thorough assessment of this soil varia-tion is needed beforehand to make field t r ia ls more effective. Soil surveying could be orientated to help in measuring this variat ion.
An undesirable present day feature is the tendency for fundamental re -search to 'leapfrog' the applied field and to take resul ts direct to the farmer. This usually proves ineffective and cos t ly . It is one thing to establ ish lab-oratory facts regarding a desirable set of soil and plant condit ions, but it is another thing to specify how these conditions can be created in the field or how much they are likely to increase y ie ld . Basic ideas need to be tested by ap -plied research and the answers presented in a way that the farmer can readily a s s e s s and incorporate into his already crowded field programme.
The modern farmer is exposed to a large amount of technical advice and propaganda and needs help in sorting it out. This is done effectively in the United Kingdom by agricultural journalists who are well equipped to make cr i t i -cal comr; ents on the validity of research findings and extension advice .
Some aspects of the availability of soil nutrients to plants
(Talk by R.S. Beckwith to the S.A. Branch on 6th April, 1967)
The term 'avai lable ' should be used exclusively in reference to nutrients absorbed by plants , but there is no absolute measure of available nutrients m soil . Direct measurements from plant uptake are dependent on non-chemical growth, factors as well as on the nutrient status of the soi l . In addition, auto-radiographs show that plants do not deplete soils of nutrients to a uniform ex-tent; intensive depletion of the soil occurs only in limited regions adjacent to roo t s . A second crop can feed from other regions apparently only marginally depleted by the first crop. By contrast , chemical extraction of soils removes nutrient uniformly and, even if it perfectly matches the action of plant roots , removes a different quantity of nutrient from that absorbed by a crop. There is
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thus no justification for referring to any chemically-extracted fraction of soil
nutrient as 'avai lable ' nutrient.
Measurements of uptake which ignore nutrients in plant roots are fre-quently misleading as an indication of the ability of soil to supply nutr ients . In pot experiments with oa t s , the proportion of total plantZn in the shoots de -creased as the Zn supply was increased. Results with Cu were similar and whereas Cu-deficient oats contained about 50% of their total Cu in their shoots , Cu-ferti i ized oats often contained l e s s than 20% above ground. Total uptake of Cu and the proportion of absorbed Cu which was translocated to the shoots were both influenced by the placement of the Cu-ferti l izer in the so i l .
The behaviour of phosphorus in oats was different. As previously re-ported by Williams for plants in sand cul tures , the proportion of total plant P in shoots increased when the P supply was increased from an inadequate level to a sufficient one . P uptake by shoots alone would thus overestimate available P in fertilized soils compared with P-deficient s o i l s .
Increasing soil temperature from 12 C to 20 C during growth of oa ts , under the same aerial condit ions, increased uptake of P, Cu and Mn more than 3-fold. Responsiveness of the crop to Zn was eliminated at the higher soil temperature. Abnormal soil temperatures under g lass hc'-'ss conditions could obscure nutrient deficiencies which show up under cooler soil conditions in the field .
Copper in water extracts of two calcareous soils occurred as anions, not as ca t ions , due to complexing by soluble organic cons t i tu ten ts . Assuming its solution is necessary before the metal can be absorbed by plants , the availability of Cu depends on the level of soluble complexing ligands as well as on the Cu-s ta tus of the so i l . Some factors affecting the concentration of soluble organic matter in soil suspensions were briefly d i s cus sed .
PERSONAL NOTES
Riverma Branch
Dr. H . Greenway (C. S . I . R . O . Griffith) has been appointed Reader in Plant Physiology at the Institute of Agriculture, University of Western Australia. He expects to take up appointment early in 1968 and the Riverma Branch will lose a member who has been active for many -years. This loss will be to the gain for the W.A. branch.
Applications for membership of the Society have been received from Dr. l.H . Leigh ( C S . I . R . O . Deniliqum) Mr. C T . Vye ( W . C & I , C Deniliquin) and Mr. P. Weerts ( C S . I .R .O . Griffith) .
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PERSONAL NOTES Contd .
Australian Capital Territory Branch
Dr. David B. Parbery Managing Director of the Australian Potash Research Insti tute is overseas to attend annual meetings of the American Potash Insti tute and the American Society of Agronomy in Washington, D .C . He will review new fertiliser developments and technology in the United Kingdom at Rothamsted Ex-perimental Station and in the United States at the T.V.A. National Fertiliser Development Cent re , Dr. Parbery will be visiting the International Wheat and Corn Improvement Centre near Mexico City, jointly sponsored by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations in associat ion with the Mexican Government; the Rockefeller Agricultural Program in India centred at the Indian Agricultural Re-search Inst i tu te , New Delhi; and the International Centre at Cornell University.
Victorian Branch
R .G. Downes of the Soil Conservation Authority left on the 15th Septem-ber to attend a Seminar and inaugural meeting of the Near East Land and Water Use Commission, in Beirut, Lebanon. He was acting as a consultant with the F .A .O . of the United Nat ions . He returned on 2nd October, 1967.
T.K. Skene returned from a two-month journey on 16th October. Whilst away his main duty was to attend the Board Meeting of the I . S . S . S . Sub-commi-ssion on Salt-affected Soils, held in Budapest 2-5 October. He also visited universi t ies and other centres of research into soil fertility and soil tes t ing in U . S . A . , Ireland, Scotland, England, Holland, Russia and India. He attended the annual meeting of the British Society of Soil Science at Bristol.
C .D . Oilier has transferred to the Earth Science Department, University of Papua and New Guinea, Port Moresby. He is continuing his membership of the Society through the Victorian Branch.
West Australian Branch
Mr. C .V . Malcolm has recently returned to the Soils Division, Depart-ment of Agriculture, South Perth after spending nearly two years ove r seas . Mr. Malcolm was awarded an Andre Mayer Research Fellowship by F .A.O. For the first fourteen months he worked at University of California, Riverside, investigating the uses of artificial leaf coatings for the reduction of chloride uptake by foliage under irrigation. He then studied range management and salinity problems in the lower rainfall areas of the U.S .A. Mr. Malcolm returned to Australia via the U.K. , Europe, Algeria, Tunisia, and the Middle East .
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C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s to Professor J , P . Qui rk , Head of t h e Depa r tmen t of Soil
Sc i ence and Plant Nutr i t ion at t he Unive r s i ty of W e s t e r n A u s t r a l i a , who wh i l e
Commonweal th Visi t ing Professor at t he Un ive r s i t y of Oxford, h a s been awarded
the D . Sc . d e g r e e of the Un ive r s i t y of London for r e s e a r c h on "The Surface C h e m -
istry and Phys i ca l In t e r ac t i on of Soil C o l l o i d s " .
New South W a l e s Branch
Professor C o l l i s - G e o r g e and Dr . R. T. Hunter have t a k e n s a b b a t i c a l l e a v e
in the pas t yea r at Berkeley and W a g e n i n g e n r e s p e c t i v e l y . Dr . B ,G • Davey
re turned to Purdue for t h ree months to comple t e work commenced during h i s
s a b b a t i c a l l e a v e in 1965 .
South Aus t ra l ian Branch
Mr . K ,D . N i c h o l l s , one of the Tasmania:", members of the South Aus t ra -
l i an Branch h a s r ecen t l y unde r t aken an ex tended v i s i t o v e r s e a s . In September
1967 he a t t ended mee t ings of the Bri t ish Assoc ia t ion for the Advancement of
Sc i ence and the Brit ish Soc ie ty of Soil S c i e n c e . From October 1967 - May
1968 he is to unde r t ake the "Whole Crop Phys io logy" C o u r s e at the Reading
Univers i ty under Professors E . W . Russe l l and A . H . Bunt ing . In the meant ime
during April 1968 he wil l a t t end the Eas t e r School on "Root Growth" at the N o t -
t ingham U n i v e r s i t y . Fol lowing the c o u r s e at Reading he wi l l i n s p e c t a p p l e -
growing so i l s and v i s i t r e s e a r c h e s t a b l i s h m e n t s in England and some European
c o u n t r i e s from June 1368 - September 1968. F ina l ly in October and November
1968 he tours through C a n a d a and some s t a t e s of the U . S . A . v i s i t i n g a p p i e -
growing a r e a s and r e s e a r c h e s t a b l i s h m e n t s conce rned with r e l a t i o n s h i p s b e -
tween s o i l s and a p p l e - g r o w i n g .
BRANCH ACTIVITIES
Q u e e n s l a n d Branch
Three gene ra l m e e t i n g s have been he ld in the l a s t few months . On 7th
June , D r . C J . Asher of t h e Depar tmen t of Agr icu l tu re , Un ive r s i t y of Q u e e n s -
land spoke on "Limiting nu t r ien t ion c o n c e n t r a t i o n s for plant growth: the i r
measurement and s ign i f i cance" .
At the Annual Gene ra l Mee t i n g on W e d n e s d a y , 19th July , the fol lowing
were e l e c t e d to the commit tee for the ensu ing yea r :
P res iden t Dr . A . W , Moore
V i c e - P r e s i d e n t Mr . G . B . Slirk
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BRANCH ACTIVITIES
Secretary Dr. G . G . Beckmann Treasurer Mr. H . S . Briggs
Committee Mr. L. Vallis Mr. R .D . Ridge
The retiring President, Mr. K. Leverington gave his Presidential Address
on " Soil Fertility and the Sugar Industry" .
On September 13 , Dr. I anMacRae , formerly of the I .R .R . 1 . , Philippines, and now of the University of Queensland Microbiology Department, spoke on "Research at the International Rice Research Ins t i tu te , Philippines" .
West Australian Branch
Three general meetings were held:-
On June 14th members were shown the Phytotron at the Department of Agri-culture, South Perth. Mr. N . J . Ha l se , Officer-in-Charge of the phytotron ex-plained the purposes for which the facili t ies available in the phytotron building were designed. The main work being undertaken includes the study of d i sease res is tance and basic physiology of crops in connection with plant breeding pro-grammes. Operation of the control of temperature, day length and humidity were descr ibed. A description of the equipment's "vital s ta t i s t ics" can be seen in "Journal of the Department of Agriculture, W.A." Vol. 8 No. 2 1967 p . 69.
On July 14th, Mr. D . Sampey, a geologist , gave a talk entitled "The Use of chemical analysis of soils in relation to mineral surveys" .
On August 25th Professor W,R . Stern, Insti tute of Agriculture, University of W.A. , d iscussed aspects of the measurement of the usage of soil water .
New South Wales Branch
The Branch has been virtually reconstituted after a period of confusion following inactivity .
Meetings:
The following meetings have been held:
Dr. Y.T. Tchan Bioassay of herbicides by Algae methods.
Dr. J .T , Corbett Basaltic Soil Chronology.
Mr. M. MacKenzie Physico-chemical phenomena involved in mineral
flotation.
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BRANCH ACTIVITIES Contd,
Mr. A. Riddler Identification of Soil Layers .
Dr. R.J. Hunter Rheological properties of suspens ions .
Prof. N. Co l l i s -
George Soil strength and the movement of organisms.
Field excursion
A most successful field excursion was held by the branch to observe soil sampling techniques and to look at terraces and soil exposures on the Nepean River.
Riverina Branch
Meetings:
Because of the d is tances involved for members to attend branch meetings, the practice of holding full day meetings four times a year and rotating the meeting place has continued. The exec:.,!' :: a lso rotates annually between Griffith, Wagga Wagga, Deniliquin and Leeton.
Recent meetings and speakers were:
On the 3 0th June, 19 67 at Denil iquin.
Dr. A.B. Costin ( C . S . I . R . O . Div. Plant Industry, Canberra) - " Hydrologicai research relevant to water yield from Australia high mountain catchments" .
Dr. J.K, Marshall ( C . S . I . R . O . Deniliquin) - "Minimum acceptance levels for resource conservation in the grazing system" .
On the 15th September, 1967 at Griffith
Dr. F . M . Meluish ( C . S . I . R . O . Griffith) - " Measurement of root d is t r i -
bution in soils" .
Dr. E.L. Klepper ( C . S . I . R . O . Griffith) - "Water balance in plants" .
Dr. H. Greenway ( C . S . I . R . O . Griffith) - " Salt tolerance" .
Victorian Branch
At the Branch meeting on 2nd June, 1967, Dr. G . P . Briner gave a talk on " Quantitative Determination of Clay Minerals by Ordinary Chemical Techniques and the Relevance to Agriculture and Engineering" .
BRANCHES (Contd.)
Australian Capital Territory
President: Secretary: Treasurer:
Dr. C . H . Williams Mr. P.R. Stevens Mr. D . G . deMarco
C . S . I . R . O . , Div. of Plant Industry, Box 109, Canberra City, A . C . T . 2601
Riverina
President: Mr. S .E. Flint Secretary: Mr. I . B . Kelly
Treasurer: Mr. I . B . Kelly
Water Conservation and Irrigation Commission,
Leeton, N . S . W . 2705.
Victoria South Australia
President: Mr. J . N . Rowan Secretary: Mr . U . Hagel Treasurer: Mr. U. Hagel
Soil Consv. Authority, 378 Cotham Road, Kew, Vic. 3101.
President: Secretary: Treasurer:
Dr. J . M . Oades Dr. D . G . Lewis Dr. T .G . Wood
C • o .1 . K . O .
Div. of Soils , Private Bag No. 1, Glen Osmond, S.A. 5064
Western Australia
President: Secretary: Treasurer:
Dr . J . Loneragan Mr. J. Jago Dr. L.A.G. Aylmore
Dept . of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition,
University of Western Australia, Nedlands, W.A. 6009.
Tasmanlan members are members of the South Australian Branch.
