Evaluate the benefits of mill mud banded with and without reduced fertiliser rates on last ratoon crops, and into the proceeding fallow and plant cane crop
Sam is looking at increasing biological activity in the soil and believes that the mill mud will assist with this. He has previously trialled using Mill mud alone in a last ratoon crop, and suffered some yield loss due to a very dry season, and the mill mud taking longer than expected to start to break down and the nutrients within it becoming available to the plant.
He has started with the last ratoon crop as there is minimal risk of significant yield losses and financial losses with the last ratoon crop and because if the mill mud is applied to the last ratoon crop, the mill mud has had time to become incorporated into the soil prior to soil testing for the next crop cycle, so correct amendments and nutritional plan can be implemented.