Reducing dissolved inorganic nitrogen in surface runoff water from sugarcane production systems

Towards ecologically relevant targets for river pollutant loads to the Great Barrier Reef

“…For example, the 8.3 increase in TSS loads from the Burdekin basin since European settlement is consistent with an estimated five-to-tenfold increase in sediment delivery based on coral cores sampled off the Burdekin river mouth (McCulloch et al, 2003). Similarly, the 9,000 tons/y of anthropogenic total nitrogen (TN) load in the Wet Tropics region (minus the Herbert) is of similar magnitude as the 4600 tons/y of TN lost from sugarcane across the same area (Webster et al, 2012). The latter estimate is based on plot-scale research, and does not include TN losses from other fertilised land use in the same region, such as horticulture, grazing and dairy ).…”

Terrestrial pollutant runoff to the Great Barrier Reef: An update of issues, priorities and management responses

“…Scott et al (2010) showed the potential for enzymes to destroy atrazine in irrigated sugarcane tailwater capture pits. Thorburn and colleagues have long-studied the possibility of using the 'nitrogen replacement' technique to better manage fertiliser use in sugarcane growing and reduce the current losses of nitrogen from the sugarcane growing system (Biggs et al, in press;Park et al, 2008;Thorburn et al, 2007Thorburn et al, , 2008aThorburn et al, ,b, 2009Thorburn et al, , 2011aWebster et al, 2008Webster et al, , 2012 and the current recommended practice, 'Six Easy Steps' has also been evaluated . Armour et al (in press) showed large losses of nitrate in deep drainage under banana crops in the Wet Tropics with far lesser amounts under sugarcane in similar climatic conditions.…”

Fertiliser management effects on dissolved inorganic nitrogen in runoff from Australian sugarcane farms

“…To validate the proposed granular fertiliser model, an independent dataset from a sugarcane site located in the northern cane growing region was used (Webster et al 2012). At this site, runoff DIN concentrations were measured over three seasons for two nitrogen fertiliser treatments.…”