The project, which aims to quantify the agronomics and economics of alternative fertiliser systems and crop establishment techniques, is being conducted by PeractoSA.

"This is a timely project, given the increasing number of biological fertilisers coming onto the market place and also given the rising costs of inorganic fertilisers," PeractoSA technical officer Daniel Hillebrand said.

"The biological fertilisers can potentially reduce reliance on inorganic fertilisers as well as impact positively on general soil health, but to date there has not been a comprehensive assessment of some of these effects."

The opportunity to demonstrate the biological fertilisers over four consecutive seasons had attracted a lot of interest from growers.

The demonstration sites were north of Jamestown, west of Jamestown, Tarlee, south of Balaklava, north of Port Broughton, and south of Pt Broughton.

"We will be looking at a range of parameters, including soil carbon, gross margin, chemical and physical soil characteristics, soil erosion potential and water-use efficiency," he said.

"We don't expect to see anything significant in the first year - however, after four years we should see some meaningful trends."

Each demonstration site would also include demonstrations of three varieties, two rates of sowing and two sowing times.

Also in the spotlight would be tillage systems, with a comparison between zero-till, knife-point and minimum-till, and stubble treatment, with a comparison of standing stubble versus a cut, baled-and-removed stubble.

Soil testing at each site was conducted late in March and grower meetings would be held in each region in the next month.

* Full report in Stock Journal, May 6 issue.