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This study investigated whether kelp extract from Durvillaea potatorum and Ascophyllum nodosum (Seasol Commercial w ) stimulates broccoli establishment and growth. Under controlled conditions in the glasshouse, weekly applications of kelp extract significantly increased the leaf area, stem diameter and biomass of broccoli by up to 70%, 65% and 145%, respectively. Also in the glasshouse, lower strength dilutions of kelp extract (1:200 to 1:500) were most effective in stimulating early growth of broccoli, whereas higher strength dilutions (1:25 to 1:100) were most effective later in plant development. In the field, application of kelp extract as a drench to a clay-loam soil (Sodosol) significantly increased the leaf number, stem diameter and leaf area of establishing broccoli seedlings by 6%, 10% and 9%, respectively, irrespective of application rate (three applications at 2.5 or 25 l ha 21 ). Furthermore, kelp extract significantly reduced the early incidence of white blister, caused by Albugo candida, on broccoli by 23%. In a sandy soil (Podosol), the effect of kelp extract was less pronounced, with only the leaf area of broccoli seedlings increasing significantly following treatment with kelp applied at the highest rate. It is hypothesized that differences in cation exchange capacity, organic matter and/or leaching properties contribute to variation in the response of broccoli to kelp extract in different soils. Future research is proposed to examine the capacity of kelp extract to offset the high nutrient inputs needed at establishment in the broccoli industry.

Any reduction in soil quality as a consequence of production practices, through processes, such as erosion, salinisation, sodicity, acidity and structural decline, threatens the long‐term sustainability of winegrape production. Monitoring of soil quality is thus needed to identify when degradation is occurring in order to allow management intervention. This review examines the suite of biological indicators available for this purpose and the potential for their adoption as part of a minimum dataset by industry. Physical and chemical indicators are discussed in a companion paper. Many groups of organisms and various biological processes have been used as indicators of soil quality in research programs. There is a lack of consensus, however, on which are the key indicators for extensive monitoring programs, and little information is available on threshold values to aid data interpretation. At present, only soil organic carbon (together with labile carbon), potentially mineralisable nitrogen and microbial biomass can be recommended for measuring the biological aspects of soil quality in Australian viticulture. Although newer molecular methods have been developed to elucidate the community structure and genetic profiles of groups in the soil biota, and thus supplement measurements of microbial biomass, these methods are not readily available through commercial laboratories. Moreover, with the exception of tests for some pathogenic organisms, these measurements have not yet been linked to soil functions influencing grapevine growth and nutrition and so are not suitable for routine monitoring of vineyard soil quality.

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To investigate the effect of nitrification inhibitors (NIs) 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) and 3-methylpyrazole 1,2,4-triazole (3MP + TZ), on N2O emissions and yield from a typical vegetable rotation in sub-tropical Australia we monitored soil N2O fluxes continuously over an entire year using an automated greenhouse gas measurement system. The temporal variation of N2O fluxes showed only low emissions over the vegetable cropping phases, but significantly higher emissions were observed post-harvest accounting for 50–70% of the annual emissions. NIs reduced N2O emissions by 20–60% over the vegetable cropping phases; however, this mitigation was offset by elevated N2O emissions from the NIs treatments over the post-harvest fallow period. Annual N2O emissions from the conventional fertiliser, the DMPP treatment, and the 3MP + TZ treatment were 1.3, 1.1 and 1.6 (sem = 0.2) kg-N ha−1 year−1, respectively. This study highlights that the use of NIs in vegetable systems can lead to elevated N2O emissions by storing N in the soil profile that is available to soil microbes during the decomposition of the vegetable residues. Hence the use of NIs in vegetable systems has to be treated carefully and fertiliser rates need to be adjusted to avoid an oversupply of N during the post-harvest phase.