Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
1996; Soil Survey Staff, 1998) are not intended to distinguish between the causes of soil salinity.
However, this classiÝcation conveys important information on hydrology, soil water status, and soil
chemistry of saline soils to non-soil specialists, especially hydrologists dealing with rehabilitation
of saline land.
The capacity to reverse established salinization in soils will depend strongly on the speciÝc
category or class of saline soil that is present (Fitzpatrick et al., 2001). The range of likely treatment
options may also be very different between the salinity categories, as shown in Table 9.6. Manage-
ment strategies for saline soils must be designed with processes of salt accumulation and mobili-
zation in mind. Different management techniques are necessary for soils with different salt com-
positions and water regimes, as emphasized in this special-purpose classiÝcation.
Fitzpatrick et al. (2002) have recently summarized an approach and procedure for developing
a user-friendly soil classiÝcation that is linked directly to land-use options and management in
localized regions with speciÝc types of salt-affected soils (Fitzpatrick et al., 1997; Cox et al., 1999;
Table 9.5). These publications provide an account of how user-friendly soil classiÝcations have
been developed and applied to soils affected by dryland salinity and waterlogging in two landscapes
in southern Australia (Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia, and western Victoria). The descriptive
soil information is pictorially integrated along toposequences (i.e., using colored cross-sectional
diagrams and photographs of soils) and applied to also identify soil and hydrological features to
overcome some of the perceived barriers to adoption of best management practices. In this way,
complex scientiÝc processes and terminology are more easily communicated to community groups.
Detailed Ýeld and laboratory investigations were used to develop the diagnostic soil attributes
(Table 9.5) for use in the user-friendly soil classiÝcation system. Examples include the presence
and amounts (or absence) of grey bleached and yellow colors in the form of distinct mottles (iron
depletions), and black and red stains (iron concentrations), which are similar to the redoximorphic
features described by Vepraskas (1992). These features have developed under particular conditions
of water saturation, salinization, sodiÝcation, sulÝdization, and water erosion, in surface and
subsurface horizons, and are easily identiÝed by farmers and land managers. The key enables
classiÝcation of soils in relation to position along a toposequence and groundwater discharge areas.
It was shown that information written in this format helped farmers and regional advisers to identify
options for remediation of saline and waterlogged areas, and to improve planning at property and
catchment scales. The approach is considered to have generic application to other regions in Australia
(Fitzpatrick et al., 2002).
Viticultural Soils
All the Australian classiÝcation systems were found to lack user-friendly keys for identifying
soil proÝles in vineyards by people who are not experts in soil classiÝcation. It was clear from
their lack of use in the viticulture industry in Australia that the existing systems were not suitable,
because they were seen as too complex. Viticultural information in Australian and overseas litera-
ture, based on soils classiÝed using these schemes, often could not be applied correctly to Australian
conditions, because there was no means to link these identiÝers to local understanding of the nature
and properties of soils. Consequently, the Australian viticulture industry called for the development
of a user-friendly soil key, which could be used by viticulturists to help select and match grapevine
rootstocks to appropriate Australian soils (May, 1994). Using the data set provided by the survey
of the rootstock trials and other resources (Cass et al., 2002), Maschmedt et al. (2002) developed
an Australian Viticultural Soil Key. This key provides the means to describe Australian soils in
terms of attributes meaningful to viticulture, and to correlate these attributes with local (Isbell,
1996; Stace et al., 1968) and international (Soil ClassiÝcation Working Group, 1991; FAO, 1998;
Soil Survey Staff, 1999) soil classiÝcation schemes. The key uses, as far as is possible, non-technical
terms to categorize soils in terms of attributes that are important for vine growth. The soil features
used in the key are easily recognized in the Ýeld by people with limited soil classiÝcation experience.
