Project details
Status: Completed
The biofumigation project is looking at the potential benefits that farmers can gain from using biofumigant crops in rotational vegetable systems, in particular for potato growers. It will provide farmers with data relevant to Tasmanian conditions and enable them to make informed decisions.
TIA Research Fellow, Dr Robert Tegg, said many potato growers were already including biofumigants and anecdotal evidence suggested a link with enhanced crop production and soil health, although little scientific research had been undertaken in Tasmania to date.
The project will run over three growing seasons at TIA’s Forthside Vegetable Research Facility. A range of data will be analysed as part of the project, including harvest yields, establishment and management costs for a range of crop types, soil pathogens and microbial communities, physical and chemical soil properties, and weed density.
What is biofumigation?
Bio-fumigation is the use of specialised green manure crops (such as broccoli) which are grown, mulched and incorporated into the soil before the planting of the next crop in order to suppress soil-borne pests, diseases and weeds.
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