Field studies with radioactive sulphur-labelled gypsum fertiliser

Quantitative estimates of the sizes of different sulphur (S) cycling pools in the soil-pasture system have been determined in soils belonging to the recent and yellow-brown earth soil groups. Several field trials were conducted, involving applications of 35S-labelled gypsum fertiliser. An equilibrium was attained in the specific activity of the pasture herbage at about 240 days after fertiliser application. This was used to estimate pool sizes. At all sites, the amount of S involved in cycling ranged from 105 to 292 kg S/ha, which was sufficiently large to sustain active plant growth if cycled rapidly. However, most of the S was in the inert fraction (80-90% of total soil S) which appeared not to enter the active S cycling pool. At 3 of the sites studied, the major contributor to the cycling S pool was the residues pool of plant residues and soil organisms. No relationship was found between the size of the cycling S pool and topdressing responses of pastures. The significance of the results obtained is discussed in relation to the availability of S to pasture plants. (auth)