FARMERS are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of healthy soils, and practices such as no-till farming are improving soil structure and health across the country.

But there is still much to be discovered about how the subsoil eco-system operates, and researchers are confident big gains could be made in cropping productivity from a better understanding of soil biology.

In particular, some soil-dwelling bacteria can have positive impacts in terms of freeing up nitrogen to become available to plants.

With this in mind, the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) is investing in its second soil biology initiative, which will aim to provide information on a region- by-region basis.

Project leader Pauline Mele said she thought there would be real productivity gains to come out of the initiative, especially in high rainfall zones.

"We hope to improve understanding of the role of soil biological communities in crop nutrient availability, suppressive soils, and general soil health," Prof Mele said.

"For example, we have a range of projects that will give us greater insight into the role of free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria in crop nutrition.

"We already know that the amount produced will vary from between 10 and 30 kilograms per hectare of nitrogen per year.

However, she said research needed to be done on what caused the effect and why it varied.

We don't have in-crop measures and have yet to link how stubble from previous years influences this rate."

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Improving soil biology