This book, prepared with considerable support from the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management, expands the contribution made to the soil measurement and soil science professions by the Australian Laboratory Handbook of Soil and Water Chemical Methods of Rayment and Higginson (1992). That Handbook, now out of print, assisted the processes of method standardisation and analytical quality assurance by government and commercial soil testing laboratories across Australasia. For example, the Handbook defined the chemical methodology used in all inter-laboratory proficiency programs for soils organised by the Australasian Soil and Plant Analysis Council (ASPAC).
By the late 1990s, it was apparent that a replacement for the Rayment and Higginson Handbook (the soil chemical section) was required. Other soil test publications were valued (e.g. Piper 1944; Jackson 1958; Loveday 1974; Blakemore et al. 1987; Carter 1993; Sparks et al. 1996; Soil and Plant Analysis Council Staff 2000; van Raij et al. 2001) but none met the region’s needs fully. Above all, new soil test options for Australasia’s diverse soils and environmental conditions needed to be communicated within an informative and consistent framework. An Authorship Committee was formed, and I agreed to serve as Convener and principal author. Dr Higginson did not seek to participate in the new task. There was no need to embrace soil physical tests, as these are covered by McKenzie et al. (2002).
What was needed has been accomplished by hard work, persistence, dedication, and with the encouragement and support of many. This new volume was needed to modernise chemical soil test methodology (or surrogates of same) for carbon and nitrogen, to fill key gaps for soil chemical tests performed both in well-equipped laboratories and in the field, and to provide ongoing access to many soil test methods from Rayment and Higginson (1992) that remain in common use in Australasia. The superseded Handbook lacked details on universal soil tests, quantitative procedures for acid sulfate soils, concentrated acid digestions of soils for total and near total elemental analyses, flow-injection analysis as an analytical finish, and alternatives to chemical testing offered by near-range and mid-range infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Contemporary yet practical methodologies for all of these are included. As a space-saving measure, methodology for chemical testing of water was excluded, except where relevant to saturation extracts of soils.
Other appreciated attributes of the superseded Handbook have been retained and improved. For example, each chapter contains expanded and updated introductory comments to guide professionals and laboratory analysts alike on preferred methods for particular soils and measurement objectives. In addition, there are informative guidelines on how to perform each test, inclusive of application notes when warranted. Chapters are fully and independently referenced, while contemporary data are provided on measurement performance. These came from in-house laboratory records and from inter-laboratory proficiency programs operated by ASPAC since the 1990s. The effects of analyte concentrations on robust coefficients of variation are included for commonly performed tests. These provide benchmarks for numerically assessing the effectiveness of future measurement improvement programs that the profession is encouraged to undertake.
Although guided by suggestions from others, Dave and I took final responsibility for choosing the documented methods. These were selected because of their use in at least parts of Australasia for characterising soils associated with land-use surveys, because of their association with major soil classification systems, because of their likely use in research projects and for monitoring, and because of their use or likely use by government and commercial soil testing services. Tests known to be very hazardous or likely to create a serious environmental footprint were avoided, with a few essential exceptions. It is the responsibility of users to have adequate training and equipment, and to plan and implement (in advance) appropriate health, safety and environmentally responsive operational practices.
Whilst there is summary guidance on the expected reliability of most methods, the book does not overtly propose recommended uses. It is seen as more responsible to establish and operate regional panels (with cross-panel coordination) to (i) recommend key soil chemical methods to guide sub-regional soil fertility assessment and carbon accounting for responsible nutrient use and for natural resource/environmental management; (ii) collate and advise on best available soil test interpretative criteria for the chosen soil chemical methods and update those criteria on a needs basis, guided by modelling and/or trial results, and (iii) provide an overview of the measurement performance of soil testing laboratories servicing the region, via quality-assured inter-laboratory proficiency programs, such as those operated by ASPAC.
To smooth the transition from old to new, the sequence of chapters and informative method codes have been retained, expanded and very occasionally retitled. Specifically, method codes from Rayment and Higginson (1992) continue to equate to the same method/analytical finish documented in this book. Newly introduced methods/analytical finishes have unique codes, in harmony with existing chapters and method code numbers. Often, an end-user may only need to relate to the first two characters of the three or four character codes, since these relate to a major soil attribute (such as P), and to a particular type of extraction/digestion. These codes are discussed in more detail in the Introduction.
In the preface to his Monograph on Soil and Plant Analysis, CS Piper found it impractical to refer to everyone who assisted in some way with that major contribution to soil and agricultural science. A similar situation occurred with the predecessor to this publication: i.e. the Rayment and Higginson Handbook; however, there are acknowledgements that should be made.
We acknowledge the contribution made in earlier years of preparing this book by Bruce Shelley (Department of Primary Industries, Knowledge Resource Services, Werribee Centre, Victoria). We thank senior managers within the Department of Environment and Resource Management who recognised the benefits of the book to the exchange of soils’ data and knowledge across Queensland, Australia and Australasia. Also acknowledged is the sustained support from the Executive Council of ASPAC, including ASPAC members who contributed suggestions and information and editorial comment. Here we mention Brian Daly (Landcare Research, New Zealand), Dr Roger Hill (Hill Laboratories, New Zealand), Dr Geoff Proudfoot from Western Australia, and ASPAC’s New South Wales representative, Dr Paul Milham (New South Wales Department of Primary Industries). We appreciated seed funding and encouragement from ACLEP, the Australian Collaborative Land Evaluation Program. We believe that the breadth and substance of this publication aligns closely with ACLEP’s goal to enable natural resource management in Australia to be undertaken with an appropriate land resource information base to generate economic and environmental benefits.
Finally, Dave and I thank our immediate and extended families for their strong support and sacrifices across several years. And thanks in particular to my wife June. The soil and agricultural science profession across Australasia will long benefit from this sustained and necessary family support.
Blakemore LC, Searle PL and Daly BK (1987) Methods for chemical analysis of soils. NZ Department of Science and Industrial Research, Soil Bureau Scientific Report 80.
Carter MR (Ed) (1993) Soil Sampling and Methods of Analysis. Canadian Society of Soil Science and Lewis Publishers – CRC Press, USA.
Jackson ML (1958) Soil Chemical Analysis. Constable & Co., London.
Loveday J (Ed) (1974) Methods for the Analysis of Irrigated Soils. Technical Communication No. 54. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, England.
McKenzie N, Coughlan K and Cresswell H (2002) Soil Physical Measurement and Interpretation for Land Evaluation. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.
Piper CS (1944) Soil and Plant Analysis, a laboratory manual of methods for the examination of soils and the determination of the inorganic constituents of plants. The University of Adelaide, Adelaide.
Rayment GE and Higginson FR (1992) A ustralian Laboratory Handbook of Soil and Water Chemical Methods. Inkata Press, Port Melbourne.
Soil and Plant Analysis Council Staff (2000) Soil Analysis Handbook of Reference Methods 1999. Soil and Plant Analysis Council., CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.
Sparks DL (Ed) (1996) Methods of Soil Analysis. Part 3 – Chemical Methods. No. 5. Soil Science Society of America Book Series. Soil Science Society of America Inc. and American Society of Agronomy Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, USA.
van Raij B, de Andrade JC, Cantarella H and Quaggio JA (Eds) (2001) Análise Química para Avaliação da Fertilidade de Solos Tropicais. Instituto Agronomico, Campinas (SP), Brazil.
Dr George E Rayment
Principal Author