Soil Health and Biome Checklist – Burdekin Sugar cane

Burdekin Sugarcane Soil Health & Biome Checklist

Your Soil Has a Story — Now We Can Finally Read It

Improve nitrogen efficiency.
Protect Reef water quality, and build soil function tailored to your soil type.

Reading the Soil: A New Approach to Increasing Productivity and Protecting the Reef

New tools are changing the way we manage cane soils in the Burdekin. By using BeCrop® DNA sequencing and AI-powered analysis, we can now “read the soil” — not just its chemistry, but its living biology and how it functions. This lets us pinpoint how nutrients like nitrogen move through the system, where losses are likely, and how to intervene before they reach the reef. Instead of relying on assumptions or trial and error, we now have clear, science-backed insight into processes like denitrification, organic matter cycling, and microbial nutrient retention. It’s a powerful shift: one that helps growers improve crop efficiency, reduce input waste, and actively protect the Great Barrier Reef — all by working with the biology already in their soil.

What is this checklist?

This checklist is a practical tool for sugarcane growers in the Burdekin to assess and improve soil health across the region’s major soil types.
It brings together:

✅ Best-practice soil management tailored to common soil types
✅ Agronomic actions like pH correction, organic matter strategies, and compaction relief
✅ BeCrop® insights into microbial functions (e.g., nitrogen cycling, stubble breakdown)

Each soil type has its own challenges and potential — this checklist helps you match the right actions to the right paddocks, boost nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), reduce nutrient losses, and align with Reef protection goals.

Choose Your Soil Type

1️⃣ Black Cracking Clays (Vertosols)

2️⃣ Red Basaltic Soils (Krasnozems/Ferrosols)

3️⃣ Alluvial Loams (e.g. Brown Dermosols)

4️⃣ Sodic Duplex Soils (Sodosols)

5️⃣ Coarse Sandy Soils (Arenosols or Loamy Sands)

🧬 BeCrop® Biome Focus by Burdekin Soil Type

1️⃣ Black Cracking Clays (Vertosols)

🧪 Biome Notes: High clay content with strong shrink–swell characteristics. Often alkaline and compacted. Can hold water well, but poor aeration in wet periods affects root health and microbial respiration.
🦠 BeCrop® Focus:
- Monitor for anaerobic denitrifiers (e.g., Pseudomonas stutzeri, Paracoccus spp.) that can help reduce nitrate losses.
- Detect low fungal:bacterial ratios due to tillage, compaction, and poor residue cover — target fungal stimulation to improve structure and resilience.
- Track presence of cellulose and lignin-degrading fungi to improve stubble breakdown.
- Evaluate for compaction-adapted microbial communities — a red flag for impaired soil function.
- Use BeCrop® to benchmark microbial diversity and redundancy, especially before and after subsoil amelioration or trash retention changes.
- ✅ Practices:
  - Controlled traffic to avoid compaction during wet conditions
  - Strategic stubble retention to support fungal populations
  - Legume fallows (e.g., cowpea, lablab) to enhance nitrogen cycling
  - Inoculants supporting cellulolytic and mycorrhizal activity
  - Soil moisture sensors to optimise irrigation without leaching

2️⃣ Red Basaltic Soils (Krasnozems / Ferrosols)

🧪 Biome Notes: Naturally high microbial diversity due to better structure and aeration. Often acidic with phosphorus-fixing tendencies.
🦠 BeCrop® Focus:
- Detect phosphate solubilising organisms (e.g. Bacillus, Pseudomonas) to improve P availability.
- Monitor fungal:bacterial balance — these soils support good fungal networks, which aid in nutrient cycling.
- Watch for iron and aluminum oxidisers, which may tie up phosphorus.
- Use lime-compatible inoculants or organic acids where needed to shift pH.
  ✅ Practices:
  - Lime or dolomite to correct pH and activate nutrient availability
  - Strategic legume rotations to build nitrogen and improve root zone biology
  - Compost with microbial stimulants to drive phosphorus solubilisation
  - Use BeCrop to target fungal:bacterial balance for resilience
  - Avoid over-tillage to preserve natural structure and biology

3️⃣ Alluvial Loams (Brown Dermosols)

🧪 Biome Notes: Highly variable zones, responsive to inputs but prone to leaching, especially under flood irrigation.
🦠 BeCrop® Focus:
- Monitor for nitrifiers dominance (e.g. Nitrosomonas, Nitrobacter) – excessive nitrification = high DIN loss risk.
- Promote denitrifying microbial pathways (Paracoccus, Pseudomonas stutzeri) for N retention.
- Detect shifts in diversity between irrigated vs dryland zones.
- Focus on organic matter degraders to stabilize carbon inputs and support soil sponge.
- ✅ Practices:
  - Organic matter incorporation to enhance CEC and water retention
  - Slow-release or stabilised N fertilisers to reduce leaching
  - DEM mapping to assess drainage flow and ponding risk
  - Planting on raised beds or controlled traffic zones
  - Cover crops to improve structure and break compaction

4️⃣ Sodic Duplex Soils (Sodosols)

🧪 Biome Notes: Subsoil dispersion, compaction, and salinity risk reduce microbial movement and diversity.
🦠 BeCrop® Focus:
- Detect reduced anaerobic pathways (often poorly expressed in compact sodic subsoil).Check for low microbial richness and functional redundancy — sign of stress.
- Boost exopolysaccharide-producing microbes to improve aggregate stability.
- Track changes in diversity and function pre/post gypsum or compost applications.
  ✅ Practices:
  - Gypsum application (surface + incorporation) to manage sodium
  - Maintain full surface groundcover (e.g. legumes or mulch)
  - Compost with high-calcium content to assist flocculation
  - Inoculants supporting fungal carbon use efficiency
  - Deep ripping only when moisture conditions are suitable to avoid smear

5️⃣ Coarse Sandy Soils (Arenosols / Loamy Sands)

🧪 Biome Notes: Extremely leaky soils with low CEC, minimal organic matter, and low microbial resilience.
🦠 BeCrop® Focus:
- Detect prevalence of fast-cycling r-strategist bacteria (e.g. Bacillus, Actinobacteria) — often dominate in unstable systems.
- Monitor for nitrifier spikes = DIN leaching risk.
- Low fungal colonisation is common — monitor and introduce via mulch, compost extract, or mycorrhizal inoculants.
- Prioritize moisture-sensitive and carbon-dependent microbial functions — e.g., lignin breakdown, N fixation.
- ✅ Practices:
  - Split fertigation to reduce N losses and match uptake
  - Compost, biochar, or mill mud to increase carbon and water holding
  - Interrow planting of deep-rooted legumes
  - Humic and fulvic acid additives with fertiliser
  - Biostimulants supporting microbial N retention and organic matter cycling

Soil Health Checklist (by Soil Type)

Downloadable Checklist

Skyspec Regen Ag