Skip to Navigation
Home ›

chemical

Frogs as bio-indicators of chemical useage and farm practices in an irrigated agricultural area

Dramatic declines and extinctions in frog populations worldwide and high frequencies of physical or reproductive abnormalities in frogs may be directly or indirectly related to agricultural activities among other factors. The causes of the declines in amphibian populations remain unresolved, but recent studies suggest six main hypotheses to explain them: habitat destruction chemical contaminants, particularly pesticides increasing (more)...

Improving Soil Health in Western Australian Farming Systems

The crop yields in many shires within Western Australia yield below expectation. Often, this is due to soil contraints. So in order to better-manage soil resources, the severity and extend of underlying soil health problems must first be identified.

Polyacrylamides in Irrigated Agriculture

Polyacrylamide (PAM) has been sold in the United States since 1995 for reducing irrigation-induced erosion and enhancing infiltration. PAM’s soil stabilizing and flocculating properties have also substantially improved runoff water quality by reducing sediments, N, ortho and total P, COD, pesticides, weed seeds, and microorganisms in runoff. The first series of practical field tests of (more)...

Controlling evaporation losses from farm dams

National Program for Sustainable Irrigation Fact sheet 2005/4

As much as 40% of water stored in a farm dam can be lost through evaporation, depending on the depth of the dam and its surface area. Dam design can significantly decrease evaporation by reducing the surface area to volume ratio (deeper, narrower dams) and planting windbreaks to provide shade and reduce wind turbulence. Over the years, a number of commercial products have also been developed to minimise water losses, including floating plastic covers and chemical products that change the (more)...

Open Hydroponics: Risks and Opportunities

Open Hydroponics Ecological Risk Assessment

The purpose of this component of the research was to develop a method to identify likely ecological risks associated with Open Hydroponics (OH) in the Mallee region, using an ecological risk assessment approach. Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) is the process of defining and assessing the risks to ecological resources of anthropogenic hazards and determining the acceptability of those risks. The hazard(s) can be any chemical, physical or (more)...