Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis was used to characterise the microbial communities in the soil under long-term pre-harvest burning of sugarcane and several other land uses, and on a long-term experiment comparing sugarcane burnt before harvest and sugarcane harvested green with retention of a trash blanket. Trends in total PLFAs (total microbial biomass) followed the order: kikuyu pastu...

A brief description is given of Perkinsiella saccharicida Kirk. as a pest of sugarcane. Population fluctuations, varietal susceptibility, ovipositional habits, natural control, alternate host plants, alary polymorphism, light attraction and the effect on leafhoppers of trash burning are discussed.

Intensive tillage, high fertiliser inputs, and plastic mulch on the soil surface are widely used by vegetable growers. A field investigation was carried out to quantify the impact of alternate land management and fertiliser practices designed to improve offsite water quality on the productivity of vegetable rotations within a sugarcane farming system in a coastal region of subtropical northeast...