Soil Nitrogen

AUS-TSW-AGR-SON General Moderate confidence

Benchmark Value

1000 mg/kg

Direction: Higher is desirable ↑

Form: Point

Scoring Curve

Scoring curve unavailable

The scoring engine could not generate a curve for this benchmark context. The primary form is Point, but the benchmark data may be missing required fields (e.g., optimal range bounds for an OptimalRange benchmark). This is typically a data quality issue in the benchmark pipeline.

Evidence & Context

For Clay soils, a benchmark of 1000 mg/kg is proposed, derived from a large-scale survey of commercial farms.

Metric Definition:

Total Soil Nitrogen (TSN) concentration in the topsoil (0-10 cm)

Benchmark Definition:

Total Soil Nitrogen concentration representing best available condition in clay soils under agricultural crop production.

Justification:

Based on average Total Organic Carbon from a large-scale survey of 270 commercial cropping paddocks on Vertosols in Queensland, representing achievable high function at scale.

Sources (1)

Preview of Opportunities for improving soil carbon and nitrogen stocks in low and medium rainfall cropping systems - GRDC, accessed July 6, 2025,

Opportunities for improving soil carbon and nitrogen stocks in low and medium rainfall cropping systems - GRDC, accessed July 6, 2025, Government

Soil health stocktake Queensland - GRDC

View Source

Supporting Sources (1)

Additional references from the underlying research that informed this benchmark.

Strategic tillage of a long-term, no-till soil has little impact on soil characteristics or crop growth over five years

Contextual Support Journal

Strategic tillage of a long-term, no-till soil has little impact on soil characteristics or crop growth over five years

View Source

Context

Region Australia
Biome Temperate Semi-Arid Shrublands & Open Woodlands
Land Use Agricultural Crop Production
Assessment Not Stated
Evidence Type ReferenceCondition

Lifecycle

Status Active
Version 1
Effective From 5 Jun 2026

Notes

No upper detrimental threshold — higher values are always better up to natural saturation. The Lower Critical Threshold is a state of negative nitrogen balance indicated by TSN levels below ~1000 mg/kg for loam/clay soils. AssessmentContext defaulted to 'Not Stated' because the source document did not state one.

Related Benchmarks

Other benchmarks in the AUS-TSW-AGR-SON family.