Black paint soil amendment and mulch effects on chenopod establishment in a saline soil

A niche-seeding technique has been developed for establishing salt-tolerant forage shrubs on salt-affected soils under natural rainfall. The technique involves niche formation and spot treatment in the niche. The establishment response of Maireana brevifolia (small leaved hluebush), Atriplex undulata (wavy leaf saltbush) and A. rhagodioides (river saltbush) to treatments including soil amendments, seed coverings and spraying with black latex paint was studied in the field. Gypsum, ‘Lima’ and covering the seed with soil or chaff all failed to give as good a result either with or without black latex paint as did paint alone. Black latex paint was shown to raise the temperature of the top 1 to 2 mm of soil by about 5 °C on a clear still mid-winter day. Temperature requirements of two of the species indicate that the response to black paint is at least partly a temperature effect.