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Soils at all-time nutrient low

“Farmers are facing tough choices this spring with many autumn planted crops coming out of the winter stunted with poor root systems”, says Mark Tucker, Head of Agronomy at Yara UK.

Farmers will be desperate to apply early N to encourage backward crops, but it is important they make the right decisions based upon the right information to make the most of what is already turning out to be a tough season”

Recent soil analysis carried out by Yara across six sites has shown that over 70% of the nitrogen measured in October last year has leached away leaving an average of 31KgN/ha compared to 109Kg/ha just four months previously.

Sites Previous

Crop

October 12

Tot Min N

Kg/ha

January 13

Total Min N

Kg/ha

1

 

Cereal 63.1 26.5
2

 

OSR 169 37.5
3

 

Cereal 63.7 9.3

Crop N

33 kg

4

 

Cereal 91.8 43.2
5

 

OSR 109.2 15.6
6 OSR 154.6 52.6
Average 108.5 31.4

 

On good crops farmers should continue business as usual with nitrogen split over three applications 25:50:25%” continues Mr Tucker. “However due to the low levels of N we need to be on the crop as early as possible and use more N – an additional 30kg/ha”.

On backward crops the problem is more difficult. The efficiency of uptake of N by a plant can vary from 10-80% which means that for every Kg N the crop requires it needs 1.25 to10kg available in the soil. Therefore small stunted plants with a small root ball are going to need access to a significant quantity of N to provide the boost required to develop biomass growth. However how much to apply?

In trials we conducted in 2004 we were interested to see the effects of early N on tillering of winter wheat and its subsequent effects on yield,” says Mr Tucker. “From the results we can conclude that too much early N creates a huge energy hungry canopy with a 250% increase in the number of shoots per m². This did not translate into higher yields. There is therefore a balance to be had and we calculate the early N rate to besomewhere between 70 and 100kg N/ha.

 

soil n treatment table

Early Nitrogen treatment

For these backward crops I would change the three split ratio to 40:40:20”, advises Mr Tucker, “reflecting not only the low soil N availability but also the poor root system.There may well be an argument this season to consider splitting the application into four providing a greater focus on filling the ear and individual grains rather ear density.

If there is any season where precision farming comes into its own then this has to be it with such variability across farms and indeed across fields. Any tool that will help management decisions to optimise what we have got has to be of value. With no easy measure of root biomass, then the crop itself is still the best measure of nutrient requirement and the Yara N sensor is a precision tool that has proven to deliver nutrients where they are needed and bring forward an even crop.

The N sensor determines a crop’s Nitrogen demand by measuring the crop’s light reflectance as the tractor passes over. Using this information the N Sensor can translate the data into an application rate and send a signal to the spreader or sprayer rate controller, which will adjust the levels of application across the field.

The N Sensor is being used on over 200 UK farms” says Mr Tucker, “and 186 trials show the average yield advantage is 3.1% with a surprisingly low break-even point of 125ha of combinable crops. It is also worth noting that the Yara N Sensor, unlike other remote sensing systems, has calibrations for the spring crops as well including cereals and oilseeds.

In all situations the return on investment of N even when rates need to be increased to make up for low soil levels and/or poor establishment remains competitive and there is no credible argument for falling below recommended levels.” continues Mr Tucker.

Finally for those farmers with wet, heavy land who have not been able to plant their autumn crops by the end of January the instinct is to get a spring crop in as soon as the soil allows. “Where spring cropping is impossible farmers should consider a cover crop to draw moisture out of the soil and provide the best possible start for establishment of the Autumn 2013 crop,” concludes Mr Tucker.

For further information please log on to www.yara.com

 

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