1 / 16

Soil Fertility

Soil Fertility. Montana Small Grain Guide pages 35-42. Essential Elements. Nutrients from Air and Water: Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen CHO Primary Nutrients: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium NPK Secondary Nutrients: Sulpher, Calcium, Magnesium SCaMg Micronutrients:

dillon-arnold
Download Presentation

Soil Fertility

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Soil Fertility Montana Small Grain Guide pages 35-42

  2. Essential Elements • Nutrients from Air and Water: Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen CHO • Primary Nutrients: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium NPK • Secondary Nutrients: Sulpher, Calcium, Magnesium SCaMg • Micronutrients: zinc, iron, magnanese, copper, boron, molybdenum, chlorine

  3. Essential Nutrients • C HOPKNS CaFe Mg B Mn CuZn ClMo • See Hopkins Café Managed By Mine Cousin Clomo

  4. Soil Fertility • Harvesting crops removes nutrients from the soil • Chemical fertilizer, animal waste, sewage sludge

  5. Nutrient Deficiencies • Visual symptoms can give a clue to deficiencies • Tissue analysis: identify shortages • At this time it is usually too late to correct

  6. Soil Testing • Availability of nutrients in soil • Soil sample collection • Lab analysis • Interpretation of test results • Recommendation

  7. Soil Sampling • Collect at least 20 subsamples to 6” depth for standard soil tests • Nitrogen: test 6-12”, 12-24”, 24-48” • Avoid areas not representative of field • Place subsamples in clean plastic bucket • Mix samples, select approx. one cup in plastic bag

  8. Soil Sampling • Mail with name, field ID, depth of test, information sheet • Nitrate test: samples must be dried or frozen immediately after collection • prevent soil organisms from converting organic N to nitrate

  9. Interpretation • Must consider: -crop nutrient requirements -expected yield -cropping history -tillage & residue mgmt techniques

  10. Nitrogen • Wheat & Barley take up Nitrogen in the ammonium (NH4) and nitrate (NO3) • Most nitrogen in soil is tied up in the organic matter • 1-3% becomes available to the crop each year by microorganisms • Mineralization: Organic matter breaks down to ammonium (NH4)

  11. Nitrogen • Nitrification: ammonium is converted to (NO3) • Soil temps below 40 deg., nitrification is very slow • Nitrate is very mobile, moves readily with water (Leaching) • Ammonium is attracted to the clay minerals and organic matter

  12. Nitrogen Budget • Determine realistic yield goal • Determine crop Nitrogen requirement -yield goal x constant -wheat = 2.5 -barley = 1.8 • Subtract soil test N from total N requirement

  13. Nitrogen Budget • Add 20# for each ton of residue incorporated just before planting -1 bu. Yield = 100# of straw • Subtract 30# if alfalfa was previous crop • Subtract 8# for each ton of manure • Remainder is N fertilizer requirement

  14. Nitrogen Budget Example: • Goal is 30 bu/ac of Spring Wheat • Tests show soil has 30#/acre • Previous crop yield was 20 bu/ac • Add 10 tons of manure/ac • How much N should be added? • ((30 x 2.5)-30)+20-80=-15 • Do not need to add N

  15. Timing of Fertilizer Application • Small grains take up most of their Nitrogen early in the growing season • Nitrogen applied after tillering usually won’t affect yield

More Related