It may not provide the answer, but it might be part of a valuable process of elimination that leads to a tangible way forward. Dr. John Lauzon, associate professor in the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Guelph, undertook two projects sponsored partly by Grain Farmers of Ontario. The first project, “Safe Fertilizer Rate Guidance for Various Fertilizer Strategies for Strip-Till Corn,” was carried out between late 2021 and November 2023 at three locations (Elora, Paris, and Donegal). Primary among its goals was to answer growers’ questions about strip-till fertilizer rates in corn and establish rate responses to determine injury thresholds. “Tillage prior to corn traditionally incorporates large amounts of fertilizer to build or replace fertilizer from the crop rotation,” cites the project’s preliminary report. “Strip-till can efficiently incorporate large amounts of fertilizer but creates safety concerns. Growers are currently using trial and error.” STRIP-TILL FINDINGS There was the added challenge of conducting fertilizer and strip tillage treatments in the fall before field activity, different fertilizer placement strategies, and different fertilizer blends. Strips couldn’t be tilled in the fall of 2021, so tillage and fertilizer treatments were delayed until spring 2022. Fall tillage and treatments were successfully carried out in the fall of 2022 and 2023, with an interim report generated in November 2023. Ben Rosser worked closely with Lauzon on the strip-till project and notes the challenge of determining rates at which injury can occur because it’s dependent on soil types and weather conditions. Specific fertilizer blends or placement strategies that should have caused significant damage didn’t occur as expected, or rates or placements that shouldn’t have been an issue showed damage. “With two years of data, we’re seeing preliminary results at this point,” says Rosser, corn specialist with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA). “With fertilizers, we’d be more concerned about urea in the springtime with high rates and we definitely did see burn at our 2024 locations. We were surprised in 2022 just how little burn at some of the higher rates of urea.” It’s the different types of strip-till that can affect the as opposed to its adoption rate among growers. Is it a 2 x 2 banding or shank-applied? Some growers are placing all of their fertilizer at the bottom of the strip for safety while others want a starter fertilizer effect, so they’ll release fertilizer a couple of inches above the bottom of the shank. “The key with this project was a custom-built toolbar with four different row units on it for four different fertilizer placements,” says Rosser. “That allows us to investigate some of the most popular options. In our case, that’d be deep banding with a shank, shallow banding with a shank mixing with coulters and then banding on the edge of the strips. I don’t know any commercial machines doing that but some growers in Ontario have built machines with their banding fertilizer on the edge of the strips.” Crop injury was a key mention in Lauzon’s report, and Rosser concedes that determining the injury potential was an important factor, not as a way of promoting higher rates of fertilizer but to test any thresholds. Another ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER RESEARCH 10 Ralph Pearce Fertilizer rate research Lots of variables means it’s not an easy task Researchers often face what can seem like an uphill battle in a search for a clear direction. For any number of reasons, a project’s outcome may not yield the anticipated results, yet no experiment is ever a complete failure.
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