Nutrient levels in Saskatchewan soils

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Virtual soil testing – what is it?

Non-Peer ReviewedCurrently only ten percent of the total arable land in western Canada is soil tested at best. The percentage of farmers that soil test on a yearly basis is even lower. Providing recommendations to the farming community for the non-tested land presents both a challenge and an opportunity. Virtual soil testing started as an idea to essentially utilize information collected from soil tested fields and provide more qualified recommendations for those fields that were not tested. Virtual soil testing (or VST®) is in essence a modeling technique that reverses the soil testing process, i.e., utilizes crop production characteristics in association with chemical tests to predict soil nutrient levels for a subsequent crop (Karamanos and Cannon 2002). It is based on the Fertility Analysis and Recommendations Management (F.A.R.M.) model (Kruger et al. 1994) that was developed by Henry (1990; 1991) and was subsequently adapted to Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta conditions by Karamanos and Henry (1991) and Karamanos et al. (1992a,b), respectively. F.A.R.M. essentially recognizes three sources of nitrogen contributing to plant N uptake, namely, soil available as determined by soil testing, net mineralizable and fertilizer nitrogen. Target yields are based on moisture use efficiency crop production equations (Karamanos and Henry, 1991) and are estimated for 75, 50 and 25 percent probability of precipitation in a given Soil Climatic Zone (Meyers and Karamanos, 1997). Recommendations for the rest of nutrients are simply based on “available” nutrient ranges and are in table format. This system of recommendations was introduced in the Province of Saskatchewan in 1991 and is currently used by Enviro-Test Laboratories in all three Prairie Provinces. Development of the VST process required modifications in the F.A.R.M. model, especially in relation to the soil mineralization component. These modifications are discussed by Karamanos and Cannon (2002)

Nitrogen fertility of canola hybrids

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Accounting of nitrogen levels in Saskatchewan soils

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Copper fertilizer management for optimum seed yield and quality of crops in the Canadian great plains

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Nitrogen fertilization of canola and wheat grown on fallow fields

Non-Peer ReviewedThis is the second year of a three-year project to assess N fertilizer needs of canola and wheat grown on fallow fields. The project is being carried out at six sites (three in Saskatchewan and three in Alberta) utilizing a uniform protocol of six N rates (0, 20, 30 40 and 50 kg N ha-1 for wheat and 0, 15, 30, 45, 60 and 75 kg N ha-1for canola) arranged in a randomized complete block design. Other nutrients are applied as per soil test requirements. Environmental conditions over the first two years covered the two extremes, i.e., dry in 2003 and wet in 2004. Although the magnitude of response was markedly different between the two years, a response was nevertheless was obtained in both instances with the application of 10 to 30 kg N ha-1 in the drier year and 50 to 75 kg N ha-1 in the wet year. Yield increases in both years were both agronomically and economically significant. Data from this project will be utilized to drawing a strategy for fertilizing crop grown on fallow fields based on agroecological and economic risks

The $5.50 per acre experiment

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Soil absorption of and plant response to applied calcium

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Criteria for targeting yields in Saskatchewan

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Phosphorus status of a soil in a long-term experiment

Non-Peer ReviewedAn experiment that was established in 1982 to assess placement of P fertilizer on the yield of continuous barley was terminated in 2004, after annual application of P (30 kg ha-1) was discontinued in all but one treatment in 2001. Total removal of P during the first 20 years of the experiment (615 kg P2O5 ha-1) was virtually equal to total P application (600 kg P2O5 ha-1); however, when removal by the control that was fertilized with N only was subtracted from the total removal, a residual P component of 474 kg P2O5 ha-1 was obtained as a result. In spite of this, discontinuing P fertilization after 20 years of annual application of 30 kg P2O5 ha-1 resulted in significant reduction in barley grain yield that was greater in the treatments that P was seedrow placed (21%) than either banded (12%) or 1/3 seedrow placed and 2/3 banded (15%). Four week burial of PRS™ probes in 2006 allowed us to ascertain the reasons for these differences that reflected management and P placement practices. The use of PRS™ probes allowed us to interpret over 90% of variations both in P removal and yield of barley over the duration of the experiment