There is an increasing emphasis on applying fertilizers in the proper manner under what is known as the 4R Nutrient Stewardship program.
The Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation conducted a project in 2017 to demonstrate crop response to different fertilizer forms, timing of application and placement. This project involved both canola and wheat that were established in good growing conditions and then experienced below average precipitation in the growing season.
Fertilizer forms used were urea, urea ammonium-nitrate, SuperUrea and urea treated with Agrotain. Placement methods were side-banded at seeding, pre-seeding surface application and a 50:50 split application of side-banded and post emergent applications.
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Growing conditions may have had some impact on the results achieved. Growing season conditions may have increased volatization risk with surface applications as there was not sufficient rainfall to move nitrogen into the root zone after application.
The dry conditions were also likely to reduce risk of denitrification or leaching.
The results from this one project year indicated that the side-band applications provided the best overall response for both canola and wheat. Side-banding all the urea at the time of seeding with canola provided the highest yields. All the treatments for wheat provided similar yields. There was a significant increase in protein content with the side-banded fertilizer placement compared to the other application methods and timing.
These results are consistent with other research that shows fertilizer placement into the soil at or prior to the time of seeding provides a better crop response than surface applications under dry conditions. Banding at the time of seeding provides the least risk and is the most efficient application method for nitrogen fertilizer.
For more information on this trial, refer to the presentations section of the Indian Head Agricultural Research Foundation website at http://iharf.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2017-IHARF-Agronomy-Research-Update-Chris-Holzapfel.pdf.
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