Grain growers adapt as new crop system evolves

WA company Advanced Agricultural Systems (AAS) is offering a range of products to growers, including liquid phosphorus and potassium fertiliser, DKP, immediately available calcium, the magnesium and nitrogen product, CalMag and the Bioprime line-up of soil microbial stimulants.

AAS also works collaboratively with Carbon Ag, which is achieving encouraging results with growers from the use of its C33 carbon pellet drilled at sowing and incorporated WA Broadacre Blend product, as well as with Perth-based analytical research business, Bioscience.

Brad Wisewould, AAS, said the swing to liquid banding kits on sowing rigs had assisted the cropping system, while large-scale boomsprayers allowed for quick foliar applications over wide areas during the growing season.

Mr Wisewould said the new program was providing seeding productivity and cropping flexibility benefits to growers.

"Some large-scale growers have seen a 17 per cent productivity increase with their seeding, with less refilling compared with granular compound fertilisers allowing programs to be completed quickly,'' Mr Wisewould said.

"We know that timeliness of sowing into the right conditions is vital."

He said the new system also offered more flexibility, with less fertiliser storage and seeding infrastructure required and greater control of nutrient costs over the duration of a season.

"Growers can get crops started with a basic carbon and liquids, low upfront cost program and then come over the top of crops according to the season with a foliar program applied with their herbicides and UAN products,'' Mr Wisewould said.

"Instead of spending a lot of money upfront and not knowing what the season is going to do, growers can have full control from day one on the dollars they want to spend.''

Peter Keating, Bioscience, said growers had too often invested a lot of money in seeding fertilisers, only to end up with a poor year.

"The objective with these new types of products is that you don't have to put most of your fertiliser in the ground at seeding,'' Dr Keating said.

"You have the ability to use the same product as a foliar application depending on the season.

"If there are good rains and yields look high, you can put more fertiliser on.

"You also have the opportunity to fine-tune that application by doing leaf tissue analysis in the middle of the year.

"If there is some hidden hunger there, the fertilisers are suitably flexible so you can address that hunger and therefore maximise your crop yield potential for the minimum cost.''

Dr Keating said the high concentration of the liquid products prevented the requirement for farmers to transport significant quantities of water.

"The DKP potassium phosphate is full of potassium and phosphate - it's 105pc active ingredients on a volume basis,'' he said.

"The CalMag is also a high analysis liquid, meaning you don't have to apply a lot per hectare.''

Dr Keating said the product rates used depended upon the soil nutrition and health status.

"Typically, in soil with already good available phosphorus, DKP would only be applied at 10 litres a hectare, whereas on sandy soil with virtually no phosphorus, growers may need to go to 20L/ha,'' he said.

"Then midway through the year, if leaf tissue analysis suggests there is a deficiency, you can adjust it."

Dr Keating said a key benefit with DKP was its good supply of available potassium next to the seed, promoting germination and root growth.

"We have consistently seen better germination and then you start to see bigger tops and longer roots,'' he said.

"As a foliar spray, it can be taken up in under 24 hours and it also inhibits fungal spore germination.''

Dr Keating said calcium and magnesium didn't command a lot of attention in broadacre cropping and research last season showed poor levels of these cations in various cereal crops throughout the State.

"CalMag addresses this problem if it is seen during mid-year leaf tissue analysis,'' he said.

"If previous soil analysis shows deficiency in these cations, it can be applied down the tube as well.

"CalMag is not compatible with DKP, but a lot of growers now have dual liquid systems on their rigs to handle this.''

Dr Keating said using DNA technology, the Bioprime microbial products were optimised towards compounds that provided maximum impact on beneficial microflora and suppression of non-beneficial microflora.

"It's been in field trials and growers are seeing the benefits,'' he said.

"The base Bioprime can be applied into the seedbed.

"It is probably the best time because you get the best impact immediately around where the plant is germinating.

"Bioprime is also quite acidic.

"It contains a lot of organic acids that are very good chelators of trace elements (and) it can also be used as a foliar spray.''

Dr Keating said the compatibility of all the liquid products could be influenced by the particular water quality available to growers, so jar tests were encouraged.

He said the carbon products mainly targeted soil health and most microflora in soil also chewed-up carbon.

"The presence of carbon in soil is the feedstock,'' he said.

"It carries the microbial population through to the next year, so the two things in combination are what we look for in long-term sustainability and improvement in productivity."

In addition to the C33 carbon pellet, Dr Keating said a typical program with the liquid products at seeding could include DKP at 10-20L/ha, CalMag at 5L/ha if required and Bioprime to stimulate beneficial microflora that colonise plant roots and repress disease-causing organisms.

Then as the season progresses, applications could include DKP at 6-7L/ha, CalMag at 2-3L/ha and Bioprime Trace, depending upon the results of leaf tissue analysis and the expectations of the season.

Mr Wisewould said trials had highlighted the well-balanced nutrition provided by the liquids program, leading to improved crop production benefits.

Dr Keating said rather than make radical changes to their farming systems, growers were being encouraged to take small steps with the new program.

"Every grower and every farm is different, but we do encourage growers to at least take a few small steps and then use their judgement,'' he said.