Showing results for: fertilizer application News
-
GM rapeseed could reduce fertiliser usage
Nitrogen fertiliser used in crop production is a substantial source of environmental pollution, contributing to around one third of the total greenhouse gas emissions from the world's agricultural sector. Recent research on a genetically modified (GM) variety of rapeseed, which has been made more nitrogen-efficient, suggests that yields comparable with conventional varieties can be obtained using ...
-
Supplying sulfur to your crops
Sulphur is a key component when growing high yielding, healthy crops. Whilst Nitrogen is a growth promoter, Sulphur works as a growth regulator, effectively balancing the manufacture of sugars and proteins in leaf tissue with the demand from these materials throughout the plant. Consequently, Sulphur plays a crucial role in maintaining green leaf area, growth rates and delaying senescence. Low ...
-
Intensive grassland farming could have deep effects: sequestering significantly less soil carbon
Huge amounts of soil carbon have been discovered up to 1 metre below grassland in a recent UK study. Yet most carbon inventories do not assess soil deeper than 30 cm. Furthermore, this research suggests that intensive management of grassland, involving high rates of fertiliser use and livestock grazing, may deplete carbon at these depths. Globally, soil contains more carbon than all the ...
-
Love a lush, green lawn?
A lush green lawn is lovely to look at, but too much of a good thing can be bad. Often, that beautiful lawn is the result of regular fertilizing. An abundance of nitrogen and other nutrients in natural waterways can cause trouble for aquatic plant and animal life. High levels of nitrogen and phosphorus can cause an overgrowth of algae in the water, which then blocks light from getting to native ...
-
4R Research Fund Awards First Grants
The 4R Research Fund today announced it has awarded $273,500 in grants for five research proposals aimed at identifying the current state of knowledge and existing research gaps regarding fertilizer best management practices. The Fund, supported by the fertilizer industry and other stakeholders, is a science-based research initiative aimed at improving agricultural sustainability by expanding ...
-
Corn colour can tell farmers how much fertilizer to apply
Nitrogen fertilizer is a key ingredient for growing a good corn crop. It is not unusual for a well-fertilized crop to yield more than twice as much as an unfertilized crop. But how much nitrogen should corn producers apply to their crop? Researchers at the University of Missouri help answer this question in a study of how much light is reflected from corn plants reported in the May–June issue of ...
-
Four risks of using fertilizer
Fertilizers are increasingly popular because they successfully support plant growth and increase the yield. But what are the dangers of overusing fertilizers? Did you know that too much fertilization might cause “fertilizer burn”? Read below more about the negative effects of using fertilizer without knowing your soil’s nutrient needs. No optimal yield due to under- or ...
-
Microbes play important role in soil’s nitrogen cycle
Under our feet, in the soil, is a wealth of microbial activity. Just like humans have different metabolisms and food choices, so do those microbes. In fact, microbes play an important role in making nutrients available to plants. A recent review paper from Xinda Lu and his team looks at different roles that various soil microbes have in soil’s nitrogen cycle. Lu is a researcher at ...
-
Less nitrogen could increase profit & sustainability
More fertilizer doesn't always mean more profit. That's one conclusion from a 10-year study conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists at the agency’s Soil Plant Nutrient Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colo., and colleagues at Colorado State University. From 1998 to 2008, the researchers evaluated and compared potential management strategies for reducing nitrogen and nitrate ...
-
A little nitrogen can go a long way
Varying the rate of crop production inputs such as fertilizer and seed makes intuitive sense, as farmers have long observed differences in crop yield in various areas of a single field. The availability of spatial yield information from combines equipped with yield monitors has provided a good resource for improved management. So, optimizing inputs to match yield potential of different areas ...
-
Chinese Researcher Wins International Award for Breakthroughs in Agricultural Efficiency
Chinese researcher Professor Weifeng Zhang has been awarded the IFA Norman Borlaug Award ahead of Global Fertilizer Day (October 13) for his pioneering work to improve both farm efficiencies and agricultural productivity in China. Prof. Zhang has been the driving force behind several initiatives and government policies in recent years that have bolstered China’s ability to feed a growing ...
-
Nitrogen Fertilizers And Environmental Problems
Nitrogen fertilizers enable farmers to achieve the high yields that drive modern agriculture. The use of nitrogen fertilizer will continue to increase substantially as global population and food requirements grow. International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) forecasts suggest that under current conditions nitrogen fertilizer applications will total nearly 100 million tons per year by ...
-
Many Countries Reaching Diminishing Returns in Fertilizer Use
By Lester R. Brown When German chemist Justus von Liebig demonstrated in 1847 that the major nutrients that plants removed from the soil could be applied in mineral form, he set the stage for the development of the fertilizer industry and a huge jump in world food production a century later. Growth in food production during the nineteenth century came primarily from expanding cultivated area. It ...
-
Rice Farmers in China use Less Fertilizer, Increase Yield
“Rice farmers can decrease their nitrogen fertilizer and pesticide use by around 20%, and increase their yield by 10% by using the ‘three controls technology’ (3CT),” says Dr. Xuhua Zhong, crop physiologist at the Rice Research Institute of the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GDRRI). The meaning of “three controls” is controlling the amount of ...
-
Nitrogen fertilizers` impact on lawn soils
Nitrogen fertilizers from farm fields often end up in aquatic ecosystems, resulting in water quality problems, such as toxic algae and underwater ‘dead zones’. There are concerns that fertilizers used on lawns may also contribute to these problems. All of the lawns in the United States cover an area almost as large as Florida, making turfgrass our largest ‘crop’ and lawn ...
-
Living mulch, organic fertilizer tested on broccoli
Cover crops provide many benefits to agricultural production systems, including soil and nutrient retention, resources and habitat for beneficial organisms, and weed suppression. In regions where short growing seasons can hinder the establishment of productive cover crops between cash crop growing periods, living mulch systems may provide vegetable crop growers with opportunities to establish ...
-
Fertilizer Use to Surpass 200 Million Tonnes in 2018
Global fertilizer use is likely to rise above 200.5 million tonnes in 2018, 25 percent higher than recorded in 2008. World fertilizer consumption will grow by 1.8 percent a year through 2018, according to FAO's new report "World fertilizer trends and outlook to 2018." At the same time "the global capacity of fertilizer products, intermediates and raw materials will increase further," the report ...
-
How Grazinglands influence greenhouse gas
Grazinglands represent one of the largest land resources in the world, yet their role as net sinks or sources of greenhouse gases is essentially unknown. Previous research has emphasized the role of grazing management on the sequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide as soil organic carbon. However, there is a lack of information regarding how grazing management impacts the flux of two potent ...
-
Nitrogen Management Studied in Greenhouse Pepper Production
As consumer demand for year-round fresh produce increases, vegetable and fruit producers are facing significant environmental and sustainability issues, and are being challenged to examine traditional production practices in order to improve product quality while limiting environmental impact. A recent focus on both the positive and negative effects of nitrogen applications has researchers across ...
-
Arcadia Biosciences Takes Next Step to Enable Farmers to Receive Carbon Credits for Reduced Nitrogen Fertilizer Use
Arcadia Biosciences, Inc., an agricultural technology company focused on developing technologies and products that benefit the environment and human health, today announced that the company has submitted a carbon credit methodology to the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The methodology would allow ...
Need help finding the right suppliers? Try XPRT Sourcing. Let the XPRTs do the work for you