Bioag Country Spring 2014

To evaluate the effectiveness of reactive phosphate rock (RPR) as a phosphorus fertiliser for pastures in Australia, trials were completed across the major pasture production areas of Australia.

The results of these trials were subsequently published in a book titled The Role of Reactive Rock Phosphate Fertilisers for Pastures in Australia.

Additional funding was then obtained for one of the trial sites at Smithton in Tasmania, and this enabled total dry matter production levels to be measured for an additional 4 years after the last application of phosphorus was applied.

The Smithton site trial compared five different reactive phosphate rocks (RPR) and single super phosphate (SSP), applied at four different application rates. The application rates were 0, 17, 34 & 68kg/ha of phosphorus, with 17kg/ha of phosphate simulating an annual application rate, whereas the 34 and 68 kg/ha of phosphorus simulated a capital application rate.

The site was planted to white clover, sub clover, strawberry clover, perennial ryegrass & tall fescue.

In each year, the highly reactive phosphate rocks out performed SSP at an application rate of 17kg/ha of phosphorus, particularly in the first two years after the applications had ceased.

The 68kg/ha of phosphate treatment had variable results for the first four years of the trial and the difference between the two product types was not significant.

What is significant is the change in dry matter production after the application of phosphorus ceased in 1995.

It is well understood that superphosphate suffers from leaching and locking-up. This restriction on phosphorus availability resulted in the reduced yield of dry matter.

Conversely, RPR continued to produce dry matter in the years after any fertiliser was applied.

The graph included illustrates the results.

What’s the take home message?

If you produce pasture in an environment similar to this an RPR based product (like BioAgPhos) will provide a production buffer during the years when phosphate is not applied, whether that’s due to environmental conditions, poor commodity pricing, spreader availability or a shortage of available funds.

It is for this reason that a BioAg program that utilises BioAgPhos will generally include an application once every two years.

As well as having a higher amount of P/kg of product, spreading BioAgPhos along with your other inputs ends up providing some very nice savings of both time and money.

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1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Annual D

ry M

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er P

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Yearly Dry Matter Totals

SSP 17kg/ha P SSP 68kg/ha P RPR 17kg/ha P RPR 68kg/ha P

17 kg/ha P

Phosphorus applications ceased

68 kg/ha P

Spring 2014In this edition• Trials: Reactive Phosphate Rock

• Riverina Canola

• Your Soil

• Beneficial microorganisms for Sustainable Agriculture

• Turning The Rain Into Gain

• The Thinking Farmer

Trials: Reactive Phosphate Rock

Riverina Canola

Who: Drew, Janelle & Jock Vidler

What: Canola (cropping)

Where: Corobimilla, near Narrandera NSW.

Drew, together with his wife Janelle and son Jock have a mixed farming operation at Corobimilla, south of Narrandera.

They first used BioAg programs on their cropping paddocks over 15 seasons ago, since beginning with a canola crop in 2000.

In 2000, the canola crop harvest yield was 2.5 t/ha, with good oil.

This got Drew interested and excited about BioAg. The following year, Drew’s neighbour Andrew Forest joined the ranks of happy BioAg customers.

This year, in early July Drew had a canola crop growing on a pasture ley that was a little behind his other canola paddocks.

The crop was just starting to flower and a foliar fertiliser mix of 1.6 l/ha BioAg Balance & Grow combined with 14 l/ha of UAN was prescribed.

This was applied in mid July and Drew commented that the crop responded really well, and as we go to print there are some dark clouds forming in the area so hopefully Drew will get a dose from that which will complete the road to recovery for the crop.

There are lots of cereals out there that have been set back by the dry July and the associated frosts.

With irrigation or sufficient rainfall Fruit & Balance, potentially along with some foliar N can be an excellent investment when it comes to maximising the yield and quality potential of these crops.

This fruiting foliar can be applied from 2nd node to head emergence and can be tank mixed with rust fungicides where they are required, and moisture permitting.

Quality spreads will be large this year, especially for wheat, so it will pay to deliver a higher protein yield.

Beneficial microorganisms forSUSTAINABLE AGRICULTUREFOLLOWING CONCLUSION IS BY Dr. VADAKATTU GUPTA

It is essential to enhance the activities of microbes that benefit plant nutrition, control diseases and assist plants to cope with a variety of abiotic stresses to sustain and improve global food production in future climate scenarios while maintaining environmental health. A diverse range of beneficial microorganisms have been found but their reliable use in field environments is yet to be fully realised. New knowledge on soil microbial diversity can lead to the discovery of new generation inoculants as well as improve survival and performance of beneficial microbes in situ following their introduction into foreign environments.

Dr. Vadakattu Gupta is a principal research scientist in CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences at Waite campus in Adelaide. His research interests are in the areas of functional microbial ecology and plant-microbe-soil interactions with current focus on unravelling the genetic and functional diversity of disease suppressive microbial communities and rhizosphere dynamics of microbiota and biological functions.

YOUR SOILAcid-based fertilisers and other chemicals have been used widely in agriculture since the mid-1800’s.

Such products have provided primary producers with a water-soluble source of nutrients that are needed to grow a crop or pasture.

While anywhere up to most of the microbes that typically live in soils are killed by such products, the faster availability of nutrients that these products can provide has been seen as being a more important factor in the growth and health of your yield.

But what do we miss out on by killing off the soil biology?

The role of nitrogen fixation by rhizobia and other bacteria for plant growth has been known for decades.

What is less understood is the influence that other microbes have on soil and plant health, growth and sustainability. These microbes are now recognised as improving retention and access to moisture, enhancing stress tolerance, providing disease resistance, aid in balanced nutrient availability and uptake, and promoting biodiversity in the soil.

The most intense interactions between microbes and plants take place at the rhizosphere, which is the interface between plant roots and the soil.

Soil microbes and their microbial activity have a tremendous influence on your plants health and productivity. One benefit for the plant is access to a balanced nutritional food supply.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi form an intricate relationship with the roots of most flowering plants and are associated with the provision of phosphorus to the plant.

Bacteria of the Azospirillum genus promote increased root mass and more efficient nitrogen uptake from the soil.

Best of both worlds?How can we maintain fast access to nutrients applied through fertilisers while not killing off the soil microbes that make for a stronger and healthier plant?

This is exactly what we have designed a BioAg program to achieve.

Our products, which contain bacterial and fungal cultures, provide significant benefits to the grower as their soils become more biologically active and allow for more efficient utilisation of the applied nutrients. This potentially leads to a reduction in the

amount of nitrogen and phosphorous fertiliser required, we have case studies where it has done just that.

An increase in beneficial microbes will create healthy and productive soils that enhance plant health and growth along with sustainability.

A BioAg Area Manager would be more than happy to show how our programs mix conventional nutrients with products that improve how your soil handles those nutrients, and moisture, as well as deals better with pests, disease, heat and frost stresses.

If you don’t want to take their word for it, ask to see our trials and research.

By combining the best of both worlds, BioAg customers are happy ones.

http://microbiology.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=MA12113.pdf viewed 27/08/2014

My paddocks are looking pretty good at the moment, winter brought me a couple of good rains and the weeds are under control.

I’m thinking there’s a pretty good yield potential this season as long as I can convert this moisture into production during spring.

There’s probably going to be some rust in my cereals so that’s going to cost me more for fungicide spray.

That controls the problems, but what is going to boost my yield and quality?

I know around $10-14/ha extra will add 2 L/ha of BioAg’s Fruit & Balance. This gives a boost to phosphorus levels and the crops reproductive processes.

I can even apply the Fruit & Balance with my fungicide spray to save on passes.

Last year my nitrogen levels weren’t great coming into spring so my BioAg Area Manager got me to apply 20 L/ha of UAN as a foliar application. From memory that can be applied any time from the second node up until flowering.

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TURNING THE RAIN INTO GAIN

The Thinking Farmer

Growing pasture for grazing, hay or silage?

This time of year is perfectly suited to an application of BioAg’s Fruit & Balance.

At 2 L/ha along with 5 kg/ha of calcium nitrate plus some UAN if you need to top up your nitrogen (all can be applied from a ground rig) you will get a boost to the yield and quality of your forage and fodder crops.

During spring, while roots are being established, and tillers and stems are bulking-up, Fruit & Balance will feed and balance your crop.

Fruit & Balance is part of BioAg’s suite of products that achieved increased yields in every replication they were applied to in our 2013 raft of trials. Yield increases ranged from 17-37%.

You will notice we recommend the use of some conventional inputs along with BioAg products.

This is typical of BioAg programs. During research and development we designed our products to work along side of, and to boost the effectiveness of other inputs.