Research trials can be a key tool for farmers to help validate or disqualify potential theories and benefits of crop production.
The Wheatland Conservation Area is working on a research project for the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers on Phosphorus Management in Lentils.
Wheatland's Farm Manager Bryan Nybo says the project focuses on how lentils respond to phosphorus applied in the year the lentils were seeded vs the response from phosphorus applied in the previous cereal year.
“ So, last year we applied various rates oh phosphorus in the cereal year at 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 pounds of actual phosphorus per acre. The thought being that if there is any phosphorus not used by the cereal crop it would be carried over to benefit this year’s lentil crop.”
The research is based on the view that some farmers had about the crop responding better to old phosphorus that had been sitting in the soil for a year.
He says there's a belief that over time phosphorus tends to break down a little more and becomes more readily available for the plant.
“It’s really dry this year, so we aren’t seeing a whole lot of visual results yet. We’re hoping that maybe seed production will tell us a different story, but we won’t really know til this harvest.”
Source : Discoverestevan