Arable crops

With recent dry weather (at the time of writing this anyway!), crops are looking good this spring. Once cereals reach stem extension they put on a lot of biomass in a relatively short space of time, this can lead to deficiencies which in-turn can cause potential yield-loss.

Looking at Yara Analytical Services (LanCrop) data there are a number of deficiencies that we see every year coming through in cereals – magnesium, manganese, copper and zinc. These nutrients have important roles in a number of processes within the plant, therefore being deficient in 1 or more (which the majority of samples tend to be) will affect the yield.

Magnesium, which is part of the chlorophyll and therefore vital for efficient photosynthesis, is required during this period of rapid growth. Not having enough Mg will mean less light capture and therefore affect crop development and eventually yield. Manganese deficiency is likely this spring because it is made worse by cool, dry weather. Look out for chlorotic spots and streaks which turn grey-white to brown and combine together on the younger leaves.

Tissue testing is the only way to detect some deficiencies, there is a stage where the deficiency is present, but you don’t see the symptoms (hidden hunger) – this could be the case for copper and zinc. When you see the symptoms, the yield is already being affected therefore tissue testing should be used as a preventative measure, rather than firefighting once the crop is already deficient and showing symptoms. If you don’t want to carry out a tissue test you could apply a multi-nutrient product such as YaraVita Gramitrel on cereals. It contains the specific nutrients required for cereal crops and can be used if tissue analysis isn’t for you. Long-term independent trial data shows that, on average, there is about a 0.55t/ha yield increase from Gramitrel at T1, giving a 7:1 ROI.