COLUMBUS, Ohio — Fertilizer is one of many farmers’ largest inputs. Researchers from The Ohio State University are updating Tri-State Fertilizer recommendations, looking at nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium in corn, soybeans and wheat.
The current recommendations are about 20 years old. The researchers hope to get most of their information from on-farm work. Steve Culman, assistant professor of soil fertility, is looking for farmers who are willing to do strip trials in their fields. Experiments will involve applying fertilizer (or not) to replicated strip plots.
"We’re looking to see if we can find a yield response to fertilization," he explained. "If we do or don’t, we can relate that back to what the soil test values are and other management information on the farm. We’ll compile all of the information across the state and, over the course of several years, have enough information hopefully to have revised recommendations."
The researchers won’t dictate how much fertilizer to apply in the trials; that is up to the farmer, Culman said. The idea is for the farmer to apply their normal amount of fertilizer, whatever that is.
"If we see a response, we document that," he explained. "If we don’t, we document that as well. When we take all these trials from across the state and across all years, we can look at more information in terms of, ‘We’ve got this soil test with phosphorous at level X, what are the chances of getting a yield response, given that level?’"
The scientists want a representation of soils from across the state, said Harold Watters, OSU extension field specialist in agronomic systems and co-coordinator for the Agronomic Crops Team.
"That is why we are recruiting farmers to help us out with these new trials," Watters said. "Let’s do testing on more than six soils in Ohio, let’s do testing on 600 soils; let’s have a larger area of representation."
The water quality situation has heightened awareness of this issue, but so has an interest in higher yields, he said. "I am an agronomist. My work has been to make more yield. So there are some nuances here, some fine-tuning we probably need to do."
Also, this new work will be transparent because this is the digital age, Culman said. Scientists are trained to be centered on data in a way they were not when the first recommendations were published.
"A key point is that for this to be successful, we need farmers to buy into it and to be part of the solution," Culman added.
"I tell growers that regulations are coming down the pipeline, if we don’t fix the nutrient management issues in the state. We can be proactive in that or we can be passive. I would prefer the first approach.
"We have modest funds to pay growers for their time and effort (crop consultants or co-op agronomists can also be paid by helping facilitate on-trials on their clients’ fields). We’ll provide all of the analysis for free. We’ll work with them to set up a trial. All we need is for them to indicate interest, and we can work with them."
For information, visit http://go.osu.edu/ fert-trials or email Culman (culman.2@ osu.edu), Watters (watters.35@osu.edu) or Gregory LaBarge (labarge.1@osu.edu).
