The growing demands from the part of high-performance cultures, which grown on intensive technology, farming on soils with a low content of trace elements, more intensive use of high-quality (concentrated) fertilizers, which contain almost no trace elements, depletion of soil reserves of trace elements - all this makes it necessary to use products with content of trace elements to ensure optimal nutrition of cultures in modern agriculture.
The questions of need to use special fertilizers becomes clear! But there are the following questions: what trace elements and for what crops we need to apply? The form in which trace elements are most useful for plants? and many others.
Why micronutrients
Subject micronutrient use in agriculture is not new. Scientists are involved in it not the first century. Nutrient mixture for different environments – Knop, Timiryazev, Pryanishnikov, etc. – proof.
Trace elements are becoming increasingly important for plant through:
- growing demands of the crops grown on highly intensive technologies. For example in the table shows Passes minerals from leading crop crops:
Culture - yield, t/ha Mn Zn Cu B Mo Wheat - 8 700 400 70 60 5 Corn - 14 2400 350 100 500 9 Sugar beets - 50 600 300 80 500 5 Sunflower - 3,5 400 350 60 400 - - farming on lands with low content of micronutrient. For example, micronutrient deficiency possible depending on the soil:
Soil conditions Possible deficit Easy grain size, alkaline B, Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn Peat soils Cu, Mn, Zn Acidic soils Cu, Zn, Mo Heavy grain size Cu, Mn, Zn - intensive use of high quality (concentrated) fertilizers that contain almost no trace elements;
- reducing the use of organic fertilizers;
- depletion of soil reserves of micronutrients;
The role of trace elements for plant life pretty powerful and versatile, but primarily their effect is to activate the synthesis of enzymes and biochemical processes in the plant, increasing plant resistance to adverse conditions and pathogens, improve crop quality indicators.
Why micronutrients foliar feeding
- A high level of assimilation – higher than from the soil.
- High speed assimilation – from several hours to several days
Element Required time to digest food 50% Hours Days Nitrogen 1-6 - Phosphorus - 1-5 Potassium 10-24 - Calcium - 1-2 Magnesium 2-5 - Ferum - 1 (8 % the coefficient of use) Manganese - 1-2 Zinc - 1-2 - Biological features of cultures associated with the highest sensitivity to conditions of microelements nutrition depending on the development phases, such as:
- tillering and early earing of cereals
- 3-5 and 8-10 leaves of corn
- 6-8 leaves of sunflower
- 7-8 leaves and budding of rape
- 4-6 and 8-10 leaves of sugar beet
- 3-5 leaves, budding – start forming beans of soy and pea
- bud, rose bud and fruit poured on fruit crops
- 5-8 leaves, blossom end and lay bunches of grapes
Which trace element
It is a lot of fertilizers on the market, developed “based on biological needs of plants”, in fact, this concept can not be fully correct. After all, the main way of flow of nutrients from the soil – root. The content of macro- and micronutrients is largely determined by genetic characteristics of soils, and also with some elements by human activities.
Thus the soil is often characterized by heterogeneity of content within one field, not to mention the differences in soil properties in climatic zones and soil provinces that formed on radically different soil-creating rocks. All this affects the its fertility, the formation and activity of microflora – the source of availability nutritional elements.
Therefore, the need of micronutrients for crops in Polissya area with soil of light granular size and organic origin will be different than on soils of heavy granular size such as in Left Bank steppe.
Availability for plants and the degree of assimilation nutrition elements closely linked with form of compounds that are included to content of fertilizers for foliar feeding. Unfortunately a large part of manufacturers do not always have clarity in understanding these issues.
For scientific terminology chemical allocate such forms of metal ions in a liquid medium:
- Hydrated ions (salt solution in water) – easily enter into every possible chemical reactions and as a result, the plant gets only a small proportion of them.
- Complexing compound – metal ion is surrounded with not water molecules and with other molecules-complexing. The organic compounds containing the amino (-NH2) or carboxyl (-COOH) group are not bad complexing agents. Mobility and degree of assimilation of micronutrients by plants from such complexes compared with hydrated ions increases.
- Chelation – chelate compounds in which coordination bonds of complexing with ion metal form a relatively stable cyclic structure. The term “chelate” derives from the Greek “claw”. Molecule of chelate-creator surrounds metal, retains trace element inside the chelate ring, keeping it in an accessible form for plants.