Meeting held: Fairfield Manor Hotel, Skelton, Nr York on 1 June 2015

Speakers: Steve Belcher, PGRO & Mike Slater, Frontier Agriculture Ltd.

Steve Belcher finds good nodulation in all soil types

Part 1: Bean nodulation and N fixing With Steve Belcher, Principal Technical Officer PGRO

Key Points; Nodulation behind different cover crops found to have little difference

Soil type had big effect on root formation, largely due to lack of soil temperature

Highest root mass was not necessarily most nodulating

Lowest root mass was worst nodulating

Good soil bacteria important for good root growth (present in these fields)

All beans were drilled at 50 seeds square meter, getting 45 plants in the sandier soils and 30 in the clay.

Drilled second week March

Beans drilled into clay soils have been slow due to cool weather and slow soil temperature rise.

York Monitor Farm Update

Two parts

1) Bean nodulation and N fixing Assessing roots for nodules after

different cover crops

Root vs. nodule development

Drill performance, establishing

beans in different soil types

2) Phosphate demystified Availability in the soil

Potential uptake for crops

Leaching from different soils

Summary of Monitor Farm meeting

Meeting Topics. Bean Nodulation workshop and Phosphate Demystified

Strip-till drilled spring beans into heavy clay required rolling to close the slot. Slow development due to cold soil temperature

Hole left by decaying fodder radish in previous cover crop improving surface drainage

White nodules with a pinkish hue are healthy and active, all pictures taken at York Field site

Nodules RHIZOBIA-BACTERIA SYMBIOSIS

PLANT BACTERIA = ENERGY

BACTERIA PLANT = N

FACTORS LIMITING NODULE FORMATION

PRESENCE OF RHIZOBIA

SOIL AERATION

WATER LOGGING

PHOSPHATE AVAILABILITY

ROOT DEVELOPMENT

Sandy loam soils; good roots and nodules. Taken from the DSV cover crop area

Heavy clay; fewer roots, just as many nodules. Taken from the Agrovista cover crop area

Yellow leaf tipping = Clomazone damage Brown leaf tipping = Bentazone damage

Tends to happen after rainfall, crop will grow out of it Balance about right for good weed control and damage

Part 2: Phosphorous Demystified

With Mike Slater, Frontier Agriculture Ltd. Key Points:

Phosphorous is needed by the plant to develop root growth, establish the plant when it is young and to help the plant ripen early.

Phosphorous is released very slowly as organic matter (OM) is broken down

Phosphorous does not move in the soil but it can be lost when you lose clay soils though run off.

Thin and stony soil need a higher index (index 2)

High microbial activity (organic matter and worms) will make P more available

Tramlines can increase surface run off leading to lost Phosphorous

Damaged to soils (e.g. compaction) can turn the P index of 4 to 1 or 0

1.5% OM means no microbial activity and lots of P getting locked up

Could buckwheat as a cover crop good at extracting P to be available for next crop?

The other way to raise P is to apply more farmyard manure

Want more information? Click below for; PGRO Web Site

PGRO 2015 PULSE AGRONOMY GUIDE

If Phosphorous is too high in soils any ‘run off’ into watercourses can cause algal bloom

P is most sensitive to damaged soils in terms of availability

Crop responses to phosphate (PGRO - Critical P Project Experiments)

Phosphate likely to be available in a medium to heavy soil in top 25cm (10”) Index 0 < 50 kg/ha 1 51 to 85 kg/ha 2 101 to 140 kg/ha 3 140 to 250 kg/ha Phosphates held on clay particles or humus only

The influence of pH on P availability

Phosphate

Index 1 Phosphate

Index 3

Want more information? Click below for; Think Soils Manual (Environment Agency)

Fertiliser Manual (RB209) 8th Edition

Click for AHDB Report 485, 2012

Yield responses to Phosphate

Next meeting; Summer Open Day 8 July 2015 10am Skelton Nr York. Cover crops, soils, strip-till drills to name a few topics. Contact

Harry.henderson@ahdb.org.uk if you would like to come.

Farm summary 200 ha owned, 400 ha on stubble to

stubble basis

Plus additional contracting

Wide range of soils.

Predominantly heavy clay loam but

ranging to sand.

Old drainage systems starting to fail,

future issue to address.

Technology on farm includes;

o Biomass measurement via N

Sensor

o RTK guidance for drill

o Yield mapping linked to Farmade

GateKeeper software

Variable Rate Application of P & K through

soil testing