INTA proposed planning fertilization, key to maintaining productivity

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INTA specialists highlighted the importance of anticipating and designing the nutritional management of crops. To this end, they recommended combining strategies: diagnosis, planning by environment and rotation management to optimize the use of inputs and improve the efficiency of the production system.

A proper fertilization planning will allow sustaining production levels and approaching achievable yields, optimizing the use of inputs in a challenging context. This is how the specialists of INTA Oliveros, Santa Fe, understand it, who provide a series of management strategies to improve the efficiency of the production system.

As explained Fernando Salvagiotti, coordinator of INTA’s Ecophysiology and Agroecosystems program, “this year presents the cost of fertilizers as a circumstantial particularity,” which requires even more efficient nutrient management.

“Among the most important decisions at the time of crop implantation, nutrition occupies a central place, along with the choice of cultivar and the planting date,” Salvagiotti said, who did not hesitate to highlight the relevance of carrying out a soil analysis because, as he explained, it allows us to know the starting point and define a management strategy, according to each situation.

Salvaggiotti acknowledged that “the main deficits that are usually observed are the lack of nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus and micronutrients such as zinc, which forces nutrition planning in a comprehensive way and based on the sequence of crops.”

In this sense, the inclusion of service crops or legumes, such as vetch, peas or lentils, can contribute nitrogen to the system. For example, a vetch crop can contribute between 25 and 40 kilograms of nitrogen when the next crop is late-sown maize.

These inputs complement the nitrogen fertilization of cereals, but do not replace fertilization with other nutrients, especially in soils with low phosphorus levels or in crops with higher nutrient demands. “The key is to combine strategies: diagnosis, planning by environment and rotation management, to optimize the use of inputs and improve the efficiency of the production system,” stated Salvagiotti.

Phosphorus & nitrogen
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On phosphorus, if the levels are low, it will be necessary to apply doses that allow at least to sustain the demand for the crop, even if the soil level is not restored. For nitrogen, planning must be adjusted to the available supply and the input-output ratio, considering that the optimal economic dose may be lower. In this sense, it is key to maintain flexibility and evaluate the possibility of refertilization according to the evolution of prices and the crop.

Finally, Salvagiotti stressed that it is important to consider that winter crops, for the most part, are part of a double cropping scheme with soybeans. Therefore, “the fertilization strategy should not be thought of only for the individual crop, but for the system as a whole,” concluded.

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