Arable crops

With good establishment conditions and mild weather in the autumn, cereal crops are looking good. There is a lot of good, above-ground growth but with recent rainfall in some areas waterlogging will have affected the root system.

Waterlogging has a massive effect on the roots, causing them to lose a significant amount of mass if sustained waterlogging persists. The predicament that this leaves us with is a lot of above-ground growth without the below-ground growth to sustain it; when it comes to spring, the root system won’t be able to provide enough nutrients to the leaves.

But there is a way that we can repair some of the damage from waterlogging and increase the root growth in the spring to ensure that growth isn’t compromised.

Phosphate is a key nutrient for root growth, however getting into the plant, when it has a limited root system, isn’t straightforward. Foliar phosphate uptake is much more efficient when the roots aren’t able to access soil-P, meaning that crops can access it easily.

A micronutrient mixture YaraVita Maize Boost is a particularly useful product for application to cereals in the autumn or at T0. It not only contains P and K but also zinc and magnesium, both of which aid establishment and help reduce levels of disease infection within a plant.

When this is combined with an NPKS compound fertiliser at the first nitrogen timing, such as YaraMila 52S, the crop is getting the best of both sources of phosphate for increasing those lost roots.

For more information please visit Agronomy Advice.