Agronomy Advice

Correct nutrition protects Brassica quality

By: Tom Decamp

Vegetable brassica crops are all susceptible to quality issues which can have significant financial impact; good nutrition will prevent many of these quality issues and so can increase the marketable yield.


Correct nutrition protects Brassica quality
Correct nutrition protects Brassica quality
Calcium and Boron are are particularly important for vegetable brassica quality

Calcium is a vital component of plant cell structure and helps give high cell wall strength which reduces the risk of many quality issues and also increases resistance to several diseases. Calcium is particularly important at protecting crops from stress such as drought.

Boron has many functions within the plant and has a synergistic effect which increases the benefits of calcium and helps to reduce disorders such as tip burn and hollow heart. All brassica species, including oilseed rape, have a high requirement for boron.

Nitrogen also needs to be optimised to maintain yield and especially where green appearance is important. Nitrate nitrogen is the most readily available form with very fast uptake and effects often seen in just a few days; ideal for the ‘just in time’ dynamic management now used by many growers to manage harvest schedules.

There is a synergistic uptake between Nitrate, Calcium and Boron, not only in brassicas but in other crops requiring these nutrients such as potatoes.

YaraLiva Tropicote (Calcium Nitrate) and YaraLiva Nitrabor (Calcium Nitrate + Boron) can both be safely applied close to harvest and will supply readily available nutrients to maintain quality, increase shelf life and increase marketable yield.