D22—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 11,1982 LANCASTER The popularity of conservation tillage, coupled with the increasing need to maximize fertilizer efficiency and reduce trips across the field, should give farmers more reason to fribble, or strip, part of their total fertilizer requirement. Dribbling a '•oarse stream of liquid fertilizer, in strips 10-30 inches apart, is not a new method for improving nutrient recovery and boosting crop yields. In fact, its origins can be traced to the late 1950’5. The practice gained only limited acceptance at the time, however, because energy and' fertilizer were relatively cheap and plentiful. Deep plowing, then a standard practice, also diluted the band and masked its effectiveness. But today, as crop-production costs reach new highs, grain prices plummet and more fanners abandon the moldboard plow, the agronomic and economic ad vantages of dribbling fertilizer become more pronounced. Everything To Gain “Fanners practicing any form of conservation tillage have everything to gain and nothing to lose by making dribble ap plications,” says Don Johnson, agronomist at Allied Chemical who has worked extensively with this technique under various tillage systems. “Whether the fertilizer is left on the surface in a zero-tillage situation, or if it’s chiseled beneath the stubble in reduced tillage, dribble applications should at least equal or, more often than not, produce a better crop yield than where the same rate of plant food was broadcast,” Johnson says. In an effort to fine tune their recommendations, most land grant universities have just begun to evaluate the efficiency of various fertilizer-application techniques for conservation tillage. To date, the bulk of the research data has come from the Northeast, where hilly terrain prompted an earlier interest. 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PA. 19344 Phone 215-273-3776 or 717-393-3987 Call toll free in area code 215 & 717:800-662-7464 Dribble fertiliz Maryland, unplowed com plots receiving a dribble application of urea-ammonium nitrate (UAN) solution averaged 146.4 bushels per acre, 35 bushels more com than plots that received the same amount of fertilizer as a broadcast treatment. When the same test was conducted in Reids that were plowed with a moldboard, dribble plots outyielded the broadcast plots by only five bushels per acre, thus demonstrating the greater efficiency obtained from dribble applications in conservation tillage. Crop-yield increases from dribble applications may not always be as dramatic as those recorded in the Maryland study. But Johnson says increases of 10 to 20 bushels per acre are typical in conservation tillage. Earlier crop maturity and lower moisture content at harvest are also probable. Study Shows Need for Change The need to adopt new fertilizer application techniques lor zero and reduced tillage was underscored in a recent study by the USDA. Researchers found that certain miroorganisms, which feed on nitrogen and reduce its availability to crops, tend to accumulate in the top three inches of unplowed soils, rather than be dispersed throughout a six- to eight-inch plow layer. For instance, populations of denitrifying enzymes were found to be 170 percent greater in the top three inches of no-till soils than in the same zone of plowed soils. This disparity probably would not be as extreme in reduced tillage, Johnson points out. But the results of mese trials,. which were con ducted at seven different locations across the United States under a wide range of climates and soil types, show the importance of reducing fertilizer contact with crop residues and large volumes of soil. “The less you till, the more you should consider dribble ap plications,” Johnson says, noting ation u custom applicator’s modified spray boom. that small droplets produced by z«o-tUlage. where seed is Because fanners practicing broadcast applications may drUled toto stubble a reduced tillage have the option of remain on plant residues and not P revious cr °P> fertilizer ap- chiseling dribbled fertilizer effectively reach the soil surface Potion is the only opportunity to beneath the soil surface, fall ap- Subsequently. the fertilizer would ensure proper nutrient placement, plications can be made with not be taken up as readily by Johnson observes. “You could confidence. While chiseling and nlants Tt wnnlH ho rnnre knife in nitrogen four to six inches light diskings behind the dribble deep but that requires energy and will break up the band to some Dribbled fertilizer, on the other in effect b® oo ™ 6s a tillage degree, the fertilizer will still be hand, saturates the residue and operation,” he says. “Thai’s why much more concentrated than if it reaches the soil surface The high dribbling has so much potential.” had been broadcast and plowed concentration of fertilizer Dribble applications in zero-tillage under, Johnson says, “overwhelms” nitrogen-robbing should not be made before early How To Tool Up microorganisms, Johnson says, to SP™ however, to protect the According to Jerry Hakenson, an protect the nutrients from loss or fertilizer from the elements. (Turn to Page D 23) , nonavailability. Ideal for No-Till deal for no-till is coarse stream of liquid fertilizer being dribbled onto crop stubble by
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