Agricultural humic acid products have the potential to increase crop yields by helping plants take up nutrients more easily through the promotion of soil microbial activity. Humic acids can also stabilize soil structure in compacted soils, increasing water holding capacity while preventing erosion. There are numerous humic products available in Alberta that can be applied as either a granular or liquid soil amendment. Granular humalite is usually applied in-furrow at seeding. This research trial investigates whether humalite application will boost crop yields and grain quality in a dry growing season in Northern Alberta’s Peace Region. This small plot trial studies the effect of a granular humic product on the performance of canola and oats in heavy clay soils. Humalite was applied in furrow at a rate between 0-125 lb/ac. The crop varieties used in the trial were CS 3300 canola and AC Morgan oats.
Demonstration of spring triticale varieties compared to commonly grown cereal crops:
Gunner
Flex 719
Hybrid Surge
Triple Crown Mix
Diverse Mix
Surge
CS Camden oats
CDC Austenson barley
Regional variety trials provide locally-based insight into which crops are most capable of succeeding in the Peace region. During field tours, producers are offered the opportunity to observe on-site characteristics such as emergence, height, disease rates, and maturity. Harvest characteristics including yield, test weight, and protein content are compared in the fall.
These milling oat varieties were chosen for the 2024 trial by a survey completed by producers in the County of Northern Lights:
AC Morgan
AAC Douglas
CS Camden
CDC Arborg
Kalio
Kyron
Canola
Same across treatments:
Emergence
Stand count
Test weight
Yield
Oat
Same across treatments:
Emergence
Stand count
Test weight
Yield
Barley
Same across treatments:
Emergence
Stand count
Test weight
Yield
Pea
Same across treatments:
Stand count
Test weight
Yield
Emergence
Control plots had 13% more individuals than the other treatments
Field pea is a poor competitor crop. As a temporal solution to control faster growing weeds and alleviate competition, fields are sprayed with Group 2 herbicides which have shown to cause herbicide weed resistance. It is hypothesized that if the seeding rate is increased, yield will be compensated despite weed competition. In addition, if field pea is intersown with cover crops, there is greater weed suppression. This is an economic advantage as it removes the necessity for herbicide application and inclusion of cover crops supply additional organic matter to the soil. This two-year split block experiment consisted of a Group 2 herbicide (in this case REFINE SG) application to spring wheat. Plots were either sprayed with the herbicide at 12 g ac-1 or left untreated. The following year, field pea was sown at three different seeding rates (90, 180 and 270 lb ac-1). Each of these rates were either sown alone or intersown with either annual rye, barley, oat and rye at 5, 35, 35, and 17 lb ac-1. Weeds were counted using 25 cm quadrats every two weeks and grouped as either broadleaf or grass.
Six of the eight intercrops were shown to yield more as an intercrop than as monocrops sown separately across an equivalent area of land. These mixes included faba bean and wheat, barley and peas, oats and peas, oats and crimson clover, wheat and red clover, and barley and red lentils. As seen from the yield graph below, peas did not emerge in this year’s intercrop trial, nor did canola due to excess moisture. The C.V. value corresponding with the yield analysis is 60.3, thus results should not be considered reliable.
The annual forage trials are performed every year to report yield and forage quality of several varieties at each trial type (alternative, oat varieties, and mixes such as spring and cereal and pulse and cereal). This is a project performed with sister associations such as Battle River Research Group (BRRG), Chinook Applied Research Association (CARA), Gateway Research Organization (GRO), Lakeland Agricultural Research Association (LARA), Mackenzie Agricultural Research Association (MARA), Peace Country Beef and Forage Association (PCBFA), and West Central Forage Association (WCFA).