Application of Liquid Humic to Wheat and Barley
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. Liquid humic is usually applied at seeding or as a foliar spray at the two to four leaf stage. This research trial investigates whether humic acid boosts cereal crop yields and grain quality in a dry growing season in Northern Alberta’s Peace Region.
This small plot trial studies the effect of liquid humic application at seeding on the performance of wheat and barley in heavy clay soils. The humic product sourced from Twin Rivers Farms was applied in furrow at a rate of 1 gal/ac. The crop varieties used in the trial were AAC Wheatland CWRS wheat and CDC Copeland barley.
This study aims to report significant findings in yellow pea, wheat and canola yield, test weight, protein content in wheat as well as oil content in canola seed obtained from intercrop systems fed under various percentages of N fertilizer rates in comparison to monocrop yields of these cash crops fed at 100% of N fertilizer rate. Moreover, weed cover is also evaluated in order to observe if more weeds are found under intercrop compared to monocrop systems and how this can be affected under different N rates.
Relay cropping is when a cash crop is sown early in the growing season and within a month or so, a second crop is then seeded. This is conducted by taking advantage of the fact that the first crop planted has not grown tall enough to be ruined by machinery while placing the second crop into the ground. Possible benefits include the reduction of soil erosion from air and water after the end of the growing season and the maintenance of a living root system during the cold months of the year.
Companion cropping is the practice of growing a forage crop alongside a grain crop to optimize land-use efficiency so that a field can be used for hay or as a pasture after the main crop is harvested. Using small plots on a research farm in North Star, AB, this trial aims to determine which of three species of annual clover (White Clover, Crimson Clover, or Subterranean Clover) grown alongside a field crop (CWRS wheat or canola). The clovers are either sown by a disc drill or broadcast over the plot, therefore revealing which seeding method will yield better results for companion cropping.
Past studies in the Peace Region have demonstrated that higher seeding rates lead to significantly higher yield and test weights in CWRS wheat. However, crops grown at the highest seeding rates (37 seeds foot-2) also had significantly lower protein content. Thus, we wish to evaluate more commonly grown varieties grown in the Peace region such as AAC Viewfield and AAC Brandon.
While yield production of spring wheat is improved by intensified agricultural strategies and novel genetic varieties, optimal soil N release and precise N uptake by crops is still an ambiguous question. This experiment focuses on exploring N-enhanced efficiency fertilizers (EEF) set at different rates and banded at different development stages. The goal is to observe if a certain EEF can improve overall yield of CWRS wheat.