Email Newsletter May 2017

This email newsletter is the notification of the free Plant nutrition courier 2017-01 issue that has just been published.

Addition of a nitrification inhibitor to liquid manure improves the phosphorus availability to young maize plants in cold soils. Nitrification inhibitors also increase copper, manganese and zinc availability and reduce nitrous oxide emission. Researchers at Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences have found this in field experiments on light soils. Read more in the new free issue of the Plant nutrition courier reports.

Silicon application at early bud stage increases lodging resistance and silique shatter resistance in rapeseed, according to Chinese researchers.

The PotatoSize app provides potato growers with information on the tuber size distribution of their crops by analysing photographs of tuber samples in the field.
Other potato news: Zinc biofortification of potato tubers.

The effectiveness of o,o-Fe-EDDHA in hydroponically-grown strategy I crops can be increased by adjusting the ratio between the d,l-racemic and meso isomers on the iron nutritional status of the plants: for healthy plants a mixture of both isomers may satisfy, but in iron chlorotic plants the meso isomer is preferred.

Chlorophyll meters can be used to monitor the nitrogen status of ornamentals. Researchers at Oklahoma State University conclude this from an evaluation of the reliability of normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) values calculated by these hand held sensors as an indirect indicator of the nitrogen status in various floricultural crops.

Blends of granular urea in both coated and conventional form provide extra nitrogen at early growth stages. Such blends also reduce fertiliser costs, compared to the same amount of urea solely in a coated form.

• Various N:P ratios of liquid urea phosphate fertilisers
• Base excess reduces struvite effectiveness
• Liquid fertilisers from rock material
• Micronutrient fertilisers from dead batteries
• Polyhalite as mixing partner in NPK blends
• Dual-purpose coating for granular urea
• Soil microbial genetics and elemental sulphur oxidation
• Elemental sulphur and zinc oxide in one granule
• Seed-placed sulphur increases phosphate fertiliser availability
• Adjuvant improves foliar fertiliser coverage

• Oilseed rape seedling needs boron
• Selenium protects maize against stress
• The three effects of soil pH on plant-availability of phosphorus
• Estimator for nitrogen mineralisation
• Organic phosphorus forms in grazed pastures
• Soil surfactant improves yields of crops irrigated with saline water
• Tryptophan enhances apple calcium concentration
• Roses take up most nitrate at night
• Biochar provides high-definition electron pathways in soil
• Yield effect of organic inputs questioned
• Soil liming with bacteria
• Silicon hinders rootknot nematode to penetrate roots

Click here for a single issue of the Plant nutrition courier.

Information about Plant nutrition courier