A wet harvest has left farmers in many areas of Western Canada considering options for addressing soil compaction. One of the options that’s seen increased interest in recent years is the use of cover crops, specifically radishes, to break up root-restricting compacted soil. “Radishes are a cover crop that are being sold specifically for compaction alleviation. You… Read More
Tag: University of Manitoba
It’s been a long time since the last public research was conducted to support nitrogen fertilizer recommendations for wheat on the eastern side of the prairies. “The last time we did publicly-funded research on wheat yields and nitrogen fertilizer recommendations was actually about 45 years ago, so we were dealing with lower yielding wheat varieties… Read More
With the expansion of soybean acres in the west, Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers and the University of Manitoba are collaborating to address what MPSG has identified as a gap in research. MPSG is matching $400,000 from the federal and Manitoba governments to fund a five-year soybean and pulse research agronomist position in the U… Read More
When soybean aphids start multiplying in soybean fields, the decision to spray is typically triggered by the number of aphids found on each plant. The threshold for growers in Western Canada is usually reached when there are an average of 250 aphids per plant on 80 percent of the plants. The population should still be… Read More
Growers topdressing melted urea to boost wheat protein should be asking their supplier whether it contains a contaminant that’s toxic to wheat, suggests a soil scientist at the University of Manitoba. With the introduction of higher yielding wheat varieties, there’s been new interest in applying post-anthesis nitrogen to wheat to boost protein content in Western… Read More
If the world of soil biology had its own version of Facebook, crops like peas, lentils, corn and flax would be listed as “in a symbiotic relationship” with mycorrhizal fungi. The microscopic organisms help these crops access phosphorus in the soil. Wheat would probably be friends with mycorrhiza, as cereals see some benefit from having… Read More
Granular phosphorus fertilizer recovered from liquid hog manure could be a viable alternative to traditional 11-52 monoammonium phosphate (MAP) fertilizer for growing wheat and canola, according to research done at the University of Manitoba. Struvite “looks like a fantastic fertilizer,” says Don Flaten, U of M soil scientist and one of the authors of a… Read More
Glyphosate-resistant kochia has started showing up in more of Western Canada, and as with other cases of resistance, it’s becoming evident you can’t rely on a single tool for too long. Minimizing resistant weed populations requires an integrated or diverse approach. The crop itself must help make survival difficult for potentially resistant weed seedlings, explains Rob… Read More
The number of soil tests in Manitoba with phosphorus concentrations below the critical level for crop production grew by 7 percent between 2010 and 2015, according to the new North American Soil Test Summary published by the International Plant Nutrition Institute. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec, as well as 13 U.S. states, all saw more… Read More
Farmers are dealt a hand of cards each year. There are cards of fortune and cards of misfortune. Maybe it’s a wet spring or corn prices below $4/bu or skyrocketing fertilizer costs. Maybe you get all three in the same hand. A farmer can’t always choose what they’re dealt, but they can choose how to respond…. Read More
Universities are sometimes said to emphasize theory over practice. But when it comes to farm safety, agricultural diploma program students at the University of Manitoba get both. When these students reconvene for class at the University of Manitoba this week, farm safety will be on their minds and in their curriculum. Thanks to advances being… Read More
Knowing full-well that the crop can experience seed burn if placed too close to phosphorous (P), many soybean farmers will apply no or very low rates of phosphate with their soybeans. And, as we learned in the last Soybean School, that choice may not be hampering short term yields. But, agricultural soils are seeing losses in available P, suggesting room for… Read More
Phosphorus deficiency is a common problem with corn planted into a rotation following canola. In its early stages, corn relies on mycorrhizae to help with the majority of phosphorus uptake. The trouble with corn following canola is that canola and other crucifer plants are not hosts for micorrhizae, so the beneficial fungi populations must be re-established…. Read More
Soybeans are serious consumers of phosphorus, so it seems logical that supplying P fertilizer would be important for maximizing soybean yields, right? That’s wrong, at least in the short-term, according to research results in southern Manitoba. Researchers from the University of Manitoba and Manitoba Agriculture are comparing how soybeans respond to three rates of P2O5 fertilizer (20,… Read More
Knowing the context in which a plant variety was selected is critical in understanding how it should be managed in the field. As an example, in the video above, Martin Entz of the University of Manitoba explains what happens when cereal crop varieties developed in a conventional breeding system are grown in an organic system, or vice… Read More