https://www.istockphoto.com/
It is currently believed that two in five of the World’s plant species are at risk of extinction, while just three crops – maize, rice, and wheat, are responsible for 50%of the World’s global food intake.
The global agricultural industry is alert to the challenges of feeding a growing population with limited arable lands, meaning that growers across the spectrum are actively seeking to increase the capacity to produce healthy crops with higher yields.
One of the most vital tools in the modern farmer’s tool kit, Water soluble fertilizers (WSFs), has been around for many years. Water soluble fertilizers are fertilizers that can be dissolved in water and are applied directly to the plant through drip irrigation and foliar application to increase nutrient use efficiency.
The use of drip irrigation significantly reduces nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, compared to other irrigation systems, like furrow or sprinklers. Foliar application, which provides liquid fertilizer directly to the leaves instead of the soil, is a target-oriented approach since nutrients are delivered directly to plant tissues during critical growth stages.
It’s important to note that foliar applications are supplementary, the nutrients that plants can absorb through this application are limited, and they cannot replace soil-fertility programs.
Over the last three years, global demand for WSFs has grown steadily and is expected to return a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.4% over the next five years and reach $20.64 Bn by 2027.
This vibrant growth has been fueled by a globally increasing demand for environmentally-friendly fertilizers that can significantly improve crop nutrient uptake.
The Importance of Water Quality when using Water Soluble Fertilizers.
To achieve maximum results, the irrigator will then be required to make some simple calculations to ensure that, once released into the system, the fertilizer is evenly spread throughout the area during the irrigation span.
With this information, the irrigator will be able to calculate and moderate the vital factor of water pressure differential in which the water pressure at the input and output access to the tank should have a differential of around 10%. This differential will allow the salt to dissolve and flow freely. The difference in input and output pressure can be easily controlled by a simple turn of a tap and a reliable set of pressure gauges.
If correctly calculated and stringently observed, this simple procedure will ensure that the soluble fertilizer will be evenly distributed over extensive areas within predetermined time scales to the highest accuracy levels. When doing these calculations, it’s important to keep in mind that water soluble fertilizers have a set solubility limit, and increasing levels above the manufacturer’s set threshold will not increase fertilizer distribution levels. Results will be achieved irrespective of the irrigation method either drip, sprinkler, or even the massive irrigation pivots used in large-scale open-field cultivation.
Because of the highly accurate levels of distribution that are achieved through water soluble fertilizer, nutrition is applied evenly, both in terms of time and quantity, throughout the entire growth cycle while lowering the potential of damage by salt being dosed in an uneven pattern throughout the cultivated area.
What are the Principal Benefits of applying WSFs?
Another added benefit is that applying soluble fertilizers helps to decrease the variation of nutrient concentration in soil.
Other pluses include decreases in levels of fertilizer leaching with a reduction in environmental impact while allowing for accurate application of trace elements, such as boron (B), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), molybdenum (Mo), manganese (Mn) and, zinc (Zn).
These micronutrients, while present in almost minute quantities in the water soluble fertilizers, play a vital part in interacting between the macronutrients (which make up the bulk of fertilizer and are essential to achieve continuous growth) and the healthy growth of plants, even when applied in the most minute of quantities.
With foliar application, micronutrients are considered immobile nutrients, which means that they are only distributed within the leaf and do not undergo considerable translocation to other parts of the plant, unlike macronutrients.
What Does the Modern Farmer Have to Gain by Using Water Soluble Fertilizer?
Using liquid fertilizer has many advantages, with the most glaringly obvious being the lack of need to handle or dilute the material from its purest form.
All that is required is to place a large enough tank in a strategic point in the field to be cultivated and attach a fertilizer injector pre-programmed to release the fertilizer through the irrigation system.
This appears to create an idyllic situation for the grower, with minimal physical handling of the fertilizer required with the injection pump doing most of the calculations.
Water soluble fertilizers allow farmers to easily adjust nutrient concentrations to the plant’s changing needs over their growth cycle.
Working with water soluble fertilizers requires a little more of a hands-on approach. Still, from a professional outlook of extracting maximum value in the shortest time, it is generally regarded as well worth the effort.
Intensive fertilization throughout an entire growing season over a large area can be a costly exercise. Applying fertilizer in a soluble format, next to the root zone of the plant, costs a lot less while producing the same results, if not better.
An experienced irrigator will be aware of the stages to be followed to ensure an even distribution of the fertilizer after it has been diluted and distributed through irrigation. With proper care and attention, even fertilizer distribution can be perfectly synchronized.
Source : www.icl-group.com
0 Comments