Fertilization according to professional aspects
In the last decade in Hungary the ammonium nitrate played a disproportionately and unduly significant role in nitrogen fertilizer consumption. The growers considering their narrow circumstances and ignoring professional aspects were striving to minimize the specific cost of fertilizer/kilogram. The solution was found in ammonium nitrate. In fact nearly the three quarter of the used nitrogen content was applied in ammonium nitrate form.
Regarding the soil conditions and chemical reaction (the two third of the production area is acidic or slightly acidic) the increase of ammonium nitrate usage was not reasonable. The 11.600 HUF toll allowance charged to the ammonium-nitrate that will be replaced by the EU toll allowance form the 1st of May - 47 EUR/ton on the Russian and 33 EUR/ton on the Ukrainian ammonium nitrate - predicts that the prices will not be low next year. However the advantage of this is that professional aspects will be considered mainly during fertilizer selection.
The recent accidents and terrorist actions related to the ammonium nitrate raised the attention to the dangers of the storage and transportation of this fertilizer so its dominancy is continuously decreasing.
In Hungary the number one fertilizer is the lime ammonium nitrate, - that depending on the inert material besides its calcium content - as long as it is not mixed with fine ground lime but dolomite powder - it contains magnesium that is highly demanded even on the acidic soils. It is not explosive, there are no restrictions for transport and storage and less hygroscopic than the ammonium nitrate.
Within the cross flowered plants the sulphur demand of the rapeseed is determinant due to its production area rate. The results of the plant tests indicate sulphur absence more and more frequently. It means that the amount of sulphur that enters the soil from the acidic sedimentation of the atmosphere is insufficient. When in the 70's and 80's the super phosphate consumption was dominant concerning both assortment and quantity there were no problems with sulphur content. In the last 10-15 years the phosphor fertilizer application has decreased and the usage of the out of date super phosphate has ceased almost completely.
In Western-Europe the sulphur fertilizing of the rapeseed is general practice and the ammonium nitrate with sulphur consumption is increasing year by year. We would like to raise the attention of our customers for the Slovak import fertilizer, called DASA that is the duplex salt of ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulphate with 26% nitrogen and 13% sulphur content.
Because of the low level of phosphor fertilizing the phosphor content of the soil reduced and as a result the phosphor supplying capacity of the soil reduced, as well. As long as in the upper 30 centimetres ploughed layer of the soil e.g. 1000 ppm ammonium lactate soluble phosphor is measured then we can calculate with approximately 400 kg ammonium lactate soluble phosphor. However in the soil solution there is only 0,5-1 kilogram that is directly available for the plants. If the phosphor supplying capacity of the soil decreases then the supply speed of the phosphor in this soil solution is questioned. Due to this it can happen that the phosphor demand of the plant is more than the supply of the soil solution. In this case yield and quality loss will occur. One of the solutions may be the phosphor supply together with the top dressing. It is especially good for cereals and rapeseed but as complementary spring fertilizing for sunflower and corn we have to think twice. We offer for our customers the 27 N, 5 P205 content product that was certified at the end of 2003. This fertilizer as top dressing solved by the precipitation gets to the 5-10 centimetres active root zone and increases the phosphor concentrate of the soil solution and provides easily adaptable fresh phosphor for the vegetation.
Within nitrogen fertilizers the spreading of the nitrogen solutions is expected and necessary. It is not accidental that while in Western-Europe the overall nitrogen content of the fertilizers is decreasing, the consumption of the nitrogen solutions is increasing. The nitrogen solution contains both slowly and quickly activating nitrogen forms and can be completed with sulphur, phosphor and micro elements. Their great advantages are the uniform spreadability, there are no empty boxes to terminate, the human labour demand is low and there are no special restrictions concerning transport and storage.
In the future the cost economy will be determinant concerning competitiveness. The nitrogen solutions bear the opportunity of joint operations like herbicide application together with top dressing or under row crops together with cultivation herbicides. Comparing to the double course operations 2.500-3.000 HUF can be spared per hectares.
The growers are not in an enviable situation because they are faced with new challenges day by day and often they do not have enough time for the professional solutions. During the professional training of our staff and the development of our services we are striving that the IKR - worthy to its fame - look for the best solution thinking together with the customers so please, ask our experts concerning fertilization.
Lajos Nagy
(Vice Managing Director)
