Western Illinois University- School of Agriculture Organic Research Program 2013 Dry Humate/Fertility Studies Dr. Joel Gruver and Andy Clayton

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1 Western Illinois University- School of Agriculture Orgnic Reserch Progrm 0 Dry Humte/Fertility Studies Dr. Joel Gruver nd Andy Clyton Introduction Orgnic grin frmers generlly use less purchsed inputs thn conventionl grin frmers or orgnic vegetble frmers, but some orgnic grin frmers re supplementing trditionl niml nd green mnure bsed nutrient mngement strtegies with specilty products such s Chilen nitrte, pelletized mnures nd humte products. Some of these frmers re chieving very high yields leding to questions bout the reltive impct of specilty products on crop yield nd profitbility, nd ultimtely whether these effects cn be enhnced through integrtion of multiple products. In 0, studies t the WIU/Allison Orgnic Reserch Frm were conducted to nswer some of those questions. The specilty products used in the study were Anderson s Humic DG (dry humte) offered by SoilBiotics (Note: As of erly 0 SoilBiotics offers the sme product s Soil Boost EA), Allgnic Nitrogen Nturl Nitrte of Sod Crystlline (6-0-0) (Chilen nitrte) from SQM North Americ Corp., nd OPC (5--) pelletized chicken litter from Unlimited Renewbles LLC. Humic DG ws the only tretment to be rndomized nd replicted in these studies. The other products were pplied uniformly within respective fields to crete contrsting bckground fertility progrms. Field - received the higher input progrm with OPC pelletized chicken litter brodcst nd incorported pre-plnt. Field - received the low input progrm with low rtes of OPC pelletized chicken litter nd Chilen nitrte pplied with the plnter. Methods The studies took plce t the WIU Orgnic Reserch frm in southwest Wrren County, Illinois in djcent fields (- & -). Both studies hd complete rndomized block designs with replictions of 8 row x 00 plots. Both fields were plnted to Pririe Hybrids 5879 (trget popultion = 8k/) on 6// using Bufflo row plnter. Field - ws plnted to winter whet in the fll of 0, but due to thin stnd nd significnt weed pressure, the whet ws terminted on 5/5/ using disk. Field - ws plnted to wrm seson cover crop mix in July 0 tht ws incorported in fll 0 using verticl tillge tool.

2 On /5/, field - received brodcst ppliction of OPC pelletized chicken litter (5--) t rte of ~,600 lbs of product per cre. Three psses with -wheel floter truck (sme wheel trcks) were required to chieve the desired rte. The soil ws reltively dry t the time of ppliction but soil compction ws evident in the wheel trcks. Both fields were tilled with soil finisher on 5//, field cultivtor on 6//, nd verticl tillge tool on 6//. The verticl tillge tool ws set slightly too deep for the st round (~65 wide) on the est side of field -, resulting in some soil slbbing in the re identified s rep nd the est hlf of rep (Mp ). Weed control prctices during the production seson consisted of pss with rotry hoe (field - on 6// nd field - on 6//) nd row crop cultivtion on 7/5/ using modified IH 5 cultivtor. The row crop cultivtion provided high level of weed control but res with less thn optiml corn popultions (prticulrly on the est side of -) llowed the growth of some lte seson weeds. In-row weed pressure ws slight to moderte t the end of the seson. The humte tretment plots in both fields - nd - received Humic DG pplied over the row (0 lbs/) during plnting. All plots in Field - received OPC pelletized litter (~0 lbs/ or ~ 6 lbs N/) plced x during plnting nd Chilen nitrte (~ lbs/ or ~ 7 lbs N/) pplied directly over the row during plnting. Becuse the insecticide boxes hd comprtments with seprte rte levers, the Chilen nitrte nd Humic DG were ble to be delivered simultneously. The tretment plots were hrvested by John Deere 9570 combine on //. Ech hrvest swth ws 6 rows wide nd ~,50 long. Yields were clculted using the yield monitor results nd correction fctor determined from weigh wgon weights. Results The field verge for field - ws 0. while the field verge for field - ws 7.5, lmost difference. Since field - received much higher rte of nitrogen from the chicken litter, we would hve expected the opposite to occur. While this dt is independent from the humte product studies, it is still worth noting nd will be discussed lter in the report. In field -, the verge corn yield for the Humic DG plots ws.9 higher thn for the control plots, but this numericl difference ws not lrge enough to be considered sttisticlly significnt t ny of the lph levels we tested (Tble ).

3 In field -, the verge corn yield for the Humic DG plots ws. lower thn for the control plots, but this numericl difference lso ws not lrge enough to be considered sttisticlly significnt t ny of the lph levels we tested (Tble ). The verge corn stnds in the control plots were numericlly higher in the control plots thn the humte tretment but were not significntly different (Tble ). Tble. Field - (Low Fertility- lbs N/Acre) Corn Yields Tretment Corn Yield (Bu/A) Significnce Corn Stnd Significnce 0 lbs/ Humic DG.8,65 Control 7.9,875 LSD =.0 LSD =,8 LSD = Lest Significnt Difference Different letters in the Significnce column indicte significnt differences in yields mong tretments. Tble. Field - (Moderte Fertility-0 lbs N/Acre) Corn Yields Tretment Corn Yield (Bu/A) Significnce Corn Stnd Significnce Control 8.7,500 0 lbs/ Humic DG 6. 0,75 LSD =6. LSD =,7 LSD = Lest Significnt Difference Different letters in the Significnce column indicte significnt differences in yields mong tretments. Discussion Both studies resulted in no sttisticlly significnt results. While this my seem to imply little cn be lerned, mny vluble observtions were mde during the course of these studies. The most surprising observtion ws the higher plot yields in field - s compred to field - (Mp ). All 8 plots in field - yielded more thn the highest yielding plot in field -. The verge yield difference between the fields ws over 0 bu per cre. Field - received ~ 0 times more totl N thn field - (0 vs. lbs/) but the N source (OPC pelletized litter) ws pplied lmost months prior to plnting nd it seems likely tht lrge portion of the totl N ws lost or rendered unvilble.

4 The most obvious cuse of loss is the record rinfll tht occurred during My 0 leding to prolonged soil sturtion nd fvorble conditions for loss of N by denitrifiction nd/or leching. Another possible loss pthwy is voltiliztion of NH-N becuse the OPC pelletized litter ws left unincorported for over month. Some of mmonium N in the pelletized litter my hve voltized, but fortuntely it seems likely tht most of this N ws moved into the soil from bove verge rinfll in both April nd My 0. Another mjor issue is the compction tht clerly occurred in field - during the ppliction of the OPC pelletized litter. This compction would hve been concentrted in sets of wheel trcks ( spred swth of 80 ft ws ssumed for the 60 ft wide field) becuse repeted psses used the sme trffic pttern. The excessively deep pssge of the verticl tillge tool (first round on est side of field -) lso creted both compction nd poor soil structure. In field -, ll fertilizer ws plced strtegiclly t plnting ( x nd over the row) minimizing opportunity for loss or poor root ccess. The vilbility of plnter pplied N ws clerly visible s uniformly drk green stnd of corn in field -, unlike the vribility of color evident in field - nd other corn fields on the frm. In ddition, the whet cover crop tht ws incorported in field - my hve enhnced nutrient vilbility, but this ws probbly not lrge effect due to the mturity of the whet (boot stge). An even greter effect of the whet is likely to hve been its promotion of superior soil tilth vi use of wter nd extensive rooting. It is difficult to sy why the Humic DG did not hve cler effects. One mjor limittion is the wy tht the product ws pplied - over the row s opposed to in-furrow. Very little rin occurred during the 0 growing seson, resulting in limited root growth in surfce soil nd thus limited contct between crop roots nd the Humic DG grnules. Conclusion The most interesting conclusions tht cn be drwn from this study re observtionl nd suggest tht low rtes of plnter pplied N cn be very beneficil. Future studies of humte products will focus on optimizing crop contct with the product vi in-furrow pplictions or folir pplictions. Appliction of blended mixtures of humtes with Chilen nitrte or pelletized litter might lso be worthy of investigtion. Greter N retention nd plnt vilbility during sesons with high likelihood of N loss my be possible.

5 Mp. Tretment Plots nd Corn Yields Humic DG/Fertility Study in Corn N Field - Field Rep Rep Rep Rep Rep Rep Rep Rep = SoilBiotics /Humic DG t 0 lbs/ on top of row nd high rte of fertility pre-plnt from~,600 lbs/ pelletized chicken litter providing ~ 0 lbs N/ = without humte product nd high rte of fertility pre-plnt from~,600 lbs/ pelletized chicken litter providing ~ 0 lbs N/ = SoilBiotics /Humic DG t 0 lbs/ on top of row nd low rte of fertility t plnting of Chilen nitrte nd pelletized chicken litter, both providing ~ lbs N/. = without humte product nd low rte of fertility t plnting of Chilen nitrte nd pelletized chicken litter, both providing ~ lbs N/. /5/5