But when it comes to nutrient management, don’t risk the unexpected. And most importantly, don’t leave money on the table. With a variety of solutions from Koch Agronomic Services (KAS), growers can be assured they are protecting their nutrient input investments with proven products that will optimize yield and help maximize their profits.
PROTECTING NITROGEN
One of the costliest inputs for corn growers is nitrogen. Unfortunately, it’s also at risk of loss through volatilization, denitrification or leaching. Nitrogen loss is most closely associated with limiting factors – things growers can’t control, like moisture amounts, soil temperature or soil type.
It’s also important to note that fall-applied anhydrous ammonia is still susceptible to loss even when soil temperatures are below 50 degrees. Many growers believe cold temperatures prevent nitrogen loss, but this is a myth (Field Notes Podcast: Busting Cold Weather Nitrogen Myths). Untreated anhydrous ammonia applied in the fall can lead to nitrogen loss before seeds are put in the ground next spring. That means a large portion of your nitrogen input investment may already be lost long before it’s needed, but that doesn’t have to be the case. You can protect your nitrogen. And when you protect your nitrogen, you protect your profit.
Whether a grower is using anhydrous ammonia, UAN or urea, KAS has a solution to help keep nitrogen available in the form that’s needed for optimum root uptake.
For growers utilizing UAN or anhydrous ammonia, KAS offers the proven nitrogen stabilizer CENTURO™.
One of the numerous benefits of CENTURO is that it protects anhydrous applied in the fall or spring, with studies showing CENTURO-treated anhydrous leading to a 6 bu/acre increase in yield compared to untreated ammonia.1 With CENTURO-treated UAN, a study shows a 9.5 bu/acre corn yield advantage to untreated UAN.2
When protecting your nitrogen with CENTURO, what kind of difference will that make to the bottom line? Let’s do the math:
Why is CENTURO so effective in protecting nitrogen? In short, it’s due to the KAS-patented active ingredient called Pronitridine. By reacting with the molecules in anhydrous, Pronitridine creates a complex molecular structure that can bind to soil cation exchange sites (CEC) (Will link podcast here) and remain in the soil for a longer period of time.
KAS offers another solution for growers needing to protect the nitrogen in urea and UAN. ANVOL™ nitrogen stabilizer helps growers with the longest-lasting protection against ammonia volatilization over a wider range of soil conditions.
Untreated urea is highly susceptible to volatilization when applied to moist soils, increasing soil temperatures, or delays in needed moisture for incorporation. ANVOL protects urea from volatilization and minimizes that volatilization loss for a longer period to allow more time for incorporation.
By working in tandem with NBPT, the patented active ingredient Duromide increases the nitrogen protection efficiency of ANVOL by up to 27% compared to NBPT.3 In a 2016 LSU volatilization trial, ANVOL was demonstrated to have reduced cumulative ammonia loss to 12% compared to losses or more than 30% with untreated urea.4 Urea treated with ANVOL was proven to provide a 24 bu/acre average increase in corn yield compared to untreated urea in a 2018 Clemson University study.5
With the opportunity to increase yield by that many bushels, what does the additional profit potential look like?
MAXIMIZING MICRONUTRIENT INPUTS
Macro and micronutrients are another important factor in nutrient management that can’t be overlooked (Field Notes Podcast: How Micronutrients Fit into Your Operation). When soils lack specific nutrients, they can be limiting factors in the maximum potential yield for a grower. So even when nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium levels are at ideal levels for crops, low levels of zinc, boron, copper, iron, manganese, magnesium or calcium can have a negative impact on yields and profits. It’s important for these nutrients to be distributed at the right rate and right place for optimal root uptake.
To help growers overcome micronutrients from being a limiting factor, KAS offers WOLF TRAX™ DDP™ micronutrients. Utilizing EvenCoat™ technology, WOLF TRAX helps a grower’s applied micronutrients distribute evenly across the field, giving each micronutrient a better placement and keeps a lack of micronutrients from being a yield-limiting factor.
Knowing that growers will have unique needs, WOLF TRAX is available with the essential micronutrients, but is also offered as the following nutrient blends:
CROPMIX™, derived from:
17% zinc
18% manganese
2% boron
1% copper
1% iron
3-TRAX™, derived from:
26% zinc
3% boron
13% manganese
NU-TRAX P+™, derived from:
20% zinc
25% available phosphate
5% manganese
4% nitrogen
When a grower eliminates yield limiting factors, they increase the yield potential of every acre. With WOLF TRAX, growers can give their crops their best chance at receiving the micronutrients they need, when they need them.
DON’T RISK POOR EMERGENCE
The reality of going to great lengths to protect macro- and micronutrient inputs is that it won’t matter much if the crop stand has skips and poor, inconsistent emergence. Fortunately, KAS offers PROTIVATE™ nutritional seed enhancer to give seeds the nutrients needed for optimal crop establishment and even emergence.
PROTIVATE is a dual-purpose seed enhancer that offers critical nutrients required for early season growth and provides operational efficiencies as a talc replacement. Applied directly to the seed, it’s one solution with two unique purposes—all at no extra work to you.
PROTIVATE can protect young, vulnerable seedlings from early spring conditions such as cool, wet soils that limit nutrient availability and slow down plant growth. With proprietary blends of macro and micronutrients applied directly to the seed, PROTIVATE is tailored to provide the early season nutrition needed to maximize emergence and resilience for a variety of crops—from corn and soybean, to cotton, canola, wheat, alfalfa and more.
The PROTIVATE portfolio features three formulations and different application methods that can fit the equipment available for growers or retailers. This provides growers with flexible, highly efficient ways to put nutrition right where crops need it. All PROTIVATE formulations contain phosphate, manganese and zinc to support shoot and root growth during crop establishment and photosynthesis. PROTIVATE also drives the metabolic reactions needed for a plant to reach optimum growth and yield potential. However, each formulation differs in key areas:
NU4-DRI
Most commonly used in corn and major row crops, NU4-DRI contains nitrogen and is applied directly in the planter.
NU5-DRI
Applied at the planter on soybeans and other pulse crops, NU5-DRI contains iron and molybdenum to support proper nodulation development and efficient nitrogen fixation.
NU5-LUX
NU5-LUX is used in downstream/retailer applications and contains an added shine component. The addition of molybdenum makes this formulation ideal for soybean, legume and other pulse crop use.
Consistent, uniform emergence is key to a healthy crop and maximizing potential yield. When growers utilize PROTIVATE to give their crops their best chance, what they are really doing is protecting their bottom line. Maximizing yield means maximizing profit potential.
CONTROL WHAT YOU CAN
When a grower can protect their inputs with proven, cost-effective solutions that also protect their bottom line, it’s a clear choice.
Every grower will require a unique solution to their crop strategy. Your first step is talking to a KAS representative to determine which solution will maximize your yield and profit potential.
But nutrient management doesn’t stop at nitrogen. That’s why KAS offers a line of solutions to help growers get the nutrients their crops need at the right place and the right time.
More information on these products, including supporting podcasts and Knowledge Center articles can be found on KochAgronomicServices.com.
1Data provided by University of Nebraska, University of Missouri, and the Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association under Research Trial Financial Support Agreements with KAS. Improvements in yield may not be observed in all cases. 2Data provided by Alpha Ag Research, Real Farm Research and Tidewater Agronomics under Research Trial Financial Support Agreements with KAS. Improvements in yield and nutrient use efficiency may not be observed in all cases. 3Adapted from volatilization measurements made by Hunter Frame, VA Tech (2016) and internal 2017 KAS studies. trial. 4Based on data collected from 2016 LSU rice trial. 5Data provided by Clemson University. None of these universities or institutions, nor the individual researchers referenced, endorse or recommend any product or service.
When it comes to input costs, every grower knows that each year will be unique. Between weather, seed, machinery, crop inputs and labor costs, commodity pricing and so much more, growers know they can expect only one thing—the unexpected.
