For Agrositio. 14/05/2021 | 16:05
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The Fertility Symposium 2021, a meeting held every 2 years by Fertilizar Asociacin Civil, had its first virtual day of the 3 scheduled on May 12. In the first date of this edition, which has the slogan Science and technology for sustainable nutrition, the focus was placed on the impact that crop nutrition has on grain production and on food quality, emphasizing that in Argentina there is a significant gap between the average yields of the main crops and the potential yields, largely due to low nutrient use.
The welcome was in charge of Ing. Agr. Mara Fernanda Gonzlez Sanjuan, executive manager of Fertilizar AC, who, together with Dr. Fernando Garca, academic coordinator of the Symposium, shared the dynamics and the program of talks and topics of this special edition.
At the beginning of the day, Jorge Bassi, vice president 2 of Fertilizar AC, reported that the consumption of fertilizers increased for five consecutive years, exceeding 5 million tons in the last 2020/21 season. This growth is a consequence of the increase in the sowing of grasses (wheat and corn) added to an increase in the doses and the fertilized area. Rotation with grasses is essential for the contribution of carbon to the soils, although we have not yet reached an ideal relationship, we can emphasize that it is the best in modern agriculture, he said.
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An important indicator for Fertilizing is the relationship between the nutrients extracted by the crops and the contribution of fertilizers. A ratio less than 1 implies that we are still exporting nutrients from the soil, added Bassi. However, he highlighted some advances thanks to the increase in the area of grasses is that the last campaign was a record in the nitrogen (N) replenishment. Regarding phosphorus (P), there was an important recovery in recent seasons, reaching 70% of the extractions. While sulfur (S) fails to settle at the appropriate doses and is losing ground against high production. Finally, he added that in the case of potassium (K), an increase is being noticed in the applications in the Argentine coast, where deficiencies began to be observed.
Produce food accepting challenges from different environments
Martn Daz Zorita, professor at the University of La Pampa and coordinator of the Technical Committee of Fertilizar AC, referred to this issue. Thus, the specialist warned that the management of a crop (the choice of the sowing date, the genotype and the environmental conditions) implies intervening in the composition of the attributes that the grains will later have in terms of their nutritional value.
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He highlighted that in recent years there was a growth in the use of nutrients (nitrogen-N-, phosphorus -P- and sulfur- S-) that accompanied the growth of agricultural production and raised an alert on the relationship between fertilization and food quality.
The variations in the levels of N, P and S, he said, respond to changes in the proportions of the crops: to the extent that cereal production predominates, the amount of N that is produced per amount of N applied tends to decrease while that when oilseeds are produced that value increases.
He gave as an example that in the most recent campaigns a better quality wheat was achieved (with a higher percentage of protein) thanks to the increase in nitrogen nutrition; The same happened with the quality and oil aptitude of the soybeans due to a higher fertilization with nitrogen and phosphorus.
On the other hand, in the case of corn, it was pointed out that when fertilizing with N (management effect), yields and nitrogen concentration increased, but that of phosphorus in the grains decreased, causing an imbalance and a limitation. In food production we cannot neglect the effective incorporation of nutrients through the correct administration of fertilizers (dose, source, moment, location), warned Daz Zorita.
In his conclusions he also stressed the importance of the environment: they are homogeneous sectors in the supply of resources and define the potential for crop yields. He added that crops maximize production efficiency while generating the effect of nutrient dilution when yields increase.
Hence, he recommended a balanced and strategic fertilization management to take care of the basic composition of the grains, that is, their quality.
The next virtual meetings of the Fertility Symposium 2021 will be held on May 19 and June 2, from 8.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. through the Agroconsultas platform.
The event is supported by the following companies: Yara, Bunge, Amauta, Profertil, Stoller, Timac Agro, Nutrien Ag Solutions, ACA, COFCO, EuroChem-EMERGER Fertilizantes, SR Industria Metalrgica SA, Microessentials, Fertec, YPF Agro, Compo Argentina, LCD -Macro Frtil, Rizobacter, Kioshi, Bertotto Boglione, Spraytec Fertilizers, FertiGlobal, Cargill, Recuperar, Soil Frtil and Metalfor.
The Fertility Symposium 2021 is aimed at producers, students, professionals and technicians, from the public and private activity of the country and the region. It is free and open access and requires pre-registration, since it has limited places.
For more information, contact [email protected] or enter www.fertilizar.org.ar
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