Spring Wheat’s Marked Response To Fertiliser

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29146, 5 March 1960, Page 8

Spring Wheat’s Marked Response To Fertiliser

Spring-sown wheat has given quite remarkable responses to superphosphate in Department of Agriculture trials in South Canterbury this season. A 1 cwt application has given a gain of 10 bushels to the acre at all sowing rates and as well it has been found that a sowing rate of 2J bushels to the acre has given an 18 bushels to the acre advantage over a sowing rate of 1 bushel to the acre. As the sowing rate has been raised from 1 bushel there has been a progressive increase in the yield until 2J bushels has been reached. This information was given to farmers attending a linseed field day at Fairview, near Timaru, this week by Mr Colin McLeod, a farm advisory officer of the department, when he digressed slightly during a discussion of the effects of fertilisers on linseed.

A trial with autumn-sown wheat gave the same manurial responses as had been registered in trials in South Canterbury in the last 10 years, said Mr McLeod. Where wheat had been sown on the property of Mr W. M. King at Landsborough at 1, 14, 2,2 J, and 3 bushels to the acre with and without 1 cwt of super the average yield increase with the fertiliser had been 1 bushel to the acre. At the 1 bushel sowing rate the yield had been 83 bushels to the acre and 88 bushels to the acre at all the other sowing rates.

Big Increase

However, where the trial had been repeated in spring-sown wheat on the property of Mr G. B. Hewson at Orari there had been a 10 bushel to the acre increase in yield where super had been used at each sowing rate. In addition where the sowing rate had been raised from 1 to 1| bushels to the acre there had been a yield gain of 8 bushels to the acre, from 1J to 2 a further 7 bushels, and from 2 to 2J another 3 bushels—a gain altogether between a sowing rate of 1 and 2| bushels of 18 bushels to the acre in yield. Between the super application and sowing rate there was a possible gain of 28 bushels to the acre. Before this there had been no manorial work done in South Canterbury . with spring-sown wheat, said Mr McLeod. It followed the pattern of responses secured with super on barley and oats and probably had something to do with the short growing season.

An interesting point about the trials was that the autumn-sown trials were on land with a phosphate level of only about 4. whereats the spring-sown trials were on land where the level was about 20.