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Show COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS Applying commercial fertilizer gives increased yields, "lower per unit production cost and more crop residue to turn back to the soil, reminds Dr. Paul C. Christensen, extension soil conservationist at Utah State Agricultural College. When plant foods are needed, crops will make more efficient use of water if fertilizer is applied. ap-plied. t Dr. Christensen says experiments in Utah have demonstrated that fertilizer may double yields of corn without increasing water requirements. require-ments. Tests with alfalfa in Utah have shown that adding phosphate fertilizer to phosphate-deficient soils can greatly increase yields with no increase in water applied. "Misconceptions about fertilizer often hinder its use. Some have assumed that fertilizer is poisonous to organisms in the soil. But it isn't. In many cases bacteria and other organisms acTuijyirr-with acTuijyirr-with the use of fertilizer u layer volume of crop residues nr duced as a result of fertiliZaZ provides increased food. Oreani greatly multiply while decomp ing the material," Dr. Christens!' says. t-11 Plants grown in fertilized soil are often more nutritious than those grown without fertilizer Some reproductive problems w farm animals have been corrected by the application of super-phos phate to hay and pasture land. " "But you don't need nitrosen fertilizer on crops which ira mediately follow several years of alfalfa, or nitrogen fertilizer on land where you apply high quality barnyard manure. Phosphate fer. tilizer will 'give yield increases With alfalfa, clovers, and vegetable crops. But you don't need to apply it every year. "Apply 80 to 120 pounds of available phosphate once every two or three years. A soil test will help you determine when you need phosphate. For vegetables, corn and small grain crops, apply barnyard barn-yard manure or 35 to 100 pounds of available nitrogen fertilizer each year unless these crops follow alfalfa," the USAC specialist says. Experiments in Utah indicate that the nitrogen in one fertilizer is approximately as effective as in other fertilizers. Buy your fertilizer fer-tilizer on the basis of cost per pound of available nitrogen. The same holds true for phosphate fertilizers, Dr. Christensen adds. |
