Prices for phosphorus-based fertilizer aren’t likely going to drop soon, considering the finite amount of phosphorus on the planet.
That’s why the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission wants to know if there’s a way for plants to use the phosphorus already in the soil, which would save growers the cost of applying monoammonium phosphate to canola.
The commission is spending $175,000 over the next three years on field trials to determine if Novozyme’s Jumpstart, an inoculant that contains a fungus called penicillium balaii, boosts phosphorus uptake and canola yields.
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“We had received questions from producers asking what sort of third party research has been done specifically on Jumpstart with canola,” said research manager Pat Flaten.
“It has been around for awhile but there seems to be some additional interest right now…. Farmers are looking at their input costs and as fertilizer prices rise and fall… at what point do we look at other things (like Jumpstart).”
Ramona Mohr, an Agriculture Canada research scientist in Brandon, leads field trials that began this year at two sites in Manitoba and two in Saskatchewan.
Mohr recently visited one of those sites, the Manitoba Zero Tillage Research Association (MZTRA) research farm north of Brandon.
During a tour of the farm, Mohr said field trials looking at canola and penicillium balaii were conducted two decades ago in Western Canada.
That study, which was never published in a peer-reviewed journal, concluded the inoculant increased canola yield by five percent.
“What this organism (penicillium balaii) does is that it releases organic acids that acidifies the area around it,” she said.
“It solubilizes calcium phosphates, for example, and makes that phosphorus more available to the plant.”
Mohr said the inoculant, which was called Provide at the time of the previous study, didn’t boost yield by five percent at all locations.
“Only at sites where there was phosphorus response observed. At sites where there was no phosphorus response observed, there was no effect of the inoculum.”
No research has been conducted since then, and Mohr said it’s time to take a fresh look at the efficiency of what is now marketed as Jumpstart.
“With the new varieties we have now, there’s value in having more information.”
Mohr and her colleagues have planted a Liberty Link hybrid canola at the MZTRA farm and will compare the early season biomass, phosphorus uptake and ultimately the canola yield of 16 treatment scenarios.
For example, one canola block received four kilograms per acre of banded phosphorus and Jumpstart, while another block was treated with 12 kg per acre of banded phosphorus with no Jumpstart.
The researchers are investigating similar scenarios at sites in Indian Head and Outlook in Saskatchewan and at another Agriculture Canada farm in Manitoba.
Flaten said the commission hopes to add two more trial sites in Saskatchewan next year.
For internet links to additional research papers dealing with penicillium bilaii, visit www.producer.com and find the phosphorus inoculant study link.
MORE RESEARCH INFO
Novozymes provided The Western Producer with nearly a dozen research papers on penicillium balaii, including work by Agriculture Canada and Canadian universities. Some of those studies, which were published in the peer-reviewed Canadian Journal of Plant Science since the late 1990s, include:
•Response of alfalfa to inoculation with penicillium balaii, lead author Hugh Beckie, Agriculture Canada, 1998.
Conclusion– Inoculating alfalfa with P. bilaii increased yields and phosphorus uptake by three to 18 percent when averaged across phosphorus fertilizer rates.
•Effect of penicillium bilaii inoculation and phosphorus fertilization on root and shoot parameters of field-grown pea, lead author Kevin Vessey, University of Manitoba, 2001.
Conclusion– P. bilaii increased pea root length and shoot phosphorus concentration at one of two sites.
•Penicillium bilaii increases root hair production in field pea, lead author Robert Gulden, University of Manitoba, 2000.
Conclusion– P. bilaii didn’t have an effect on pea’s root diameter or root length, but there was a 22 percent increase in the number of roots with hairs.
•Field Evaluation of dual inoculation of alfalfa with Sinorhizobium meliloti and penicillium balaii, lead author W.A. Rice, Agriculture Canada, 1999.
Conclusion – Dual inoculation increased number of nodules but resulted in small increases in hay yield and the phosphorus concentration in the hay, compared with inoculation of S. meliloti alone.
