WINNIPEG – Flax producers are looking forward to getting some straight answers on basic questions about how their crop responds to fertilizer and chemicals.
While flax is one of Canada’s six major crops, producer Garvin Hanley said a relatively small acreage has meant most precious research dollars have gone to plant breeding programs rather than agronomic research.
“The producers themselves didn’t really question how much more they could do with flax to increase production or make costs lower,” explained Hanley, who has been growing flax south of Regina since 1978.
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Hanley uses soil tests to figure out how much nitrogen he wants to use for his flax. But when it comes to phosphorus and more expensive nutrients, he said growers don’t know if spending the money makes a difference in yield.
Amount used
Garvin Kabernick told a recent flax conference he uses 85 to 90 pounds per acre of nitrogen for flax he grows on his farm at Sanford, Man. He also adds 25 pounds per acre of phosphorus.
“I don’t know if that’s insurance or if it just makes me feel better, but we do it and it seems to work well,” Kabernick said.
“Putting on more fertilizer doesn’t necessarily mean more yield.”
Guy Lafond and a team of Agriculture Canada scientists across Manitoba and Saskatchewan hope to put an end to some of the guessing.
Lafond, who is based at the research centre in Indian Head, Sask., said the group has about $250,000 for three years of preliminary work on questions they want to answer.
He said flax got a reputation as a low-yielding crop about 25 years ago, when farmers and researchers didn’t have many chemicals to work with, and researchers focused on seed row placement rather than modern concepts like banding.
The five-year average flax yield for western Canada is about 20.5 bushels an acre, but Lafond said he believes there’s room to increase productivity by 10 to 20 percent in the next five to 10 years.
Part of the yield increase will come from new varieties developed by breeding programs in Saskatoon and Morden, Man. But Lafond said there are bushels to be gained through more information about how to apply fertilizers and chemicals to flax.
To get started, the group looked at ways to change phosphorus uptake by flax. Results aren’t in yet, but Lafond said it looks like farmers can increase response to the nutrient by placing it with nitrogen to the side and below the seed.
Economical to use
Lafond said it also appears urea works as well as other forms of nitrogen, and is economical to use with phosphorus.
When it comes to weeds, researchers know flax doesn’t compete well, but they also don’t know how well it tolerates herbicides.
“Depending on how you design your studies, you can always show lots of benefits from the use of herbicides,” Lafond said, adding farmers could be losing yield without realizing it.
The group has reviewed all existing flax research. Lafond said it will turn the information over to the Flax Council for its internet home page.
