Why Micronutrients?

To grow the best possible crop, all required nutrients, including micronutrients, need to be available, balanced, and in the right amounts. More is not always better and it can even be wasteful.

All plants need micronutrients. Soil tests can help you better understand your own operations but, also, historical data can give an indication of what is most likely to be deficient in Western Canada.

We all know that crops require more than just macronutrients but farmers sometimes struggle with how to incorporate micronutrients into their current practices.

Boron is one of the two micronutrients Prairie growers need to pay attention to when growing higher yields of canola.

Manganese (Mn) is involved with chlorophyll synthesis, photosynthesis, oxygen evolution and the activation of enzymes, e.g. fat forming enzymes. As a structural constituent of ribosomes, it also plays a key role in protein synthesis, helping improve N-utilization in the plant.

Zinc is a catalyst in many of the enzyme systems used for protein synthesis and carbohydrate metabolism. Zinc is also responsible for the metabolism of auxins - plant growth regulators - and thus is important for regulating key growth processes.

Copper is essential to all plants, meaning any crop in western Canada will not reach it’s full potential without adequate amounts of it. Copper must be within millimetres of distance of the root for the root to be able to take it up.

Copper is essential for the production of high yielding cereal crops. Although copper removal in cereal crops is only 25-45 grams per acre, there are areas in Western Canada that are particularly prone to copper deficiencies.

What exactly are we getting at when suggesting “stacking nutrient applications”? What we mean by this is taking the opportunity to address potential nutritional needs of the crop by using every pass over field (seeding, herbicide, fungicide) to add in additional nutrients to ensure sufficiency levels to help the crop reach its full yield potential.

In this first "Knowledge grows" audio newsletter, Yara's agronomists answer some questions they often get asked about boron and the critical role it plays in crop nutrition.

Zinc is integral in the formation of roots early on in the plant's life cycle. More roots give plants the ability to find more water and more nutrients. Zn is immobile in the soil, therefore it must be placed in very close proximity to the seed.