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On Wednesday 26 June at the Crops & Spreaders open day in Oak Park, Co Carlow, Luke McDermott caught up with David Wall of Teagasc Johnstown Castle to get a clearer understanding of how soil fertility index affects crops.
The soil fertility index gives an indication of the supply of individual nutrients in a soil.
The system used in Ireland has index one as being a low availability level, index two being medium, index three being the optimum target fertility level and index four is the luxury index.
Yield penalty
When growing crops on a low index soil, either soil level one or two, the grower will always see a yield penalty regardless of the fertiliser programme being used.
Soil pH also has an effect on soil fertility, with the optimum pH for tillage soils ranging from 6.5 to 6.8.
Ultimately, protecting your soil resources and building up the fertility of your soil is going to pay off in terms of helping to generate higher yield potential.
Phosphorous (P) and potash (K) are also very important in soil.
P plays a crucial role in the early growth and tillering of the crop and K is very important for many aspects of growth, including helping to increase disease resistance in crops.
K also increases nitrogen use efficiency, which helps tiller survival and drives grain fill.
Listen to more of the podcast on the link below
Listen to "Dr David Wall talking about the importance of soil fertility" on Spreaker.
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