PUBLICATION SUMMARIZES SOIL FERTILITY RESEARCH

This column can be downloaded from the Web at www.uark.edu/depts/agripub/Publications/Agnews/

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - When several thousand acres of northeast Arkansas soybeans were stunted last year, University of Arkansas scientists found an unexpected problem.

"Our plant and soil analysis confirmed the problem was boron deficiency," said Nathan Slaton, assistant professor of crop, soil and environmental sciences in Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

Boron is a micronutrient vital to plant growth and reproduction. Plants require only small amounts of it for normal growth and yield, Slaton said. Historically, boron fertilization in Arkansas has been limited to cotton. The results of this study suggest direct application of the micronutrient may be required on some soils used for rice and soybean production.

"Until last year, there had been little evidence to justify a study of plant response to boron for any crop other than cotton," he said. Now, funding has been allocated, from commodity check-off  funds and fertilizer tonnage fees, to study boron requirements in other Arkansas crops.

"It was a good example of how a land grant institution works," Slaton said. "The farmers found a problem. They went to their county Extension agents, who called the Extension specialists, who brought the Experiment Station researchers into it. You have two sides of the land grant triangle working together to solve a problem that could cost Arkansas farmers thousands of dollars."

The analysis that revealed the boron deficiency is reported in detail in a new Research Series publication from the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. "Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies 2001" reports this and several other soil fertility research projects that affect Arkansas row crops  and vegetables.

"The focus of this report is very applied research," Slaton said. "Producers can compare this work to their existing management practices and take it to the fields right now."

The contributions of soil fertility and fertilizers are major production factors, he said. This research report contains studies for soybeans, cotton, corn, cropland soils and vine-ripened tomatoes. Most of the studies are funded, in part, by commodity check-off funds and fertilizer tonnage fees.

"Wayne E. Sabbe Arkansas Soil Fertility Studies 2001" is named for Dr. Wayne Sabbe, professor in the department of crop, soil and environmental sciences and former director of the Arkansas Soil Testing and Research Program. Sabbe retired in 1999 and died in 2000. He made major contributions to the science of soil testing and diagnostic procedures. He taught courses in soil fertility and soil and plant analysis.

Life Science is about research on Arkansas issues involving agriculture, food, the environment, families and communities. The research is conducted by scientists at Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, and the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

The publication is available free from the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. Call 479-575-5670 to request a copy. Ask for Research Series 490. It can also be downloaded in PDF format from the web at http://www.uark.edu/depts/agripub/Publications/researchseries/