May 6, 2020
Video explains management for potassium deficiency in soybeans
By Fred Miller
U of A System Division of Agriculture
@AgNews479
Fast facts
- Potassium the most yield-limiting nutrient for soybeans
- Video explains the importance of K management for soybeans
- Video available online: https://youtu.be/s9aKOfcc4UE
(659 words)
Download related photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmMDk935
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Potassium is the most important yield-limiting nutrient in soybeans, and the plants can suffer a deficiency of it at multiple stages of growth.
A new video produced by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture explains the importance of potassium, also called potash, and how growers can make certain they are providing the fertilizer their crops need.
Potassium aids in water regulation in plants, said Trent Roberts, associate professor of crop, soil and environmental sciences for the Division of Agriculture.
“It’s essential for a lot of the pathways tied to water and water regulation,” Roberts said, “including transpiration, canopy temperature, carbon dioxide capture, and others.”
Nitrogen fertilizer is often the focal point of most row crop systems, he said. But soybeans are different in that they are legumes, which absorb nitrogen from the air and convert it into a nitrogen metabolite through a symbiotic relationship with soil microbes. The process is called biological nitrogen fixation.
Since soybeans essentially make their own nitrogen fertilizer, Roberts said, potassium becomes the most limiting fertilizer nutrient for yields.
Light textured soils — sandy, sandy loams and silt loams — tend to be potassium deficient, he said. Clay soils normally have adequate soil test potassium levels. This makes soil sampling key to successful potassium management, he said.
“The first step to detecting and correcting potassium deficiency is soil testing,” Roberts said.
Decades of research by the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the Division of Agriculture’s research arm, have resulted in calibrated soil test-based data that allow the Soil Testing and Research Laboratory to provide accurate fertilizer recommendations, Roberts said. Soil testing, available from the Division of Agriculture’s Soil Testing Program can help growers know how much potash they need to apply before planting their crops.
“This is the first step to ensuring that potassium will not be limiting and helps get the crop off on the right foot,” Roberts said. Farmers should contact their county extension offices to obtain soil testing information, supplies and services.
Growers should follow up during the growing season by scouting their fields to look for symptoms of potassium deficiency, Roberts said. In the video, he shows where to look for common symptoms and what they look like.
But beware of “hidden hunger,” Roberts said.
“I think there is the potential that hidden potassium hunger may be robbing soybean yield on our lighter textured soils,” Roberts said. “Hidden hunger” refers to nutrient deficiencies that can reduce yield before visible symptoms appear in the plants, he said.
In the video, Roberts shows where and how soybean tissue samples should be taken to make sure the plants have sufficient potassium throughout growth and reproductive stages.
Current interpretations of tissue-sample data are based on the R2 growth stage, Roberts said.
But research data from the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station permits nutrient interpretations across a broader range of plant growth, from the vegetative stages through the end of the growing season, he said.
Roberts said that data was used to develop the Dynamic Critical Concentration Threshold, A graphed curve that indicates the ideal potassium concentrations as they change throughout a soybean plant’s vegetative and reproductive stages. Tissue samples can show whether potassium concentrations fall above or below the curve at every stage.
“Our system allows greater flexibility and accuracy to identify possible potassium deficiencies and corrective measures that can be taken, to assure maximum yield potentials,” Roberts said.
This means that farmers can adjust potassium concentrations with applications of up to 60 pounds per acre of potash through the R5 stage, or to about nine weeks past the R1 stage, Roberts said.
The video can be viewed online: https://youtu.be/s9aKOfcc4UE
More information on potassium management for soybeans and other crops can be found in Division of Agriculture fact sheets and crop production handbooks. These are available for download from the Cooperative Extension Service: https://www.uaex.uada.edu/farm-ranch/crops-commercial-horticulture/default.aspx
Funding support for the video and potassium research was provided by the Arkansas Soybean Checkoff and the Arkansas Fertilizer Tonnage Fees.
To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uark.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch and Instagram at ArkAgResearch.
To learn about Extension Programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visitwww.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @UAEX_edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses.
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
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Media Contact: Fred Miller
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station
(479) 575-5647
fmiller@uark.edu
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