by Bill Crabtree, 4Farmers R&D Agronomist
Calcium Advance placement decides whether you get a handy lift or a genuine, bankable result. Bill Crabtree’s latest Kirwan barley trial on acidic country shows exactly why getting it next to the seed is the whole game.
Calcium Advance placement: what the Kirwan barley trial tells us about getting it next to the seed
Where you put stuff in the ground matters just as much as what you put in the ground, and our latest barley trial with the acid-tolerant Kirwan line proves the point well.
We tested Calcium Advance three ways at seeding on barley – fanned on top of the soil, fanned out next to the seed, and dribbled right next to the seed – against an untreated control. Calcium Advance is a 4Farmers liquid nano-lime fertiliser with ultra-fine (sub-2-micron) and mobile particles, delivering lime plus calcium, boron, magnesium and zinc for improved root development and pod/seed set. The untreated Kirwan barley plots came in at a growth rating of 6.25. Every Calcium Advance treatment lifted that number, but not all lifts are created equal.
Simply dribbling Calcium Advance on top of the soil pushed the barley rating to 7.75 – a handy gain, but with only four reps it didn’t clear the bar for statistical significance. Get it next to the seed, though, and we see a different result. Fanned next to the seed, Kirwan barley jumped to 8.75 – a genuine, statistically significant result (p = 0.02). Dribbled next to the seed wasn’t far behind at 8.5, also significant (p = 0.037).
That’s the difference between “looks promising” to “I’ll give that a go.” Two placements next to the seed, two significant results in this barley trial. The surface application, sitting furthest from the root zone where acidity does its damage, simply couldn’t match it.
We also ran Calciprill 360 alongside as a comparison – a solid 7.5, better than nothing, but well short of Calcium Advance placed tight to the seed. Which is also where you would like to place Aquifer.
The lesson for barley growers on acidic country: don’t place Calcium Advance on the surface hoping it’ll find its way down. You need to get it next to the seed – fanned or dribbled with your liquid system, either works – and let an acid-tolerant line like Kirwan do the rest. Placement is the whole game.
Trial Results
Table 1. Kirwan (acid-tolerant) barley growth plot ratings by treatment. Significance from Dunnett’s test vs. the untreated control (p < 0.05).
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