In a recent ADAS survey (Jan 2020), examining the differences between liquid and solid nitrogen fertilisers, 28% of farms used solid, 21% used liquid and 51% used a combination of both solid and liquid

By Omex

In a recent ADAS survey (Jan 2020), examining the differences between liquid and solid nitrogen fertilisers, 28% of farms used solid, 21% used liquid and 51% used a combination of both solid and liquid.

It seems the switch from solid to liquid is continuing and the most widely used liquid supplier from the survey was OMEX Agriculture.

Although the survey found no yield difference between product type, the factors that were scored most highly by liquid users were accuracy of application, product consistency, logistics, simpler storage, payments terms, no offloading, avoiding striping, ease of application rate control, accuracy of sulphur application, nitrogen use efficiency and field margin accuracy.

Gauging user feedback, it seems that the fact that there is no need to offload or store deliveries and dispose of packing is a significant driver for the decision to ‘go liquid.

In the field, the continued move to wider tramlines is placing a higher emphasis on accuracy across the full width, regardless of weather conditions. However, its at the field margins that the application accuracy of liquids seems to provide the greatest potential benefit.

A more recent ADAS survey, published in March, comparing the yield of wheat crops in the outside combine header with the adjacent header showed an average yield loss of 0.85 t/ha, comparing solid nitrogen with liquid. The report concludes that the use of liquid nitrogen resulted in a field yield increase of between 0.5-1.0 tonnes winter wheat, depending on field size and shape, due to the accuracy of application at the field margin.

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