Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (May 16, 1963)
MICRONUTRIENTS ~tLt 0O4J toft uie&L be/iAuiuLeti Heavy yields, year after year, may lx* causing you big trouble even though you have seemingly been using adequate rate* of fertilizer. If your com, and other crops, don't seem to re spond to high rates of fertilizer any more like they should, tlx* trouble may well be MICRONUTRIENT DEFICIENCY In a recent nationwide survey among state experiment sta tions, virtually all states reported micronutrient shortages Boron deficiency was the most widespread, being deficient in 41 states. Thirty-eight states reported boron deficiency' was seriously cutting their alfalfa yields Other micronutrients which are known to be deficient in some soils are copper, iron, manganese, molylxlenum and zinc. Recognition of zinc deficiency in com is recent in many states, which further suggests the need for applying micronutrient elements as yields are steppes! up. What approach to the problem can yon take? Get assistance from your county extension specialist who can obtain help from the state agricultural experiment station in diagnosing your problem. You can start in the early stages of crop growth . . . the signs will already be there and there’ll still be time to take some corrective measures. If only part of your field shows signs of micronutrient defici ency (less growth, yellowing of plants or even death in some cases) you will need to obtain samples of the plants from the troubled areas, as well as samples from the more normal areas. Foliage tests can be run on both for comparison. How ever, some state experiment stations are not equipped to run tests for all micronutrients. Probably the best micronutrient tests can be run by you . . . right on your own farm, using test strips of single miero nutrients either on the soil, or as a foliage spray. It must l>e pointed out, however, that regular amounts of nitrogen phosphate-potash fertilizers should be used in both your control strips and the trace element application areas. This may seem like a lot of trouble, but it may prove highly profitable. In Nebraska a recommendation for the application of 10 to 20 pounds of zinc is made whenever topsoil is re moved in the process of leveling land for irrigation or building terraces. This practice has resulted in the difference between farmers obtaining no crop when not treated and 75 to 100 bushels of com when treated. Considering that zinc can be purchased for as low as 40 to 45 cents per pound of metal and that the cost of com production runs about 100 times that amount whether or not a single bushel is produced, there’s a tremendous return on the investment. In iron deficient fields in eastern Nebraska 50 cents worth of iron sprayed on foliage has doubled the yield of soybeans from 12 to 24 bushels. Sometimes micronutrient deficiencies do not occur until higher yield levels are reached. In Wisconsin, for example, zinc and copper were sufficient for corn at a 100-bushel level. Increasing the major nutrient level (N-P-K) upped the yield another 25 bushels . . . but the addition of 2 pounds of copper oxide and 10 pounds of zinc sulfate further increased the yield by 16 bushels. A word of warning ... be careful not to put on more micro nutrients than recommended . . . nor should you put micro nutrients cm indiscriminately. Yields have sometimes been de pressed rather than helped under these conditions. It's best to get the recommended rates from your state experiment sta tion, or commercial companies who specialize in such matters. Many commercial fertilizer manufacturers add micronu trients to their regular grades. Usually this does not supply enough micronutrients to correct visable micronutrient defici encies, but when scientifically added to N-P-K fertilizers to fit the area and crop, the yield difference is often startling ... if nothing else it at least helps maintain the storehouse of micro nutrients in the soil. Fight scours from both sides of the infection with Terramycin Scours Tablets How do you know where the trouble is when germs first hit? In the gut where scours start ... or the blood where pneumonia and other diseases spread ... or both? You don't! That’s why you should always use Terramydn Scours Tablets to save your calves. It works both ways—in the gut and in the blood. Most other antibiotics and nitrofurans sold in farm stores today work only in the gut; of the few that do get into the blood, none matches Terramydn’s long-lasting broad-spectrum power. They break down more rapidly or are inacti vated more (tied up) by proteins or calcium in the blood. That’s why Terramycin gives you high, long-lasting blood levels without injection to fight diseases throughout the body . . . not just the gut alone. See why Terramycin Scours Tablets are the larg est selling antibiotic tablets. Because you don’t have to bet your calf’s life with half-right treat ments . . . Terramycin works both ways—in the gut and in the blood. Science for the world'm well-being* Chaa. Pfizer & Co., Inc., New York 17, N. Y. _
