Neglect to apply the required nutrient-providing fertiliser in any kind of crop production, and you will have weak growth and yield, as well as heightened susceptibility to pests and disease.
The following offers some pointers on how to ensure that your plants absorb enough minerals to thrive.
• Lay down the basics
For a good harvest, two categories of plant nutrients, namely macronutrients and micronutrients, are required. The former, which are needed in relatively large amounts, are further divided into primary and secondary groups based on their importance. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are the primary nutrients widely available in mineral fertiliser. The secondary macronutrients are magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca) and sulphur (S).
One of the reasons that smallholder farmers generally fail to achieve the yields obtained by commercial farmers is that they do not have access to optimal amounts of macronutrients.
NUTRIENT REQUIREMENTS
Micronutrients are required in only small amounts, and are less likely to result in crops displaying deficiencies if they are unavailable in the soil. They include iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), boron (B), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and molybdenum (Mb).
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 06, 2019-Ausgabe von Farmer's Weekly.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 06, 2019-Ausgabe von Farmer's Weekly.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
A Karoo-farm holiday for the family or business traveller
This is the ideal Karoo-farm stopover between the Western Cape and Gauteng,
Toyota 48V: hybrid heavyweights in a changing world
Toyota's global mandate to lower overall emissions via a multi-technology approach sees the venerable Hilux and popular Fortuner packages receive their timely respective doses of hybridisation. By CAR.
Promising new cultivars on show at sorghum demonstration day
Magda du Toit recently attended a sorghum cultivar demonstration day and takes a look at the exciting new products making their way onto the market.
The basics of sheep shearing
Sheep shearing is a specialised skill, but with adequate training, anyone can learn how to effectively and efficiently shear a sheep,
Healthy soils lead to healthy plants and animals
Dr Louis du Pisani shed light on why biodiversity is important, and its impact on soil, plant and animal health at the World Veterinary Association Congress held in Cape Town.
'SA's water crisis could turn into a human catastrophe'
Abysmal management has left South Africa's water and wastewater infrastructure in a severely compromised position, Lambert de Klerk, manager of Environmental Affairs at AfriForum
Uganda gives a helping hand to Zambia with 500 000t maize pledge
Drought-stricken Zambia has reached out for more international assistance as the situation, the worst in 40 years, deteriorates in the African country
Shearing shed handover to wool growers
Shearing sheep made just a little easier for Eastern Cape farmers with donation,
Top agriculture students taken on by department
Twenty of the top achievers from the Cedara and Owen Sitole colleges of agriculture in KwaZulu-Natal officially received letters of appointment and signed two-year contracts under the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Unemployed Agriculture Graduates Youth Programme.
African leaders vow to tackle soil health ills to bolster food production
African Union leaders spoke as one voice at a recent fertiliser and soil health summit, pledging to take measures to improve Africa's soil quality