James Fairbairn is tissue testing all his arable crops to supplement minor nutrients when they are needed and so he harvests more consistent yields on his Northumberland farm.

On his light, “hungry” soils he has reduced the wild swings in yield often seen after droughty springs, and is seeing average wheat yields close to 10t/ha and oilseed rape crops harvesting up to 4.5t/ha.

Crop nutrition experts say winter wheat growers can typically see up to a 0.5t/ha increase in yield from tissue testing, and while Mr Fairbairn has not run yield trials on his farm, he is clear about the benefits.

See also: How Berks wheat grower increased his yields by 20%

“It is best to pick up nutrient deficiencies before we see them in the crop, and on our hungry, light soils, yields are now more consistent,” he tells Farmers Weekly.

Nutrient shortfalls

Tissue testing involves taking crop leaf samples in the spring and sending them off to a laboratory to check for any micronutrient shortfalls, and then a grower can feed crops with any required extra nutrients, which are often mixed into a planned fungicide spray.

On such light land, Mr Fairbairn has long known that his cereal crops need manganese, but has discovered more “unknown” deficiencies such as zinc and boron, and he has now expanded tissue testing across all his arable crops.

“Yields are now more consistent, especially in a droughty season, as the micronutrients help give a more even crop,” he says.

Mr Fairbairn and his father, John, farm 325ha of arable cropping at Whitton Hill Farm, near Milfield, five miles north-west of Wooler and close to the Scottish Border at Coldstream.

In their six-year rotation, they are growing three crops of first winter wheats interspersed by crops of oilseed rape, winter beans and spring oats.

Wheat varieties

Winter wheat varieties such as the biscuit maker Firefly and soft-milling feed variety Skycraper are grown, and manganese is added as routine in a T0 rust-based fungicide spray on his light land.

Typically, two tissue tests on winter wheat crops are undertaken, at the pre-T1 and pre-T2 fungicide timings, although he has done a third in some years at the two- to three-leaf stage, or around T1.5. Each test costs about £33/sample.

The first tissue test is undertaken when the wheat crop starts growing rapidly in the spring in mid-April ahead of the T1 fungicide spray timing in late April/early May, and the second test is conducted in mid-May ahead of the T2 flag-leaf spray later that month.

Typically, he is adding copper, zinc and boron as well as manganese into both the T1 and the T2 wheat fungicide tank mix, and points out that boron is seen as key to encourage good flowering.

Overall, the cost of the micronutrients on his winter wheat is about £15/ha for the two, and sometimes three, applications he makes through the season.

Rapeseed testing

For oilseed rape, he has been tissue testing in the autumn and then at early stem extension in the spring, and typically is adding boron and molybdenum into two spray applications to achieve his average yields of 4-4.5t/ha.

His spring oat crops show an average yield of 6.5-7t/ha, and generally need copper and manganese applied to a crop destined for oat miller Quaker.

He has recently introduced winter beans into the rotation and grows the variety Tundra for human consumption, and this crop often needs boron and manganese.

“All the crops need nutrition and if they cannot get that from the soil then we need to apply nutrients to keep them healthy,” he adds.

Nutrient testing lead to yield increase 

Results from tissue testing can be back on a farm in a matter of days, and can result in yield increases of up to 0.5t/ha in winter wheat crops.

Jon Telfer, analytical services development manager at fertiliser and micronutrient supplier Yara, says his group has seen a big increase in the use of tissue testing by farmers to refine their crop nutrition.

“It is not unusual to see a 0.5t/ha upturn in yields from a tailored micronutrient approach in winter wheat crops,” he says.

Mr Telfer points out that if crop samples are taken on a Monday and sent first-class post to his laboratory in Pocklington, on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, then results can be back on the farm in a few days.

“Sample crops on a Monday, then growers can be spraying by Thursday,” he says.

Taking a sample 

He suggests a sample should contain leaves from 20-25 plants, with agronomists or growers taking the sample by walking in a W-pattern across a field.

One sample can cost £25-£35, and one should be taken for about every 5ha of ground.

This puts the cost at about £6/ha for one set of samples, which could be repeated one to two more times in the season for similar costs.

© MAG/David Jones

Micronutrient costs typically can be £3-£30/ha for the full season.

Therefore, taking two tissue tests at pre-T1 and pre-T2 and with, say, £15/ha spent on micronutrients, this would cost a total of £27/ha, with no extra sprayer costs if the micronutrients are added to T1 and T2 fungicide sprays.

“The testing gives us an early indication of the crop’s health so we are not firefighting, and nutrients are sufficient and not in deficit,” he says.

Routine testing

Natalie Wood, the company’s country arable agronomist, says that more growers are conducting pre-T1 and pre-T2 tissue tests as routine rather than troubleshooting when they see a problem.

The main micronutrients added are typically manganese, magnesium and boron for cereal crops.

Anthony Westcott, a fertiliser sales adviser with the group, adds that tissue testing has become more popular due to more extreme weather being witnessed, such dry springs, and also weak phosphate availability in some crops, which can be easily rectified in a tank mix.

Typically, he is seeing yield increases of 0.3-0.4t/ha in cereal crops on farms which he visits, and up to 0.5t/ha in some cases.

Mr Telfer points out that tissue testing is part of a three-pronged approach to crop nutrition, starting with soil samples being taken in the early spring for analysing, which helps to set up a fertiliser regime for the major nutrients of nitrogen, phosphate, potash and sulphur.

Second, tissue tests can refine micronutrients levels throughout the growing season, and then third, an “end of term” grain sample report from the harvest, which can alert growers to nutrient deficiencies for the following season. This grain sample test looks for 12 macro and micronutrients.