Soil specialist shares tips for growing wheat
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Recently, I asked Clain Jones, extension soil fertility specialist, “What management practices can wheat producers use to increase wheat grain protein?” Much of his response covers Montana and can be applied by growers in Lake County.
Crop and fertilizer management practices can increase wheat grain protein without sacrificing yield. Growing wheat with high grain protein begins with selecting the appropriate variety and providing enough fertilizer to meet the wheat’s requirement for growth and grain yield. If nutrient levels are sufficient to meet yield goals, then providing adequate available nitrogen may be the most important factor to produce high grain protein.
Using cultural practices or adding other nutrients to increase yield without adding additional nitrogen can reduce, rather than increase, protein through a dilution effect. Applying the entire nitrogen required for high yield and grain protein before or at seeding is risky. In low rainfall years, excess nitrogen applied early will not get used and may end up in the air or well water rather than in the wheat. Residual soil nitrate can become fertilizer dollars lost to leaching if followed by a wet winter and spring. In irrigated production, applying the entire necessary nitrogen early in the season can produce excess vegetation rather than grain yield or protein.
Base pre-plant nitrogen rates on realistic yield potential and residual soil nitrate. The MSU small grains nitrogen economic calculator http://www.montana.edu/softwaredownloads/software/SWFertilizerEconomics.swf helps calculate economically optimal, soil nitrate-nitrogen, soil organic matter, wheat prices, protein discounts/premiums and nitrogen fertilizer cost. The calculator also shows the effect of nitrogen rate on expected grain protein content.
Protein may get the highest boost with nitrogen applied at flowering. However, the ability to incorporate fertilizer applied anytime between boot and shortly after flowering, with rainfall or irrigation, is more important than timing the application exactly at flowering. The decision to apply mid-to-late season nitrogen to increase protein should be based on the ability to apply nitrogen without severely damaging the crop, the potential protein response to late-season nitrogen and whether protein discounts are sufficiently high to justify the cost.
For more information, see MSU publication “Practices to Increase Wheat Grain protein”, available online at http://landresources.montana.edu/soilfertility/publications.html. For printed copies, contact MSU Lake County Extension at (406) 676-4271.
