Bio-Forge Seed Dressing Canola Trial

Assessing Bio-Forge and Zinc Chelate used as a seed treatment on the establishment and yield of a canola crop.

Dumbleyung, WA, 2017

Summary

This trial was established on David Gray’s AgroAdvantage trial site near Dumbleyung, WesternAustralia. The purpose of the trial is to compare and demonstrate to the DavidGray’s extended network the efficacy of using Stoller’s Bio-Forge and Zinc Chelate asa seed treatment on a canola crop.

The aim of the field trial is to determine whether thedifferent treatments result in differences in initial emergence andestablishment and subsequent yield.

Stoller’s Bio-Forgeis a nutrient formulation aimed at ensuring healthy crop growth and supportparticularly during periods of stress conditions. The Di-formylurea andnutrient package in Bio-Forgeregulates the stress hormones within a plant to reduce the adverse effects ofdrought, frost, water logging and disease. It has also been reported that Zincaids the tolerance of stress. Stoller’s Bio-Forgeand Zinc Chelate form part ofStoller’s stress program.

Initial observations of emergence and establishment werepositive, showing significantly better results in the Bio-Forge/Zinc treated plots. The final yield results also show aslight, albeit statistically insignificant, increase in yield between theuntreated and Bio-Forge/Zinc treatedplots. The results of this trial provide encouraging results for future use of Bio-Forge/Zinc in this manner.

Methodology

Materials

Stoller’s Bio-Forge
2.5% Total N (Di-formylurea), 3% Soluble K (Potassium Hydroxide), 0.25% Cobalt (Cobalt Sulphate), 0.35% Molybdenum (Sodium Molybdate)
Stoller’s Zinc Chelate
11% Zinc (Zinc Sulphate), 5% Sulphur (Phenolic Acid Chelate)

Treatment List

Tmt No. Product Rate (L/ton) 1 Untreated - 2 Zinc 10 3 Bio-Forge & Zinc 2.5 & 10

Trial Layout

Experimental Design

Design: Commercial Demonstration Replications: 3 Plot length: 38m Plot Width: 4m

Site, Crop and Application Details

Assessment Methods

Assessment Date: Assessment 24/05/2017 Plant Counts & Photographs 26/05/2017 Visual Assessments 06/06/2017 Root Assessment & Photographs 20/11/2017 Yield

Data Analysis

All data analysis in this report was conducted using Microsoft Excel. Simple means, analysis of variance and the student t-test were used to determine statistical significance using the least significant difference method with a 95% confidence interval.

Results

Establishment and Emergence

Figure 1 shows both Zinc and Bio-Forge/Zinc treatments exhibit better establishment than theuntreated plots. Plant counts were taken from representative parts of eachplot. Bare patches were avoided in the sampling, although in hindsight it wouldhave been more representative to include those bare patches as the untreatedhad a greater area of poor establishment.

There is an observable difference between establishments in areas where a previous season’s windrow was burnt. This is evidenced in the Figures 5, 6 and 7 in the Appendix. Where a windrow has been burnt and thus the stubble removed the soil moisture and biological activity is greatly reduced. The Bio-Forge/Zinc treatment appears to have improved the establishment in such marginal areas.

Root Assessment

Figure 2: Root development of three treatments of Canola plants at 42 days after sowing

Bio-Forge/Zinc treated canola shows increased root mass development in Figure 5 above. Foliar biomass also appears to be slightly improved in the Bio-Forge/Zinc treatment.

Harvested Yield

Figure 3: Yields of Canola treatments in T/Ha

Figure 3 shows a slight increase in yield of the Bio-Forge/Zinc treated canola plots overthe Control and Zinc treatments whichdo not appear different from each other.

Conclusion

The visual assessments and observations of emergence andestablishment show a clear improvement in the plots treated with Bio-Forge and Zinc. This is particularly obvious on the more marginal areas ofthe burnt windrows. Stoller’s Bio-Forge andZinc Chelate formulations aredesigned to support plants under stress conditions and this appears to havebeen the case. The early season (pre- and post-sowing) was particularly dry,however establishment was observed to be good in the treated plots. Later inthe growing season conditions eased with regular rain until harvest, as shownin Figure 4.

The statistical power of the trial is limited by its lownumber of repetitions as well as adjustments that had to be made to the datapost-harvest. It was noted that after the site had been harvested there wereslight variations in number of rows harvested by the harvester. (Non GPSseeding) Subsequent adjustments had to be made to the raw data in order toallow for these differences. Although this trial’s statistical power is limitedand results of the ANOVA statistical test show no significant difference inyield, there does appear to be a general and overall improvement in theemergence, establishment and yield of the canola plots treated with Stoller’s Bio-Forge and Zinc Chelate. The soft finish of the growing season is also likelyto have diminished some of the expected gains in yield of the Bio-Forge treatedplots. The Bio-Forge and Zinc treatment is a relatively inexpensive one and onthe results of this trial, the return on investment (ROI) was $115/Ha. Underideal conditions to the start of a season (2016) the benefits of usingBio-Forge will be negated, however it’s a cheap insurance policy for harshstarts such as experienced in 2017, with potentially significant reward.

Appendices

Rainfall

Photos

Figure 5: Emergence of canola over a burnt windrow area showing both Bio-Forge and untreated plots

Figure 6: Reduced emergence across the burnt windrow area on an untreated plot

Figure 7: Emergence of canola across a burnt windrow area on a Bio-Forge treated plot.

For full quality images and videos please follow the below Dropbox link:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tgworgtgz1isrwf/AAADCXYygBQs7LcS31Pn9ZHVa?dl=0