Western Region Nutrient Management Coordinating Committee (WERA-103)

In major barley-producing regions of the western United States and Great Plains, nitrogen (N) guidelines for spring malt and feed barley include both soil N and fertilizer N, commonly referred to as N supply. However, the recent development of hull-less, high-fiber barley cultivars has resulted in a lack of specific N management practices. This article presents research from southern Idaho on N management for two-row spring hull-less barley under irrigated high-yielding semi-arid conditions in an effort to establish appropriate N supply rates for hull-less food barley producers. Earn 0.5 CEUs in Nutrient Management by reading the article and taking the quiz. This article was prepared as a contribution of the Western Region Nutrient Management Coordinating Committee (WERA-103).

Phosphorus (P) losses from agricultural land in the Prairie Pothole Region of Canada are dominated by P dissolved in snowmelt runoff water. This article presents a study showing that slope was not a major driver of P losses in snowmelt runoff. Earn 0.5 CEUs in Soil & Water Management by taking the quiz for the article. This article was prepared as a contribution of the Western Region Nutrient Management Coordinating Committee (WERA-103).

There is a substantial pool of mineral nutrients contained in wheat residue, concentrated in K, which has substantial economic value. Given this value, it is important for wheat producers to weigh the relative benefits of residue harvest, which gives immediate but marginal revenue gains, and residue retention, which has multifaceted benefits that include substantial savings on future nutrient costs. Persistent removal of nutrients from agronomic systems through residue harvest affects soil nutrient availability in the short- and long-term, and the timing and magnitude of these changes will depend on the cropping system and soil. Earn 1 CEU in Nutrient Management by reading the article and taking the quiz at https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses

This article was prepared as a contribution of the Western Region Nutrient Management Coordinating Committee (WERA-103).

Soil properties and crop yield vary with slope position in hummocky landscapes. Slope position is also readily mapped and thus potentially useful for delineating management zones for variable-rate fertilization (VRF). Slope position was evaluated as a basis for VRF in southern Alberta, Canada. Earn 0.5 CEUs in Nutrient Management by reading the article and taking the quiz at
https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses.

Global market demands for barley are less than cereals such as corn, rice, and wheat, but barley plays a particularly important role in cropping systems in areas of high elevation and/ or latitude with short growing seasons. Estimation of residue nutrient uptake requires both a knowledge of the biomass produced, as well as the concentration of individual nutrients. These factors were evaluated in 2018 and 2019 from trials of four barley classes at five locations in southern Idaho. Earn 0.5 CEUs in Crop Management by reading the article and taking the quiz at https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses. 

The recovery of fertilizer nitrogen by crops in the year of application is usually cited as being about 50%, despite considerable efforts to improve nitrogen efficiencies in agricultural systems. The use of fertilizer additives containing urease and/or nitrification inhibitors may improve fertilizer N efficiency. This was evaluated in four experiments conducted at multiple locations across the Canadian Prairies. Earn 0.5 CEUs in Nutrient Management by reading the article and taking the quiz at https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses. 

Soil acidification, a common issue in high-rainfall areas of the U.S. and Canada, has become a more prevalent problem in the semi-arid areas of the western U.S. Liming is an effective way to mitigate soil acidity as the carbonate reacts with hydrogen ions in the soil solution to increase the soil pH. However, questions exist about the type of liming product, lime rate, cost effectiveness, and how long the lime benefits last, especially in regions that have historically not needed lime, like much of the Great Plains. Earn 0.5 CEUs in Soil & Water Management by reading the article and taking the quiz at https://web.sciencesocieties.org/Learning-Center/Courses.