It’s Time…For the Next Generation of Phosphate Fertilizer — RhizoSorb®
The Agriculture Technology Revolution
Agriculture has undergone a dramatic transformation. The last 50 years has seen several key advancements in biotechnology, improved plant breeding, high-speed planting, guidance systems, better tillage practices, precision placement and variable rate fertilizer applications, crop protection advancements, powerful machinery, and increased on-farm grain storage. Everything has changed.
So what hasn’t received a significant upgrade? Nutrient management. And more specifically, the methodology behind how we manage phosphate fertilizer.
It’s time for phosphate management to catch up.
Traditional Phosphate Methodology is Outdated
As little as 10% of applied phosphorus gets utilized by the crop in the year of application. Much of the way we’ve historically thought about phosphorus application in agriculture doesn’t account for this.
Hunter Swisher, founder and CEO of Phospholutions, says the guidance farmers have received is out of date with what we now know about soil science and how phosphorus acts in the soil.
“University extension recommendations has resulted in some farmers overapplying phosphorus for decades because it was believed that it will be there when you need it. The reality is that is not really true,” says Swisher.
Phosphate 101
- Plants can only pull phosphate from the soil when it is dissolved in solution.
- Less than 3% of phosphate is dissolved in solution at any given time.
- Soil tests look at total phosphorus in the soil and total plant extractible phosphorus which does not accurately predict the amount of phosphorus actually released in the soil throughout the growing season.
Swisher explains that it’s true that most phosphorus stays in the soil, but it doesn’t mean it is available.
“Soil tests can be misleading. The test may tell you the quantity that’s there and theoretically extractable, but it doesn’t tell you the likelihood or intensity of the soil to release it,” says Swisher. “Soil releases phosphate very inefficiently and not necessarily based on plant needs.”
Phosphate reacts one of three ways in the soil.
- It dissolves in solution and binds to the soil, with a portion being irreversibly bound to soil particles.
- It precipitates out after reacting with an ion and forms a rock-like mineral that is difficult for the plant to break down.
- It is converted to organic forms in the soil that are not available for plant use.
Swisher says when you consider these phosphate reactions in the soil, only a small portion of the phosphate we apply actually gets taken up by the crop in the year of application.
“When farmers get a big rain event, and soil runs off the farm, there goes some of the phosphorus bound to the soil,” says Swisher. “When water runs off the surface, there goes some of the dissolved phosphate that would be available for plant uptake.”
Phosphate Tie-Up and Runoff
Taylor Strehl, Phospholutions Technical Agronomist, explains how phosphorus gets away from us at two ends of the spectrum. At one end of the spectrum, phosphorus can get tied-up with other minerals like calcium and iron and not be available to the plant. On the other end of the spectrum, phosphorus can dissolve in water and run-off a grower’s field.
RhizoSorb stores phosphate ions on its surface in a way that the plant can access it, but it’s not directly available in solution where phosphate is either runoff or tied up in the soil in inefficient ways,” says Strehl. “This ensures we can get more of what phosphate is applied into the plant and therefore enable growers to apply less without compromising yield. That’s the heart of what we are doing at Phospholutions. It’s all about efficiency.”
RhizoSorb®: The Next Generation in Phosphate Fertilizer
There’s never been a better time to switch to RhizoSorb, a new technology from Phospholutions that promises to revolutionize phosphorus use in agriculture.
RhizoSorb, 8-39-0, is the next generation of phosphorus fertilizer — a complete replacement for MAP/DAP while being 50 percent more efficient, allowing farmers to use less while maintaining or exceeding yield compared to conventional sources. Growers looking to maximize return on investment from fertilizer applications are attracted to saving on input costs and providing crops with a source of phosphorus the crop can use all season.
How RhizoSorb® Works
RhizoSorb technology is incorporated during production of commodity phosphate sources to preload the nutrient onto the surface of the product. RhizoSorb has a specific mechanism for releasing phosphate that aligns more with plant needs than environmental conditions.
A concentration gradient is established between the surface of the RhizoSorb material and the soil solution where phosphate is dissolved. Every time the plant removes a unit of phosphate from the solution, the concentration gradient shifts to release a unit of phosphate from RhizoSorb into the solution to reestablish equilibrium and replenish what was taken up.
Swisher says this process results in a new and novel mode of action for controlling fertilizer availability referred to as buffered release.
“As the plant needs more, RhizoSorb releases more. We get a much higher percentage of what is applied up into the crop,” says Swisher. “It allows us to apply as much as 50% less phosphate and still get the same or greater yield.”
Proven Results from On-Farm and Small-Plot Trials
While farmers have been told for decades to build up their phosphorus “bank”, the farmers Strehl works with, as Phospholutions Technical Agronomist, are starting to ask more questions.
“I think farmers are starting to scratch their heads and ask, why am I putting extra nutrients into my soil if I won’t easily get them back out throughout the growing season? Especially if I’m not going to get my money completely back out of my soil and there are negative environmental effects,” says Strehl.
Strehl says more and more farmers are seeing the need to make a change in phosphate management, and Phospholutions’ small-plot and on-farm trials validate the efficacy of using RhizoSorb.
With almost 30 years of academic research at Penn State University, RhizoSorb has been proven to preserve yields with up to 50% less applied phosphorus in corn and soybeans in small plot and on-farm tiral trials.
In on-farm trials, RhizoSorb has been tested across 16 states with 4 years of trial data, which demonstrates a 10% cost savings to growers.
RhizoSorb’s proven results can give farmers confidence that they can make the switch to RhizoSorb to save money on input costs and minimize the impact excess phosphorus can have environmentally. It’s a win-win.
Phosphate Fertilizer’s Technology Leap is Here
Growers seeking a greater return on investment for fertilizer with the latest technologies for nutrient management are switching from MAP/DAP to RhizoSorb.
Farmers aren’t driving the same tractor their grandfathers did in 1960, yet they may still be using the same dry fertilizer source. It’s time dry fertilizer caught up with the times. RhizoSorb is changing the way we think about nutrient management. It’s time to start using phosphorus fertilizers that don’t require years of soil build up to meet the fertility need of the crop.
For more information visit, www.phospholutions.com