Improvement of Winter Wheat Mineral Nutrition on Calcareous Common Chernozems

A K omission plot demonstration trial in winter wheat was initiated in fall 2012. It is a one-season demonstration experiment conducted on farmer’s field (Egorlyk District, Rostov Oblast, Southern Russia) in one replication to show the effects of K fertilization to growers in the region, who normally skip K fertilization. Two fertilizer treatments were studied: N₄₀P₂₆ (farmer practice) and N₄₀P₂₆K₄₀. Plot size is about 19.5 ha. Winter wheat was grown after sunflower. The variability of soil fertility parameters is also being studied in this project, including nitrate N, Olsen P, exchangeable K, P, and K extracted using routine extraction with (NH₄)₂CO₃ solution. Results from this trial (initial soil fertility parameters and winter wheat grain yield) will be due in the end of summer 2013. IPNI-32