Plant Tissue Analysis of Agronomic Crops in the Midwestern US: Industry Perspective.

Producers and Crop Advisors are looking for new tools to help make decisions and increase production. Plant nutrition is a key to optimizing crop yield.  Plant analyses can be useful in diagnosing nutrient problems, identifying hidden hunger, and determining whether current fertility programs are adequate. This led WinField ^TM Solutions to develop the NutriSolutions® Tool from AgriSolutions ^TM.  In 2008 WinField ^TM began working with 5 dealers in the Corn Belt and has since expanded across North America. Since that pilot project 66,097 corn (Zea maize L) tissue analyses have been processed and interpreted (28,054 in 2010 and 38,043 in 2011). These samples were collected at multiple stages of crop growth. The goal of this program was to identify hidden hunger so they were often taken in areas of the field that did not show visual deficiency symptoms.  All stages of growth were sampled with multiple samples taken per field.  In an attempt to better evaluate a grower’s current fertility program, using the NutriSolutions® Tool is recommended. Samples are recommended to be taken at V4/V5, V8/V9, VT/R1 and R4/R5.The NutriSolutions® system includes an iPhone/Android application, sample bags, analysis provided by approved laboratories and the results presented in a NutriSolutions® report that can be shared with the producers. The NutriSolutions® system is based upon results obtained from replicated trials with tissue samples from over 185 Answer Plot ® locations in North America. The interpretation of the tissue sample analyses is based upon those found in Plant Analysis Handbook II (H.A. Mills and J.B. Jones), Plant Analysis: an interpretation manual (D.J. Reuter and J.B. Robinson) and WinField ^TM research results. The process and results of dealers and growers using the NutriSolutions® Tool from AgriSolutions ^TM  will be discussed.