Boosting nitrogen fixation in pea crops
Peas are a valuable food crop. They contain easily digestible proteins and are used in preparing many dishes. Unlike other legumes, they contain no ingredients harmful to human health. In wartime they can, to some extent, be a cheap substitute for animal protein.
According to statistics, about 125 thousand hectares of peas were sown this year in the controlled territories. This is much less than in past years, so it is important to do everything to obtain the maximum yield.
In the technology of growing this crop at least two problems can be addressed by fertilization: strengthening symbiotic nitrogen fixation (biological nitrogen) and reducing the harm from diseases, especially root rots.
In the terminology of agrochemists, «biological nitrogen» is nitrogen bound into compounds from the atmosphere, more precisely from the soil air present in the root layer. For the productive work of nodule bacteria colonies plants must be supplied with molybdenum. In fighting root rots, phosphorus in the form of phosphite is effective. Before flowering and at the start of grain filling there is an increased need for a complex of microelements.
What do we recommend?
The plants now have two or more true leaves, so nitrogen fixation has begun. Therefore foliar feeding with the tank mixture ECOLINE Molybdenum (Complex) 1.0 l/ha + ECOLINE Phosphite (K) 1.0–1.5 l/ha should be carried out.
During flowering – the start of grain formation we recommend the tank mixture ECOLINE Boron (Opti) 1.0 l/ha + ECOLINE Legume (Chelates) 1.5 l/ha.
