Advancing Modern Wheat Nutrition to Sustain Both Yield and the Economics of Production

There have been almost no significant advances in wheat nutrition since the start of the new century. There has been almost no work to examine the interactions, both agronomic and economic, that may be occurring with the use of a more integrated multi-nutritional element wheat nutrient management program. We propose a field research project that would look for, and then examine (both agronomics and economics), possible interactions between N, sulfur (S) and micronutrients [especially boron (B) and zinc (Zn)]. Nitrogen can drive root exploration – does that mean S and the micros are less likely to be beneficial at higher N rates? What are the economic impacts to the program if one of the nutrient additions fails, diminishing returns to the program? The proposed study design calls for 4 rates of N (probably 40, 80, 120 and 160 lb N/acre), 2 rates of S (0 and 10 lb S/acre), and 2 rates of the micronutrient ‘package’ (0 and recommended) – the complete factorial needed to find any possible interaction. We would have a minimum of four locations within Kentucky’s wheat production regions in order to give more information and reliability. Besides yield, we would also do plant tissue analysis and submit selected composite samples for wheat quality assessment.