Front Cover Left to Right
Vance Yaremko, Executive Director, SARDA Ag Research
The Honorable RJ Sigurdson, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation
Simon Lavoie, Chair, SARDA Ag Research
Taken by SARDA Ag Research, June 11, 2024
E.D. Notes
Dear SARDA Ag Research Community,
At SARDA Ag Research, we have completed our seeding despite some delays caused by rain. As we reflect on another productive month, I want to extend our heartfelt thanks to our generous funders, sponsors, and community. We deeply appreciate the unwavering support from the Municipal Districts of Smoky River, Greenview, Big Lakes County, Northern Sunrise County, and the County of Grande Prairie, as well as Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Peace Region Forage Seed Association, Results Driven Agriculture Research, and St. Isidore Co-op. Your steadfast support is the cornerstone of our success, and we are deeply grateful for your continued commitment to our mission.
On June 11, 2024, we had the honor of hosting The Honorable RJ Sigurdson, Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation for the Government of Alberta, at SARDA Ag Research. We extend our sincere thanks to him for taking the time to meet with us. It was a pleasure to give him a tour and showcase the impactful work we are doing. We are particularly grateful that he chose our organization as a stop during his tour of the Peace Region. His keen interest in northern agriculture is encouraging, and we appreciate his commitment to supporting the agricultural community in our region.
I would like to invite all crop producers to our upcoming field days for an insightful and engaging experience. This year, the event is particularly special as it is organized in partnership with the Alberta Canola Producers, Alberta Grain, and Alberta Pulse Growers Commissions. We are also excited to announce that several crop experts will be speaking at the event, providing valuable insights and sharing the latest advancements and practices in our field. We look forward to seeing you there. Please stay tuned for more exciting crop producers’ engagement activities throughout the year.
We are currently seeking a producers’ representative from Grande Prairie to join our board as a director. SARDA Ag Research is dedicated to fostering the
exchange of unbiased ideas and information among research institutions, industry stakeholders, and agricultural producers. This role offers a fantastic opportunity to contribute to the leadership and direction of our initiatives. If you are interested or know someone who might be, please contact our office.
Lastly, I am excited about our collaboration with various research organizations and producers in western Canada and beyond to address the challenges faced by our agricultural community, enhance productivity, and promote sustainable practices. Together, we are pushing the boundaries of agricultural science and innovation.
We look forward to sharing the benefits of these advancements with our community and beyond.
Thank you all for your dedication and support.
Warm regards,
Vance Yaremko Executive Director SARDA Ag Research
Repeated Annual Applications of Fertilizers and Seeding Systems Affect Crops, Soils, and Soil Moisture
Caption: SARDA Ag Research Consultant Kabal Singh Gill says his book Repeated Annual Applications of Fertilizers and Seeding Systems Affect Crops, Soils, and Soil Moisture will help agricultural producers make decisions about which fertilizer to use.
Reprinted from The South Peace News, May 29, 2024 by
Emily Plihal, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A local man has published a book that is sure to help farmers make informed decisions on what fertilizers to use to yield bumper crops.
SARDA Ag Research Consultant Kabal Singh Gill wrote Repeated Annual Applications of Fertilizers and Seeding Systems Affect Crops, Soils, and Soil Moisture, a compilation of research that is sure to help agricultural producers make decisions.
“Fertilizer use is an integral part of current crop
production systems,” says Singh Gill.
“Optimization of fertilizer use is critical for optimum crop production, minimize costs and avoid environmental pollution.
We conducted research on use of commonly used fertilizers based on soil tests to determine their optimum rates for main crops (canola, wheat, and barley) for 6 years.”
He says that compiling the results from years of research in one place was the objective, that it would
facilitate the information availability for producers and other readers.
“Researchers usually hope to write books to provide the knowledge gained during their work to their intended beneficiaries’, agricultural producers and other researchers,” explains Singh Gill.
“Producers will benefit by finding in one source related to various benefits from optimization of fertilizer use for optimum crop production, minimize costs, and avoid environmental pollution.
Also, other researchers will be able to conduct further research for other areas and crops to help the producers.”
The book took more than a year from starting to final publication, and Singh Gill says it is now available for purchase at www.generis-publishing.com.
“The publisher contacted me to write a book on this research,” he explains. “After the publisher read our research articles in journals, they felt a complete book should be compiled.”
The book is based on six years of research on soil tests based on different fertilizer rates each year, repeated on the same soil and under two seeding systems for a canola-cereal (wheat/barley) rotation.
“Objectives were to demonstrate how soil testing can optimize fertilizer use, increase growth, yield, and root proliferation of crops, improve properties and nutrients levels of soil, and enhance soil moisture use by crops,” says Singh Gill.
“Soil testing can help to optimize fertilizer use while enhancing crop production, and consequently minimize environmental pollution.”
Singh Gill started working with SARDA in October 2005. He worked as a full-time consultant until December 2017 and is now working as a part time consultant to write research articles in journals, planning projects and doing presentations.
He says he has been approached by another publisher to write a book on intercropping effects on the production of seed crops and forages.
SARDA Ag Research Happenings
By Shelleen Gerbig, BSA, P.Ag Extension Coordinator
SARDA Ag Research staff are looking forward to a busy, productive season. We have 1500 grain plots in the MD of Smoky River and Big Lakes County and several extension events planned.
Of course, we have the regional variety trials for numerous types of wheat, barley, oats, flax, field peas, and faba beans. In addition, the Lupin grain adaptability trial is in its third year. Other lupin trials include a forage adaptability trial, Lupin P, K, and S fertility trials, and a Lupin seeding rate trial. We officially have the second-largest lupin research facility following Lakeland College.
In addition to the variety trials, we look at wheat fertility, wheat seeding rates, growth regulators and fungicide use, liming, intercropping, industrial hemp seed treatments, and retting. We are involved in the
Peace Region Living Lab projects and will co-host several events this summer.
Our Turfgrass and Forage Seed Research program is fully subscribed with continued work on growth regulators, fertilizers, fungicides, and herbicides on the numerous forage seed crops grown in the Peace Region. Calvin Yoder also has some events planned this summer.
We have hosted three liming workshops, a drone sprayer clinic, and a drone spraying demo and open house this year. Upcoming event flyers are posted following, and further information can be found online at www.sarda.ca/events . Consider subscribing to the newsfeed email found on the home page .
SARDA AG RESEARCH WATER QUALITY SUMMARY –
The following article is derived using excerpts from the 2023 summary report prepared by Aquality Environmental Consulting Ltd for SARDA Ag Research. The information gathered has established a great snapshot of water quality and water quality determinates in the municipalities of Smoky River and Greenview. The summary and conclusions of this article delve deeper into the changes and improvements we have seen in the time we have been collecting the data. It also outlines some practice changes that can be undertaken to further improve water quality in this region. Protecting water quality is vital to protecting aquatic life, wildlife and recreational pursuits of all inhabitants. To read the full report please click here
SARDA Ag Research (SARDA) began a water quality monitoring program in 2011, with the assistance of Aquality Environmental Consulting Ltd (Aquality). SARDA chose sample locations based on their
2023
proximity to agricultural lands, use as drinking water intakes, and their likelihood of exposure to terrestrial inputs. Of the three sites selected, one is more pristine with little upstream agricultural activity (Little Smoky River), one primarily drains areas dominated by livestock-based agricultural activities (New Fish Creek), and one primarily drains areas dominated by cropland (Peavine Creek). Surface water samples were taken from three sites in SARDA’s research area: Peavine Creek, New Fish Creek, and the Little Smoky River.
Preliminary sampling commenced in 2011, with more comprehensive data being collected annually in subsequent years. Semi-annual water sampling continued in 2023 with two sampling events one in late spring (June 13) and the other in the fall (October 31). Both sets of samples collected were analyzed for nutrients, bacteria, herbicides pesticides, and metals.
River Water Quality Index Site Ranking
The modified index considers the number of times a parameter exceeded guidelines and the magnitude of those exceedances, broken down across four categories of parameters:
• Bacteria,
• Metals,
• Nutrients and Related Variables, and
• Pesticides
The water quality index was calculated by season for all sample sites. In 2023, the poorest water quality index value (76%) was observed at site A in the fall, while the best values (100%) were observed at site B and site C in the spring. Overall average values for the year were similar to or greater than the historical averages for each site, and for all sites the WQI value in the fall was poorer than or equal to the value in the spring.
Water quality sub-indices for each of the four parameter groups (Bacteria, Metals, Nutrients & Related Variables, and Pesticides) show a similar pattern. Pesticides were not a problem at any of the sites, while metals, nutrients, and related variables have the greatest detrimental impact to overall values. Historically, water quality showed a general seasonal pattern of improvement from spring to fall; however, in 2023 the pattern shifted and water quality became worse from spring to fall. Site A fell from 85 to 49% for the nutrients and related variables index and all sites fell in the fall for the metals subindex. This pattern matches that observed for TSS and turbidity, which also peaked in the fall at site A.
Summary and Conclusions
SARDA Ag Research has been monitoring water quality at three locations since 2011. The parameters
assessed followed the Province of Alberta guidelines for river water quality and included nutrients, bacteria, metals, and pesticides. This program has assisted in determining the most serious impediments to water quality in Peavine Creek, New Fish Creek, and the Little Smoky River.
In 2023, seasonal and spatial patterns water quality were comparable to historical trends; the overall Water Quality Index was comparable to historical values at all sites. Throughout the entire study to date, water quality has been highest at site C (Little Smoky River, 96.2% overall WQI score), followed by site B (New Fish Creek, 90.1% overall WQI score), then site A (Peavine Creek, 80.4% overall WQI score); this pattern repeated in 2023, though all sites were better than their annual averages. There continue to be no pesticide detections at any of the sampling locations since 2015, with a total of 13 detections from 2011 – 2015, indicating substantial improvement. All of the historical pesticide detections have been for herbicides (Glyphosate, Dicamba, AMPA, MCPA, and Clopyralid). Data on land inputs from the Canada Census of Agriculture do not show trends in herbicide application rates (as total hectares treated), so it is unclear what exact land management practices are driving this decline in detections. However, agricultural practice changes may be responsible for the substantial improvement in pesticide detections including producer education, GPS tracking, yield
Historical Water Quality Index Values, 2011 – 2023.
mapping and sprayer nozzle/surfactant technologies, increased input costs, and greater education on off-target impacts (S. Gerbig, pers. comm.) Clearly, outreach and extension efforts on protecting the environment and promoting sustainable practices by SARDA staff are having a positive impact.
Given that nutrient and metal exceedances are the primary drivers of impaired water quality within these systems, it is clear that particulates within the water column are a key underlying issue for aquatic ecosystem health. Particulate pollutants enter aquatic systems suspended in surface water runoff, from the erosion of banks of water courses, and from erosion of the bed of the watercourse itself. All of these processes occur naturally and contribute to the development and maintenance of the aquatic system. However, they can all be exacerbated through human activities that impact vegetation cover and the amount of exposed or erodible soils within the watershed, as well as the volume and timing of surface water runoff.
The correlation of water quality and landscape position, with poorer water quality generally observed at lower landscape positions in the watershed and in areas of higher development, suggests that human activities are having a substantial impact on the health of these aquatic ecosystems. Within the catchment upstream of site A, approximately 82 % of the land base is under agricultural development, compared to 3 % for site B and <0.1 % for site C. Road development is higher upstream of site A compared to sites B and C (1.1 km/km2 compared to 0.56 and 0.61 km/ km2, respectively), as is the footprint of oil and gas development (1.0 % compared to 0.7 % and 0.6 %, respectively). The primary driver of these patterns of poor water quality appears to be largely suspended sediments present due to in-channel erosion as well as sedimentation from surface runoff. The majority of pollutants of concern including Total Phosphorus, E. coli, Total Coliforms, metals exceedances, and most metal parameters continue to exhibit positive correlations with total suspended solids concentrations.
Particulate pollutants can be mitigated to an extent through the maintenance and restoration of riparian areas, as has been suggested in previous years, as dense riparian vegetation will assist in settling and act as a filter. For areas where particulate-based pollutants
are a primary concern, mitigation should focus on the protection and restoration of riparian areas within areas carrying surface runoff into the watercourses from developed landscapes. The focus on headwater and ephemeral streams should also include areas of the landscape where historical ephemeral flows may have occurred, which now experience accelerated runoff due to grading, channelization, or wetland infilling.
Potential mitigations for erosion and sedimentation around channels include bank stabilization, riparian plantings and setbacks, erosion and sediment control in ditches feeding into watercourses (e.g. at watercourse crossings), and off-site watering of livestock. The restoration of natural flow patterns to channelized streams and the restoration of ditched or filled wetland areas is also likely to have substantial benefit, especially in areas of extensive historical recontouring. The restoration of these areas serves to slow flows and allow particulates to settle out of the water column and allow groundwater recharge. Mitigation of dissolved pollutants (e.g. nitrate and total dissolved phosphorus) requires that flows be slowed to allow infiltration and uptake by plants, breakdown by soil microbes, or immobilization by adsorption onto soil particles. During the spring when vegetation is limited, the efficacy of dissolved pollutant removal by riparian vegetation is substantially reduced; therefore, management of dissolved pollutants by identifying sources and preventing application in the first place is generally more effective.
For areas where dissolved pollutants are a primary concern, the source of the pollutants needs to be identified prior to determining appropriate mitigations. Wetlands may be effective at retaining dissolved pollutants and preventing them from entering watercourses, where the source is through surface runoff and overland flow, such as application of soluble fertilizers or run-off from pastures or confined feeding operations. However, where dissolved pollutants are directly entering a watercourse through wastewater or stormwater releases via an outfall, then controls such as additional treatment or polishing wetlands are required to remove them. Further landscape studies can be undertaken to address these issues and improve watershed health.
Nitrogen fertilizer source and rate strategy to increase wheat grain yield and protein content
by Surendra Bhattarai, Shelleen Gerbig, Megan Allard SARDA Ag Research, Donnelly, AB, T0H 1G0
This project was partly funded by Results Driven Agriculture Research (RDAR)
Background:
Wheat is one of the most important staple food crops for more than a third of the global population. Improvements in wheat production are crucial, requiring not just increased grain yield to satisfy the needs of an expanding population, but also advancements in grain quality, specifically regarding protein content (Shewry, 2007). The difficulty lies in the complex task of simultaneously boosting both grain yield and protein content, given their negative correlation (Bogard et al., 2010). Consequently, this presents a critical scientific challenge in intensive wheat production.
Nitrogen is one of the important factors that affecting the yield and quality of wheat. Insufficient nitrogen fertilizer leads to decreased wheat yield and quality, while excessive application reduces nitrogen use efficiency in wheat, causing environmental pollution. Given the significant effect of nitrogen fertilizer in improving wheat yield, the current focus in research is on determining source and rate of nitrogen fertilizer for improved yield and quality simultaneously. Wheat grain yield and protein content are affected by various management practices, such as nitrogen fertilizer management, irrigation, and tillage practice among which the nitrogen fertilizer has the strongest effect on wheat grain yield and protein content (Zebarth et al., 2007).
The grain filling period is critical for the formation of wheat grain weight; therefore, identifying the physiological mechanisms of grain filling is desirable for increasing wheat grain yield. Normal urea is the most commonly used nitrogen fertilizer in wheat production, however, due to the rapid dissolving nature of normal urea, a single application may lead to premature senescence of wheat leaves by affecting soil N availability at late growth stage, which limits photosynthetic efficiency and the accumulation of assimilate after anthesis (Ma et al., 2021). Although the split application of normal urea can improve the fertilizer nutrient supply with the crop demands, the split application has practical difficulty and labor intensive. Slow releasing nitrogen fertilizer with physical coating ensures that the N release occurs at a controlled rate and provide a more sustained nutrient supply to the plants. Slow releasing nitrogen fertilizer is applied entirely as a base fertilizer, which saves labor cost compared with the split application of normal urea to improve the synchronization of soil N supply.
In this research, we explored the impact of three nitrogen fertilizer sources and varying application rates on both the yield and protein content of wheat. The nitrogen sources considered were Urea, ESN, and UAN. The objective of this study is to identify the best N fertilizers type and rate combinations for maximizing yield and protein content of wheat.
Material and Methods:
The experiments were conducted at two sites each year for 3 years (2019, 2020, and 2021) in the SARDA Ag Research mandate area totaling 6 site years of data were collected during this study. The experimental locations were Smoky River, Greenview and Big Lakes. In the 2020 season, due to the impact of COVID, we remained in two sites in Smoky River. The experiments were conducted in a randomized complete block design with 4 replicates. All plots received recommended nutrient amounts, except N treatment rates. Fertilizer rates was based on 100 bu/ac target wheat yield. Urea and ESN was applied at seeding time. Top dressing of UAN was at heading stage. The experimental plant in this study was hard red spring wheat variety “AC Stettler”. “AC Stettler” had the highest number of acres grown in the area during those year.
There were 10 treatments combination in this study.
1. Check
2. Urea(130%N)
3. Urea(100%N)
4. Urea(70%N)
5. Urea(50%N)+ENS(50%N)
6. Urea(35%N)+ESN(35%N)
7. Urea(100%N)+UAN(30%N)
8. Urea(70%N)+UAN(30%N)
9. Urea(50%N)+ESN(50%N)+UAN(30%N)
10. Urea(35%N)+ESN(35%N)+UAN(30%N)
Table1. Analysis of variance and mean value of seed yield (kg ha-1) of hard red spring wheat variety “Stettler” grown at 6 site-years in the Peace River region, AB.
Table 2. Analysis of variance and mean value of protein content (%) of hard red spring wheat variety “Stettler” grown at 6 site-years in the Peace River region, AB.
Grain yield and protein content data were measured. Data were analyzed using the R software package, version 4.2.0 (R core team, 2022) after fitting a linear mixed model using “lmer” function from the “lmerTest” package, where treatments were used as a fixed effect and replication as a random effect factor. Means were separated by the TukeyHSD post hoc test at P<0.05 using the “emmeans” package. Pearson correlations among the traits were calculated using the “cor.test” function.
Results and Discussion:
The weather data collected from Alberta Climate Information Service, Government of Alberta (www. agric.gov.ab.ca), for the nearby meteorological stations of corresponding sites showed that the year 2021 was the drier and hotter than all other years which was not favorable for crop production. Analysis of variance showed that for both grain yield (P<0.001) and protein content (P<0.001) there was significant interaction between treatment and siteyear therefore the result was presented separately for all site-years.
Yield: In the year 2019, there was significantly higher yield in all treatments than check in both locations (Table 1). Similarly, in the year 2020 SmokyRiver1 site had significantly higher yield in all the treatments
than the check but in SmokyRiver2 site there was higher yield only at two treatments [Urea(100%N) and Urea(100%N)+UAN(30%N)] than the check. Likewise, in the year 2021 there was no significant difference between the treatments. The non-significant variation in year 2021 may be because of hotter and drier growing season resulting in unavailability of nitrogen applied causing lower yield.
Protein: In the year 2019, at both sites significantly highest protein content was observed at Urea(50%N)+ESN(50%N)+UAN(30%N) followed by Urea(100%N)+UAN(30%N) treatment. Similarly, in the year 2020 SmokyRiver1 site had significantly higher protein content in all the treatments than the check with highest being Urea(50%N)+ESN(50%N)+UAN(30%N) and Urea(130%N) treatment. While SmokyRiver2 site showed non-significant variation in the protein content among the treatments in the year 2020. Likewise, year 2021 showed non-significant variation in the protein content among the treatments.
The year 2021 showed lowest yield and highest protein content and furthermore, correlation study suggested that seed yield is significantly negatively correlated with protein content (r=-0.67, P<0.001). The treatment Urea(50%N)+ESN(50%N)+UAN(30%N)
showed highest protein content and higher yield. The combination of Urea with ESN as basal application followed by UAN top-dressing gave the optimum result suggesting combination of urea with UAN and ESN fertilizer is desirable for higher yield and higher protein content in wheat production.
This study concluded that increasing rate of Urea alone is not effective way to increase wheat yield and quality. Furthermore, this study found that the combination of Urea with UAN and ESN fertilizer rather than just increasing the Urea application dose is an effective agronomic management strategy to improve grain yield and protein content in wheat. This
study proposes a potential method for decreasing the Urea rate, consequently mitigating the environmental impact caused by the volatility of Urea fertilizer as well as saving input costs.
Reference: Bogard, M., et al. 2010. J. Exp. Bot. 61, 4303–4312. Ma, Q., et al. 2021. Field Crop. Res. 267, 108163. Shewry, P.R., 2007. J. Cereal Sci. 46, 239–250. Zebarth, B.J., et al. 2007. Can. J. Plant Sci. 87, 709–718.
2024 Board of Directors
Simon Lavoie Chair
St. Isidore
Leonard Desharnais Vice Chair Falher
Whitney Boisvert Secretary Girouxville
Mathieu Bergeron St. Isidore
Kenny Stewart
vacant
Alain Anctil
High Prairie
Jean Cote
Neil Maisonneuve Falher
Luc Levesque Falher
Dave Berry
Garret Zahacy
MD of Greenview
Big Lakes County
Bob Chrenek County of Grande Prairie
Alain Blanchette
MD of Smoky River
Jason Javos Northern Sunrise County
Staff
Vance Yaremko Executive Direcor manager@sarda.ca
Shelleen Gerbig, P.Ag. Extension Coordinator extension@sarda.ca
Calvin Yoder, P.Ag. Forage Seed Specialist calvinyoder123@gmail.com
Surendra Bhattarai, PhD Research Scientist surendra@sarda.ca
Victor Gauthier Field Technician field@sarda.ca
Amber Fennell-Drouin Administrative Assistant admin@sarda.ca
Megan Allard Research Coordinator research2@sarda.ca
