Coating Alfalfa Seed Will Improve Stands
SPECIAL REPORTReprinted From Seed Trade News
On-farm performance trials in the Upper Midwest of coated alfalfa seed indicate that planting coated seed in the spring will generally result in higher stands in the fall compared to uncoated seed.
America's Alfalfas and CelPril® teamed up this year to conduct a number of on-farm tests to evaluate the agronomic performance of coated alfalfa seed versus non-coated seed. CelPril® wanted to field test its coating while America's Alfalfas wanted to test several of their varieties under actual farm field conditions. Two independent agricultural consultants also followed the progress of the side by side tests throughout the season.
"This past season was especially dry in central Minnesota where most of the trials were located," said Kelly Rooney, CelPril® research agronomist. "The conditions allowed for good tests of the Rhizo-Kote® XL coating.
The coating consisted of three main components: limestone, inoculant (Rhizobium bacteria), and fungicide. The inoculant and fungicide are located next to the seed under the protection of the coating. Both are available for the emerging seedling in close proximity to the developing root hairs to insure healthy, effective nodulation and seedling disease protection.
The combination of the elements in the coating give a synergistic effect that is not always seen when the inoculant and fungicide are used alone. The coating material also acts as a wick under less than ideal moisture conditions and draws moisture to the seed for better emergence and survival.
Rooney calibrated grower grain drills on farm prior to spring planting of the alfalfa tests. Some of the seed was clear seeded (no nurse crop), while other seed was planted with a wheat or oats nurse crop.
Coated and uncoated seed product was planted in all trials on an equal weight basis meaning that coated seed batches actually had one-third less seed than the uncoated seed.
First growth stand counts were conducted by CelPril® and the ag. consultants following emergence. Harvest date and nutrient analysis was collected on a number of farms. Fall stand counts at the end of the season were again conducted by CelPril®, America's Alfalfas and the consultants. End counts were conducted by actually digging up alfalfa plants for accurate plant counts and root system evaluation.
Rhizo-Kote® XL has proven itself time and time again in actual, on-farm, real world tests. In the photo above CelPril® field personnel and a grower conduct meaningful fall stand counts comparing the final stands of uncoated seed with those produced by Rhizo-Kote® XL coated seed. During the 1996 growing season CelPril® conducted an extensive on farm testing program, utilizing actual grower fields, grower's cultural practices and side by side field strip growouts.
Despite a challenging start to the season, the coated seed performed well by equaling and in several fields surpassing the non-coated seed in side by side trials. The results indicated there was an 8.7 percent average increase in plant establishment in the Rhizo-Kote® XL strips over 12 locations and 9.7 per-cent increase in end of season counts.
The increases seem large when remembering tbat the coated trials used one-third less seed.
The Rhizo-Kote® XL trials on average produced approximately 50 percent plants from seed planted compared to noncoated seed at approximately 30 percent.
Curt Rath, alfalfa marketing manger for America's Alfalfas, said, "The new products we will be introducing in the future will all be coated. A number of the distributors I deal with had been a little concerned in the past about things like the flowability of coated seed. The CelPril® products flow beautifully. I am happy with the overall seedling counts with the coated seed and feel comfortable selling the coated product."
The confidence in coated seed exhibited by Rath is echoed by Roger Elliot of Evansville, MN, one of the trial cooperators. "You could see the difference in weed control in the field," Roger said. "With the heavier stands we got from the coated seed, we saw fewer weeds. I had always heard that if you plant one third less seed you would get one third less stand. But we got equal to or greater plants per square foot. I had never been a believer in coated seed but I am now. The yield on the coated seed was 882 lbs. per acre more than the uncoated. The coated seed also had two percent higher protein which increased the feed value of the alfalfa."
"We know that the product does what it is designed to do but we wanted to prove it," said Roger Repp, general manager of CeIPril. "These tests demonstrated the importance of getting the product out into the hands of farmers."
Graphic proof that CelPril®'s RhizoKote XL promotes healthier plants. The roots shown in this photograph were produced by the same variety of alfalfa, in the some field, only feet apart. The roots on the left are from uncoated seed. The longer, healthier roots on the right were produced from Rhizo-Kote® XL coated seed. Healthier roots mean healthier more productive plants.
Rhizo-Kote® XL has proven itself time and time again in actual, on-farm, real world tests. In the photo above CelPril® field personnel and a grower conduct meaningful fall stand counts comparing the final stands of uncoated seed with those produced by Rhizo-Kote® XL coated seed. During the 1996 growing season CelPril® conducted an extensive on farm testing program, utilizing actual grower fields, grower's cultural practices and side by side field strip growouts.
Rhizo-Kote® XL has proven itself time and time again in actual, on-farm, real world tests. In the photo above CelPril® field personnel and a grower conduct meaningful fall stand counts comparing the final stands of uncoated seed with those produced by Rhizo-Kote® XL coated seed. During the 1996 growing season CelPril® conducted an extensive on farm testing program, utilizing actual grower fields, grower's cultural practices and side by side field strip growouts.
last updated: Monday, September 11, 2006
