When fertilizer prices spike, growers might be inclined to reduce their nutrient application rates. The challenge is how to responsibly reduce applied nutrients without sacrificing yield. When it comes to dry phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, high prices in recent years have led many to test trimming their P and K rates while adding TITAN XC, a dry fertilizer efficiency technology, to their blend to protect yield potential.
John Kraft, who farms in Princeville, Illinois, has used TITAN XC and noticed an advantage when it comes to the availability of his applied nutrients, even when he cuts back on his dry fertilizer use rates.
"It makes that fertilizer more available immediately," says John. "So I'm seeing lower fertilizer use rates, but I'm getting more available to my crop immediately, which in turn saves me money on the amount of fertilizer I have to apply every year."
Field trials validate this approach. In five split-field corn trials from Sidney, Illinois, dry fertilizer was VRT applied in fall or spring. The dry fertilizer was either treated with TITAN XC and applied at a reduced rate (10% reduction) or applied at a full rate with no TITAN XC. The TITAN XC treatment outyielded the full-rate fertilizer by +6.7 bu/A AND increased return on investment by more than $19/bushel.
Since 2016, TITAN XC has been applied on over 100 million acres across the United States. It is applied directly to dry fertilizer blends to enhance fertilizer efficiency, increasing mineralization of applied nutrients by as much as 20 percent.
This gives crops a head start when it comes to having nutrients available when they need them, rather than waiting for natural processes to convert the nutrients into a plant-available form. It's like running a 100-yard dash with a 20-yard head start.
Learn more about TITAN XC by downloading the TITAN XC product booklet.
(A version of this article was also published in Agronomy Magazine.)
