In farms, the use of UAN almost completely replaced the use of ammoniacal water and most granular fertilizers.
Recently, among agricultural producers, issues of expediency, efficiency and technology of application in crop nutrition systems are actively discussed carbamide-ammonium mixture (UAN). For SOOO «AGRARIAN» Such questions have long been emerging. Since 2010, the company Nitrogen nutrition of all crops is almost 100% performed UAN-32. First of all, this was due to the obvious advantages of this liquid universal nitrogen fertilizer before granulated (ammonium nitrate, carbamide) and other liquid nitrogen fertilizers (ammonia water), previously used in the company as a source of nitrogen. Among such advantages of UAN it is necessary to note its versatility and manufacturability of application, efficiency and prolongation of the action, the cost of the active substance. All these advantages are determined by the aggregate state of the fertilizer, the presence in it of all the basic forms of nitrogen, which makes it possible to apply it in different periods of vegetation of crops and for various technological operations. It has been proved that for the application of UAN even to the surface of the soil without immediate smothering it, nitrogen loss is much less than when applying solid nitrogen fertilizers in a random manner, which expands the scope of its use for root fertilizing and, unlike ammonia water, does not require mandatory wrapping in the soil.
It was clear: in order to introduce on the farms of SOOO "AGRICULTURE" the technology of accurate farming in the cultivation of most crops will need to solve the problem of differentiated application of nitrogen fertilizers. The differentiated introduction caused both the heterogeneity of the soil cover and the uneven distribution of plant residues within the field and the need to ensure the efficient use of nitrogen from fertilizers with minimal losses.
Mineralization of straw
The first technological operation, carried out after the collection of the cover crop, is compensatory nitrogen for the mineralization of plant residues. Since 2002, the company has been using mini-till technology as the basic one, and effective management of crop residues on the basis of their full return to the biogeochemical cycle within the field is one of the key elements of this technology. The intensity of mineralization of plant residues that it is regulated by the introduction of nitrogen fertilizers is the first point of application of UAN in the farm.
It is clear that for the introduction of this technology it was necessary to modernize the existing wide-spread tillage equipment, namely - equip it with a system of dilution and feed into the working zone of liquid fertilizer. Such systems of differentiated application of liquid fertilizers were equipped with cultivators Horch FG 12.3, Horch FG 18.3, disc harrows JD 512 and disc harrows DXRV GREGOIRE BESSON.
UAN was poured into hinged tanks, installed on energy-saturated tractors of power classes of more than 400 Hp.
The principal task was to ensure the interchangeability of all agricultural machines and tractors so that the equipment can be reconnected or the tractor replaced in a simpler way. By the forces of the company's own service department, this task was successfully completed.
The technology of differential compensation of nitrogen fertilizers for the mineralization of plant residues was developed and implemented on the basis of yield maps.
• The allocation of homogeneous zones of yield;
• Determination of the actual number of crop residues in each zone;
• Sampling of residues and laboratory determination of the actual ratio of carbon and nitrogen in them;
• Calculation of the necessary nitrogen norm to prove this ratio to the optimum;
• Development of application maps for differentiated application of liquid nitrogen fertilizers (UAN) over the field;
• The actual application of nitrogen fertilizers during cultivation or disking and the creation of maps of actual application.
The mini-till technology provides for the application of stubble and cultivation operations. Horch FG 12.3 units are equipped with equipment for differentiated application of liquid fertilizers (peeling and cultivation is carried out with simultaneous making UAN).
It is also worth noting that since 2007 we are studying the effectiveness of know-how technology, where it is necessary to make nitrogen fertilizers during planting, locally band-wise in the aisle of the crop or superficially without embedding in the soil. In our experience, for this technology, it is also optimal to use UAN, which can be made using self-propelled sprayers «Vodoley», «Rosa» Or seeders equipped with tanks for UAN. In addition, minimal nitrogen losses from fertilizers and the most effective use are ensured.
Depending on the crop, soil type, sowing conditions, UAN, as well as other types of nitrogen fertilizers, it is necessary to bring in different depths - this allows to eliminate the negative influence of the increased concentration of fertilizers on the seed quality.
From 2011 on JOO «AGRARIAN» On a production scale, strip-till was used - a technology of locally-banded soil cultivation, which allows simultaneous several operations (basic and preseeding treatments, sowing with simultaneous application of fertilizers). According to this technology, applying special aggregates, sowing is possible to carry out with simultaneous application of several kinds of granular and liquid fertilizers. For the application of all four types (UAN, ammophos, potassium chloride and magnesium sulfate), the company uses special complex assemblies manufactured in the USA, which have been further improved and modernized, namely, sowing devices with which fertilizers and seeds can be placed at different depths , Differentially in different parts of the field in accordance with the application card-tasks recorded in the on-board computer of the tractor.
An important property of the UAN is its aggregate state, it makes it possible to use any sprayers (for their partial overcompletion) to apply these fertilizers. Sprayers are also equipped with equipment that provides a differentiated application of fertilizers. In SOOO «AGRARIAN» UAN is used for radical top dressing of most crops - both by applying locally in a row, and by continuous large-drop spraying. It is the possibility of differentiated application of fertilizer in the fertilizing allows you to effectively use the results of soil and plant diagnostics of the nutrition of crops, conducted by the testing laboratory of the farm. It should also be noted that the introduction of UAN by self-propelled sprayers into fertilizing is possible during all critical nitrogen phases of development of all major crops, thus ensuring the efficiency of regulation of nitrogen nutrition.
The first top dressing of winter cereals is carried out on frost soil using self-propelled sprayers «Vodoley» or «Rosa», equipped with low pressure tires. During the growing season, winter cereal, corn and sunflower crops are fed with the help of the already mentioned self-propelled sprayers equipped with filling pipes, which minimize the penetration of UAN onto the surface of the leaves of the crops, allows fertilization in the basal zone of most of them, in particular, tall ones (corn and sunflower).
So, as we can see, the use of UAN is possible in almost all technologies of crushing and various farming systems that are used in Ukraine, which is evidence of an increase in the volume of application of this fertilizer in the future. However, the transition to UAN as the main fertilizer necessitates additional technological re-equipment of the equipment for its application and the entire production infrastructure as a whole. First of all, this concerns the organization of the transportation system to the economy, intermediate storage, on-farm distribution and refueling of equipment for making. Simpler such a system can be realized in farms that used ammonia water as a nitrogen fertilizer. After switching to UAN, the technical means used for its transportation and storage do not need substantial modernization, except for the observance of specific transportation requirements.
