Course: Foliar Nitrogen
A 10 lecture, online course and resources package which takes a detailed and deep dive into all things nitrogen nutrition and foliar feeding toward improving nitrogen use efficiency.
Foliar Nitrogen |
The live lectures for Foliar Nitrogen have ended, the recordings are available to purchase as an on demand course.
Access to Foliar Nitrogen includes:
- Permanent access to the 10 lecture online course (detailed outline below)
- Factsheets and articles summarising key take home learnings from the course
- Case studies of farmers around the world implementing foliar nitrogen strategies
- Further reading – a compiled reading list of lay articles and academic papers relevant to and referenced in the course
- A pdf of powerpoint slides
Course Outline:
Lecture 1 – Introduction & Overview
- Why Foliar Nitrogen?
- Foliar Nitrogen as a transition tool
- The nitrogen cycle
- Nitrogen losses and ecosystem enrichment of nitrogen
- Outline of the Foliar Nitrogen course
Lecture 2 – Nitrogen Metabolism
- Uptake and utilisation of different forms of N
- Nitrogen synergists: essential nutrients that support N metabolism
- Optimising protein synthesis
- Harnessing the synergistic effects of multiple N forms
- Efficiencies of inorganic vs organic nitrogen
Lecture 3 – Nitrogen: Friend or Foe?
- Impacts of excess or imbalanced N on plant health
- Plant stress and protein breakdown: does plant immunity/pest and disease resistance suffer?
- Nutritional drivers of plant immunity
- Nitrogen in the soil: build or burn soil organic matter?
Lecture 4 – Foliar Uptake Uncovered
- Foliar fertilisation: what are the benefits for plant and soil?
- Making the most of foliar feeding – limitations and opportunities
- Latest on foliar uptake pathways and nutrient utilisation
- Plant leaf surface interactions
- Understanding the key factors that influence nutrient uptake
Lecture 5 – The FACE of Foliars
- Using the FACE framework to understand and design successful foliar applications
- Formulation: optimising the mix of the spray solution
- Application: ensuring the spray reaches the target canopy
- Crop: navigating the variation among species, varieties or leaf traits
- Environment: timing field conditions to achieve peak uptake
Lecture 6 – Melting, Mixing, Maximising Response
- Practical tips for solubilising and mixing urea based foliars
- Chelating and stabilising N in the spray tank
- DIY carbon-based inputs
- Examples of nutrient synergists, additives and what not to mix
- Water quality and spray solution modification
Lecture 7 – Crop Specific Insights
- Using plant analysis to formulate foliar recipes
- Example foliar N recipes
- Reviewing the timings of foliar N from research papers
- Summary of crop specific optimum timings for foliar nitrogen applications in cereals, oilseeds, pulses, pastures, horticultural examples etc
Lecture 8 – The Foliar Frontier: Nitrogen Use Efficiency
- Intro to nutrient use efficiency concepts
- History on foliar efficiencies and review of efficiency studies
- Are foliars more efficient than soil applied and can they improve nutrient use efficiencies?
- Exploring research on soil vs foliar applied inputs
- How far could we go with foliar N?
Lecture 9 – Foliar Nitrogen from the Field
- Guest farmers will share their experiences of using foliar nitrogen
- Launch of farmer case studies
Lecture 10 – Beyond Foliar Nitrogen
- INM – Designing integrated strategies to manage N
- Carbon stabilisers
- Organic amendments
- Biofertilisers – N fixers, endophytes etc
- Plant breeding for NUE
- Nitrogen Inhibitors
- Precision fertilisation
- Cover crops, catch crops and green manures
- Companion and intercropping with legumes
- Livestock integration
Who is this course for?
Farmers seeking to increase efficiency of applied N inputs will benefit the most from this course. The content has high applicability for arable/cash crop farmers as well as intensive pasture-based and crop-livestock integrated systems. This said, there will be content still relevant to any type of producer who has a keen interest in understanding plant health and metabolism of essential nutrients, foliar technologies and integrated nutrient management. Example foliar recipes for horticultural crops, turf/amenity and organically approved options will also be included.