What is new at LUARS this year (2025)?
Dr. Tarlok Singh Sahota CCA
We keep on testing new fertilizers/and other products, new crops and new crop varieties every year to find out if there is anything that works better than the existing ones. Few exciting things we have to show you this year are (i) Pearl millet (CFPM 101 multi-cut), an annual forage crop from the tropical areas suited to the dry lands. With increasing chances of frequent hot weather and drought we need to test crops and crop varieties from the warmer areas, (ii) Azotobacter, a naturally occurring soil bacteria that can fix atmospheric nitrogen (N), obtained from a company in India, that we are testing in wheat, barley and canola, and (iii) tests on effect of Holganix, a bioproduct containing 800+ bacteria on N and phosphorus (P) requirements of canola. Holganix harnesses the power of over 800 species of soil microbes and is reported to increase yield, reduce the need for fertilizers, improve crop resilience against stress, and boost soil health.
We are continuing testing Taurus Ag Poly Phosphate (TAPP), a new P fertilizer, against the conventional P fertilizer in spring wheat and canola. It is a unique combination of essential plant nutrients, strategically designed to ensure season-long plant nourishment. It is a special blend of Crystal Green Synchro™ 50 and Polysulphate Premium® that ensures delivery of Phosphorus (25 %), Potassium (8 %), Sulphur (7.5 %), Calcium (12.5 %), Magnesium (1.6 %), and also some other nutrients; Chloride, Boron and Zinc. Some of the other interesting experiments include optimizing seeding time for canola and effect of different seeding times on the N requirements of canola and measures to reduce the effect of drought on wheat, barley and canola.
We have added 27 new crop varieties to our varieties portfolio; including 3 HRSW varieties (AAC Hassler, AAC Darby VB and AAC Dutton), 3 malting barley 2-row varieties (AAC Stockton, CDC Durango, and AB Standwell), two Hulless barley varieties (AAC Magenta and AAC Beckett), one oat variety (AAC Fedak), 6 Liberty canola varieties, one Trueflex canola variety (DK 904 TF) one DK401TL (Truflex and Liberty combine) canola, 5 soybean varieties and four corn varieties.
We are continuing testing plant growth regulators (Manipulator and Moddus) on wheat and barley, high efficiency N fertilizers (ESN, urea SuperU and PurYield) on spring and winter wheat and canola. We are evaluating GHG emissions from these fertilizers vis-à-vis urea in canola with Dr. Gautam Das, Professor Physics, Lakehead University as the lead researcher.
We have a lot more to show you including two fertilizers experiments on alfalfa. We have 44 experiments in total. Our new collaborative project with RAIN Algoma funded by OAFRI “Maximizing Crop Potential through Nutrient Management for alfalfa and Sustainability Practices for Sorghum Sudan Grass in relation to seeding rate and allelopathy effects” on forages is in the second year. Come join us on our Annual Summer Tour Day at LUARS on July 24, 2025 and we will show you all what we are doing for our enterprising producers!
This project is funded in part by the Governments of Canada and Ontario under the Sustainable
Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.
