by BECKY GOFF
Little Apple Post
MANHATTAN - Researchers at Kansas State University will be modernizing recommendations on how nitrogen is applied to sorghum in a three-state area, thanks to a $2 million grant they recently received.
K-State Research and Extension environmental quality specialist Peter Tomlinson says the $2 million grant is part of a $65 million award to the National Sorghum Producers as part of the Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities project, under the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This five-year grant was announced in mid-September.
“This is a watershed day for the sorghum industry,” said Tim Lust, CEO of the National Sorghum Producers, calling sorghum a “resource-conserving crop. We appreciate the USDA for the opportunity to realize sorghum’s potential as a climate-smart commodity.”
Lust says the initial focus will be on low carbon fuel markets, with the overal project creating a pathway to quantify, track and verify the impact of sorghum production-related practices intended to “monetize these practices in ecosystems services markets of all kinds.”
K-State's work will be part of the three-state effort, according to Tomlinson, they will work along side colleagues from Oklahoma State and Texas A&M University.
“One of the things we had hoped to do in the last couple years is to modernize our soil fertility recommendations for grain sorghum,” Tomlinson said. “This project will provide funding to do that, particularly around our recommendations for applying nitrogen.”
In Manhattan, Kansas, field trials will be led by Dorivar Ruiz Diaz, a professor of soil fertility and nutrient management. In Hays, Kansas, soil scientist, Augustine Obour, will lead the field trials; and in Colby, Kansas, field trials will be led by Lucas Haag, northwest area agronomist.
Oklahoma and Texas researchers will set up similar trials, with most of the work being in dryland settings, however, Tomlinson says, some of the trials in Texas will be completed with limited irrigation.
“We believe that through all of these combined efforts over the next four years, we will be able to modernize and advance the N recommendations for grain sorghum across the region,” Tomlinson said.
Modernizing the recommendations for nitrogen in sorghum production should allow producers to maximize yields after applying nitrogen in the proper amounts, according to Tomlinson.
“The other piece of that,” he said, “is when they develop a carbon intensity score (a measure of hydrocarbons emitted versus the amount of energy consumed) for grain sorghum, nitrogen plays an important part in that calculation. Through this work, if we can find that we can reduce nitrogen recommendations even by a couple percentage points, we may be able to ultimately reduce that carbon intensity score for grain sorghum.”
While the grant is funded for five years, Tomlinson hopes to complete the project in four years, “so that we have time in the final year to communicate the findings and incorporate those into our extension programs across the region.”
“We’ll see how the fertility trials pan out over the next couple of years, but if we can optimize our nitrogen application rates, that comes with the added benefits of reducing nitrogen runoff and leaching,” he said. “It speaks to the overall sustainability efforts of improving our crop production systems. Water quality is essential to my position, and even though we won’t be directly looking at water quality, we know that there are added benefits to the crop production system if we can optimize our nitrogen rates and reduce excess nitrogen.”
Information on USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities program is available online. The National Sorghum Producers also has published information on the project online.
Original story provided by Pat Melgares, K-State Research and Extension news service