WP4: Development and Evaluation of Farm/Field-specific Soil Nutrient Formulations for Improved Legume N-fixation [Origin Digital]

Origin’s expertise in crop nutrition and digital tools will optimise biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in legumes and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from grassland farming.

Balanced Nutrition for Improved Legume Nitrogen Fixation

From prescription soil and crop nutrition to advanced agronomy decision support software, our technical and technological insights will help grassland farmers drive sustainable profit.

Science-based Precision Nutrition

Identifying the detailed nutritional requirements of the new legume varieties to support high-yielding swards is key to the project.

Precision nutrition is developed in our state-of-the-art glasshouse, testing macro and micro-nutrients that improve the legumes’ ability to fix high levels of nitrogen. Small plot trials at Aberystwyth University will scientifically compare standard fertiliser practice against prescription multi-nutrient fertilisers designed to supplement soil supply to meet plant requirement.

Additionally, our team of Nutrition Agronomists are working closely with NUE-Leg grassland-based livestock farmers to monitor legume establishment and maintenance and are regularly on farm to sample nutrient uptake and growth – see below case study.

Widest Range of Prescription Nutrition Produced at Modern Production Facilities

Over 50% of grass receives straight nitrogen¹ and only 10% of grassland soils are at target index for both P and K², showing a clear need for more balanced nutrition. Our prescription approach, with a growing product range of over 18,500 unique grades, delivers balanced fertilisers and nutrition programmes aligned to tomorrow’s varieties.

Our NUTRI-Leg products contain a carefully balanced multi-nutrient package to aid high levels of nitrogen fixation and benefits to livestock, such as:

• Sulphur: constituent of amino acids, vitamins and many protein enzymes which regulate photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation.
• Molybdenum: required for symbiotic fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by Rhizobia bacteria in root nodules of legumes.
• Cobalt: required for BNF by legumes; also essential for vitamin B12 in animals and key roles in nerves, blood and energy.
• Selenium: Increases auto-immunity and live weight gain.

We know that rhizobia bacteria hosted in the root nodules of legumes use specific micro-nutrients as metallo-catalysts to drive BNF, e.g. cobalt and molybdenum. Less well understood are the critical amounts, combinations and temporal availability of these metallo-catalysts in the soil in relation to maximising BNF. Origin will determine the optimum metallo-catalyst combinations, quantities and timings through extensive glasshouse trials.

Roll-out Knowledge Through Digital Platforms

Alongside the fertilisers, Origin is creating user-friendly digital tools that will enable grassland farmers to select suitable clover varieties and monitor clover sward legume composition using smartphone technology.

Data mining the trial results from the glasshouse, scientific plots and practical use on-farm will derive algorithms to build tailored recommendations and management guidance for high yielding grass clover swards.

Each one of our prescription fertilisers has an independently validated carbon footprint for its production that will dovetail into Agrecalc’s on-farm carbon life cycle analysis – see Work Package 6.

Bringing this all together into a digital platform will make it widely accessible to advisors and commercial livestock farmers across the country.

Example NUE-Leg Case Study:

One of Origin’s Nutrition Agronomists, Guillaume Franklin, is working with Muller and its partner farms to optimise nitrogen fixation and reduce emissions.

The information from an in-depth understanding of the soil – covering a chemical and biological analysis, along with the status of 12 nutrients – to provide a good start point for balanced nutrition. Converting it into knowledge by overlaying a growing understanding of the need of the new forage legume species and farm specific grazing regimes, enables Guill to develop NUTRI-Leg grades.

A prescription fertiliser grade for establishment and maintenance was developed – Examples:

NUTRI-Leg 0N-19P₂O₅ 16K₂O + 13 SO₃, 6 Na₂O, 4.7 CaO, 1.6 MgO, 0.02 Mo, 0.0015 Se, 0.05 Co

NUE-Leg 12-3-8 + 6 Na₂O + 18 SO₃ + 2 MgO + 8.5 CaO + Mo + Co + Cu + Se + Biocote

Throughout the year, tissue samples and regular dialogue with NUE-Leg farmers will influence each fertiliser application.

Over the 4-year project, nutrition findings from fine-tuning micro-nutrition in the glasshouse and results from Aberystwyth University trial plots will be shared through the NUE-Leg website.
Our Outputs Within NUE-Leg:

• Prescription multi-nutrient fertilisers to optimise N-fixation and forage yield and quality.
• Carbon footprint measures for production of fertiliser.
• Digital platform for variety selection.
• Digital images to capture sward legume composition.
• Digital platform for recommendations for high yielding clover swards.

Through integrated expertise and innovative technologies, Origin’s collaboration within NUE-Leg is a significant step toward more sustainable and efficient grassland farming practices, promoting environmental stewardship and economic viability for farmers.

1 British Survey of Fertiliser Practices
2 Professional Agricultural Analysis Group 2022/23