By: Pixabay
Software, developed by Embrapa Soja (Londrina-PR), allows farmers to rationalize the use of fertilizers in soybean production systems, ensuring increased productivity combined with cost reduction. The new online platform, called AFERE – Soil Fertility Assessment and Fertilization Recommendation, plans the fertilization management of agricultural areas adjusted to nutrient replacement needs, considering the production history of the evaluated area and the balance of inputs and nutrient outputs. The launch will be during the IX Brazilian Soy Congress and Mercosoja 2022, which take place in parallel from May 16th to 19th, in Foz do Iguaçu (PR).
According to researcher Adilson de Oliveira Jr., from Embrapa Soja, as crop productivity increases, it becomes necessary to adjust replacement fertilization, avoiding negative nutritional balances, through the export of nutrients without corresponding replacement. The software was developed with a focus on rural producers, companies in the consulting, planning and technical assistance market.
This first module of the AFERE platform will calculate the fertilizer balance and generate nutrient replacement reports in soybean production systems. “We are providing a free system with features that make it possible to store user data, generate fertilization, productivity and nutritional balance histories over time”, he highlights. “Our proposal with this tool is to increase fertilizer recommendation processes, constantly mapping productive areas to avoid negative nutritional balances that reduce productivity, in addition to maximizing the use of nutrients available in the soil to minimize production costs”, adds Oliveira Jr.
One of the impacts expected with the launch of the technology is to rationalize the use of fertilizers, which represent the main cost of implementing a soybean crop. In the last year, the value of a ton of these products increased by 162%, jumping, on average, from R$ 2,133.00, in February 2021, to R$ 5,600.00, in February 2022, according to data from the Department of Rural Economy (Deral), linked to the Department of Agriculture and Supply of Paraná. Brazil imports most of the fertilizers used in national agriculture, especially potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus. Reducing this dependence is strategic for the country, so much so that the National Fertilizer Plan (PNF), launched by the federal government in March 2022, aims to reduce the import of fertilizers, in 2050, from 85% to 45%.
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Data obtained from technical partnerships includes other crops
To construct AFERE nutrient export standards, Embrapa Soja researchers used databases generated in long-term experiments and representative of different Brazilian agricultural areas and also obtained through technical partnerships between Embrapa and other research institutions. . “We increasingly want to strengthen partnerships to continue increasing the databases with updated export standards for the most representative cultivars of the main soy producing regions, as well as for the crops that are part of the production system”, such as corn, wheat, cotton, beans, among others, says researcher César de Castro, from Embrapa Soja.
According to Oliveira Jr., AFERE will enable calculations to be carried out automatically, based on previously registered information about the fertilization carried out and the productivity obtained, in a customized way by users. The data entered will be stored in a bank, allowing the structuring of fertilization histories of registered production areas, productivity of agricultural crops and nutritional balances. “Each user will have access to their respective interpretation parameters, updated with research data, and will also be able to generate their own nutritional diagnosis and nutrient export databases”, highlights the researcher.
In addition to focusing on soybean cultivation, the system also allows nutrient export calculations to be carried out for other crops in the production system, such as corn, beans, cotton and wheat, which already have implemented and available parameters. “It is worth remembering: when rotating or succession of crops, you do not plan fertilization thinking only about soybeans, but rather considering the crops that make up the production system. While soybeans export a large amount of potassium, for example, wheat and corn require much smaller amounts of this nutrient”, he explains. “The system’s fertilization must seek a balanced balance between the different crops”, he adds.
Additionally, the export parameters for each crop can also be defined by cultivar/hybrid and by harvest, allowing export databases to be frequently updated.
Upcoming Modules
The second module of the AFERE platform will enable the interpretation of soybean leaf analysis based on new nutritional standards, consistent with productivity levels, using nutritional status assessment tools such as the Integrated Diagnosis and Recommendation System (DRIS) and the Diagnosis of Nutritional Composition (CND). According to researcher Fábio Álvares de Oliveira, new standards for nutritional interpretation of soybean crops are necessary to optimize fertilization recommendations and, therefore, increase productivity. Another important issue is the possibility of regionalizing interpretation, depending on the characteristics of each production environment.
Module 3 will indicate the need for acidity correction and fertilization recommendations (nutrients/fertilizers), through the interpretation of the register of soil analysis results, integrating balance information, nutritional diagnosis and production systems into the recommendations. This module will also make available a calculator that will enable the choice of products based on costs, aiming for the greatest economic return.
Arena Inova Soja is one of the new features of the Soy Congress
To discuss the central theme of the IX Brazilian Soy Congress and Mercosoja 2022 (www.cbsoja.com.br) – Challenges for sustainable production in Mercosur – six conferences are scheduled, 18 panels in which 50 lectures will be held. In addition, the event will feature 288 technical works that will be presented in poster format and orally.
The technical program will address issues linked to the current technological challenges of production systems, to new opportunities that are emerging for the production chain, with sustainability as a transversal concept throughout the event. The expectation is to share knowledge that impacts the opening of new markets, insertion of the chain in the bioeconomy era, advances in the area of genome editing, among other emerging technologies.
One of the new features of this edition will be the Inova Soja Arena, an environment that aims to integrate participants in the Brazilian innovation ecosystem, bringing together everyone from startups to agriculture 5.0 companies, in addition to presenting the most recent disruptive applications for the soy production chain.
Per: AGROLINK
