Population growth and increasing production costs force the agriculture industry to look for innovative ways to optimize production, improve quality and deliver more quantity with the same resources. Our fertigation monitoring service enables producers to reduce costs and optimize resources by controlling and improving harvests.
Better understanding of nutritional and fertilizer needs starts with testing. Plant tissue, soil, water solution and water analyses together empower growers to take decisive action to improve the health and productivity of plants as well as reduce costs. Using suction lysimeters, our experts quantify the chemical composition of the plant for metabolic processes and their interaction with the tissue of the leaves and fruit. This process includes analysis of:
- Irrigation water and soil analysis, at the beginning of the growing season
- Fertigation solution
- Soil solution, extracted at different depths
- Leaf samples, in each state of crop phenology
To get the most appropriate and consistent results, the recommended analyses are:
- Plant tissue testing: Plant tissue testing analysis identifies the concentration of elements, and guides decision making about the use of fertilizers. Typically, this testing will measure nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium, potassium, magnesium, sulfur, chlorine, sodium, manganese, zinc, copper, iron and boron.
- Soil testing: In addition to looking at nutrients, soil testing also examines the texture, organic matter, available phosphorous and potassium, exchangeable cations and anions, CIC, calcium carbonate, pH and electrical conductivity.
- Irrigation water/soil solution/fertigation water testing: The focus for this testing program is pH, electrical conductivity, nitrate levels, phosphorus, chlorine and sulfates. Soil solution samples are extracted using probes/lysimeters.
Why SGS?
Equipped with the latest technology to perform analyses our global network of agronomists can deliver a standardized or customized approach to meet your specific requirements.
Contact SGS today to find out how fertigation monitoring can improve your operations.