Objectives
The objective of this project was to demonstrate the response of flax to applications of varying rates of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and sulphur (S) fertilizer applications.
Project Description
A flax field trial was conducted at Indian Head to demonstrate the response to N, P and S fertilizer rates. The treatments were a factorial combination of three N rates (45, 90 and 135 kg N ha-1), three P rates (0, 22 and 45 kg P2O5 ha-1) and two S rates (0 and 22 kg S ha-1) plus an unfertilized control. All fertilizer was side-banded. There was a slight reduction in plant density with increasing N rates; however, populations were well above 300 plants m-2 for all treatments. Emergence was not affected by P or S rate. Maturity was also only affected by N rate with a 3.7-day delay at 135 kg N ha-1 relative to the
control. Seed yield was affected by N and P rate but not S and there were no interactions amongst nutrient types. Increasing the N rate from 0-45 kg ha-1 resulted in an average yield increase of 35%; however, further increasing the rate to 90 kg N ha-1 only resulted in an additional 2% yield increase. The yield response to P was small but significant with a mean increase of 3.3% at 45 kg P2O5 ha-1. Test weight increased with N fertilization to rates of at least 90 kg N ha-1 at which point further increases in N no longer resulted in significant increases in test weight.
