About

Arkansas

Soil Fertility

About the Program

The Arkansas Soil Fertility program efforts are to develop up-to-date and crop-specific nutrient management recommendations for major agronomic crops grown in Arkansas, including rice, soybean, corn, cotton, wheat and forage. We work with soil testing to correlate and calibrate fertilizer rates for agricultural crops as well as tissue testing and active and passive sensors to diagnose plant nutritional status and assist producers with in-season nutrient management decisions for optimal crop growth. The Arkansas Soil Fertility program is also compromised with environmental sustainability and is developing research projects with cover crops and nutrient cycling, investigating how short- and long-term soil and crop management practices impact soil health, as well as developing crop and fertilizer management strategies to mitigate nutrient losses.

A view of a cornfield with a path in the middle, surrounded by tall green corn plants, under a blue sky with white clouds.
A close-up view of ripe rice plants with a blurred background of a broader rice field.
Close-up of a developing ear of corn with its green husk partially peeled and reddish-brown silk strands showing amongst the vivid green foliage of a cornfield.
Silhouette of a person's hand releasing soil above a sample information card with the sun setting in the background.
A person holds a soil sampling tube with a sample of soil inside.
A cotton field at sunset with the sun low in the sky casting a warm glow over the fluffy white cotton bolls.
A narrow dirt path leading through a field of tall, green corn plants under a partly cloudy sky.
A close-up of a soybean plant with vibrant green leaves in a field.
Dry soil immediately after harvest is hard and difficult to puncture with a soil probe. And it requires rain to leach nutrients from crop residue back into the soil, so dry soil can give an inaccurate result. (U of A System Division of Agriculture photo by Fred Miller)
Soil samples in paper boxes on the table wait their turn to be tested.
A white measurement board with handwritten labels displaying six ears of corn, lined up for agricultural evaluation, with height scales on the sides.
A vertical soil core sample displayed within a transparent coring tube, showing various layers of soil against a backdrop of grassy terrain.
A soil corer with visible stratification of soil layers stands inserted in the forest floor, with decomposed leaves around and a partial view of a person's booted foot to the side.
An overcast sky looms over a divided agricultural field with young plants on the dry left side and dense, mature wheat on the right.
A man is collecting soil samples from a farm ground after harvest.
A man is holding a K defficiency_R2 soybean leaves at LTCC K trial Marianna
A vibrant sunset over a rice field with a central pathway leading towards the horizon, under a clear sky.
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