Soil samples have been taken from the last few fields in the project marking the end of all sampling we have done throughout the 2023 harvest year - the first year of the NUE-Profits project which will inform the development of FINE.
In all we have taken two sets of soil samples which have been tested for Nitrogen and broad-spectrum analysis:
One at the start of the year to measure the Nitrogen available to the plant, both at that point in time and what would become available later through mineralisation
Another at the end after harvest so we can assess how much Nitrogen the plant has used, helping us to paint a full picture of Nitrogen uptake
In April we also took plant tissue and root samples, again measuring not just the Nitrogen but full broad-spectrum analysis to understand nutrient flows and evaluate the crop's development.
Whole plant samples were again taken right before harvest, with the crop split into roots, straw, chaff and grain to gain a total understanding of the Nitrogen uptake and distribution throughout the crop.
Thank you to all our participants who have helped us take the samples and provided us with weekly Nitrogen test results!
Now to analyse the data...