Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The annual meeting of the NCERA 013 Committee was held February 26 and 27, 2007 in Bettendorf, Iowa. Seven of the 12 participating states were represented. An ex-officio representative from Ontario also attended. The primary activities have involved evaluation work on new soil buffer pH methods (Mehlich, and Sikora) that do not use hazardous chemicals for use in determining lime requirement, cooperative work (with SERA-17) on evaluating methods for water soluble P in manures, and revision of the NCERA-13 Recommended Procedures Publication" (NCR 221). New chapters on What is a Soil Test? and Soil Test Correlation/Calibration and being planned. A new white paper on Planning, Conducting and Evaluating On-farm Trials is being prepared. A website for the NCERA-13 Committee is being developed and will be hosted by Purdue University. A survey of soil testing will be conducted to determine the procedures used for micronutrients and the data base used for interpreting the test results. Following the business meeting, the NCERA-13 Committee held the 18th SoilPlant Analysts Workshop, February 27-28. Attendance was 80, composed of soil/plant analysts from commercial and university testing labs, consultants and university research/extension specialists. Fourteen presentations on various aspects of soil testing and plant analyses were presented. Copies of the proceedings are available from Darryl Warncke, Michigan State University (warncke@msu.edu). The next Workshop is being planned for February 2009.

Buffer pH: J. Peters (Ch), C. Laboski, D. Mengel, M. Nathan, B. Hill Waste disposal of SMP buffer is becoming an issue with soil testing labs. Penn State has changed to the modified Mehlich buffer. Wisconsin has switched to the Sikora buffer after evaluating the Mehlich and Sikora buffers. The objectives of this committee are to develop guidelines for evaluating alternative buffers and then carry out the evaluations with participating labs. Education: (D. Warncke) The NCERA-013 and the 4-State workshops have been merged. Approximately 75 pre-registered for the workshop to be held February 27-28, 2007 at this location. The actual attendance for the workshop was 80. Following a discussion it was decided that the NCERA-013 workshop will be held every other year with the next one tentatively scheduled for February 2009 at a site to be determined. Publication: The committee discussed the various chapters of Publication 221 (Recommended Chemical Soil Test Procedures for the North Central Region) to determine which ones require revision. Ch. 1 Soil Sample Preparation  No major changes needed. Ch. 2 Standard Soil Scoop - No major changes needed. Ch. 3 Laboratory Factors Important to Soil Extraction - No major changes needed. Ch. 4 pH and Lime Requirement  Revision needed to include new buffer work. A buffer pH subcommittee was established to work with this issue. Ch. 5 Nitrate-Nitrogen - No major changes needed. Ch. 6 Phoshorus  ICP vs. colorimetric Mehlich P information needs to be added to this chapter. Antonio Mallarino and Doug Beegle will rewrite this chapter. Ch. 7 Potassium and Other Basic Cations - No major changes needed. Ch. 8 Sulfate-Sulfur  John Peters will review and determine if changes are needed. Ch. 9 Micronutrients  A survey of states will be conducted by Keith Reid and Darryl Warncke to determine what data (calibrations/recommendations) are currently in place. Ch. 10 Boron - No major changes needed. Ch. 11 Chlorides - No major changes needed. Ch. 12 Soil Organic Matter - No major changes needed. Ch. 13 Soil Salinity - No major changes needed. Ch. 14 Greenhouse Root Media - No major changes needed. Ch. 15 Lab QA/QC  An update from Hoskins and Wolf should be available that can be used in the revised publication. Manjula Nathan has contacted the authors and requested the update which will not be available until sometime later this year. Two new chapters were proposed. S. Brouder and D. Mengel (co-chairs), assisted by C. Laboski and A. Malarino New Chapter #1  What is a Soil Test? New Chapter #2  Soil Test Correlation/Calibration Sylvie Brouder and Dave Mengel will work on these two new chapters. The group agreed that a chapter or paper on "What is a Soil Test?" should be prepared and that a chapter or paper on "Soil test correlation /calibration" should be prepared to add to the NCERA 221 publication. The group also discussed the idea of adding a section to each chapter indicating what method each state uses for measuring that parameter and whether the state has calibration data for their test. This would include a brief summary of why a method is used by a particular state. There was also discussion regarding including in each chapter the method(s) each state lab uses. There was no consensus on doing this. Manure: J. Peters (Ch), Keith Reid The evaluation of several laboratory measurements of water soluble P is ongoing. Initially, two primary methods for analyzing manure water extractable P (WEP) were studied. One developed in PA by Pete Kleinman of the USDA-ARS (with assistance of Andrew Sharpley, Doug Beegle and Ann Wolf) and one developed in Arkansas by Phil Moore. The methods vary in the solids:solution ratio (1:10 for the AK method, 1:200 for the PA method) and in sampling basis (wet weight for AK, dry weight for PA). There were concerns/issues with both methods. Concern with the AK method is that the solids (dry):solution ratio varies and impacts the ability of this test to predict runoff P over a wide range of manures. Concern with the PA method is that it is difficult to take a large enough sample size for manures with high variability (e.g. poultry manures with large wood chips) and get a representative sample. A subcommittee of the SERA-17 work group conducted a sample exchange with about 15 labs. Following this study, this group recommended a compromise method of 1:100 (dry wt. basis). One of the problems is that in several states field studies that have been done were based on earlier extraction ratios and a method switch may affect the interpretation of the results. Also, the codes have been written in some cases referencing the original methods. Both groups are working toward the use of the 100:1 method. A paper has been submitted for publication on this work. In addition to trying to determine the correlation between 200:1 or 10:1 numbers with the new 100:1 values, Ann Wolf is working on evaluating the use of oscillating shakers which are commonly available in soil testing laboratories. The MAP program is now accepting WEP data based on the 100:1 method. Eventually, this new method should be added to the manure methods manual. No specific activity is planned for this subcommittee in 2007-08. Website: S. Brouder (Ch), Manjula Nathan, Antonio Mallarino, Darryl Warncke It was agreed that the committee needs to get a website up and functioning. Sylvie Brouder volunteered the assistance of a web site specialist at Purdue to work on setting up a NCERA-013 web site. She subsequently received approval from her department chair for this activity. Sensing: D. Mengel (Ch), M. Nathan, R. Gelderman, J. Dahl This new subcommittee will look at both field level and remote sensing. The committee will interact with researchers involved in this type of work to gather information. White Paper: Planning, Conducting and Evaluating On-farm Trials. Keith Reid will take the lead on this. A draft version has been prepared by Keith and George Rehm, and is awaiting input from Antonio on some work done in Iowa with combine yield monitors. It may end up being split into two or three white papers, dealing with single comparisons, and multi-rate trials. NAPT A general discussion on the NAPT program was held. The program hired a new coordinator (Janice Kotuby-Amacher) in March 2006. Currently there are about 173 labs in the program, which is down from 2006 but close to the long term average. The NAPT oversight committee is working closely with the new coordinator to help run the program. A trial PAP program was run for the past few years which involved double blind samples. The cost of this program ($1250/year) was prohibitive so the program was modified for 2007. Beginning in 2007 states that do not have their own certification program can opt for this revised PAP program. The cost will be the NAPT cost + $200/year. The program will provide an evaluation of the participating labs and approve the labs for soil testing if they meet the criteria specified by the national program. One criticism of the NAPT program has been the lack of low pH soils. All NCERA-013 members are strongly encouraged to collect soils to contribute to the program, particularly soils with low pH. Janice can pay for shipping, and for buckets if necessary. Each exchange needs a minimum of 16 x 5 gallon pails of each soil type. To save shipping costs and labor, the soils should be air dried for shipping.

Warncke, Darryl (ed.). 2007. Proceeds of Eighteenth Soil/Plant Analysts Workshop, Bettendorf, IA. Brouder, Sylvie. 2007. Buildup/Drawdown of soil potassium for Indiana soils. Pages 1-6. In Darryl Warncke (ed) Eighteenth Soil/Plant Analysts Workshop, Bettendorf, IA. Laboski, C. A. M., J. B. Peters, and M. J. Repking. 2007. Evaluation of modified Mehlich and Sikora buffers for lime recommendations in Wisconsin. Pages 18-28. In Darryl Warncke (ed) Eighteenth Soil/Plant Analysts Workshop, Bettendorf, IA. Laboski, C.A.M., J.E. Sawyer, D.T. Walters, L.G. Bundy, R.G. Hoeft, G.W. Randall, and T.W. Andraski. 2007. Evaluation of the Illinois soil nitrogen test in the North Central Region. Pages 46-53. In Darryl Warncke (ed) Eighteenth Soil/Plant Analysts Workshop, Bettendorf, IA. Mallarino, A. P. and J. Prater. 2007. Long-term soil P, yield and P removal in corn-soybean rotations managed with no-tillage. Page 7. In Darryl Warncke (ed) Eighteenth Soil/Plant Analysts Workshop, Bettendorf, IA. Mengel, D., K. Martin and D. Tucker. 2007. Chloride fertilization and soil testing in Kansas. Pages 31-35. In Darryl Warncke (ed) Eighteenth Soil/Plant Analysts Workshop, Bettendorf, IA. Nathan, Manjula. 2007. Evaluating soil pH buffers for determining lime requirement in North Central Region. Pages 8-17. In Darryl Warncke (ed) Eighteenth Soil/Plant Analysts Workshop, Bettendorf, IA. Peters, John. 2007. Testing soil for sulfur: Methodology and need. Pages 54-62. In Darryl Warncke (ed) Eighteenth Soil/Plant Analysts Workshop, Bettendorf, IA. Reid, Keith. 2007. Nitrogen availability from manure. Pages 81-87. In Darryl Warncke (ed) Eighteenth Soil/Plant Analysts Workshop, Bettendorf, IA. Dobermann, A., R. Ferguson, G. Hergert, C. Shapiro, D. Tarkalson, D. Walters, C. Wortmann. 2006. Should we abandon soil testing and yield goals in estimating nitrogen rates for corn? In Proceedings of the 36th North-Central Extension Industry Soil Fertility Conference, November 7-8. Des Moines, IA. Potash & Phosphate Institute, Brookings, SD. Nathan, M., Scharf, P. and Y. Sun. 2006. Evaluating Mehlich III extractants for Available Nutrients for Missouri Soils using Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry. In: Missouri Soil Fertility and Fertilizers Research Update 2005. Agronomy Miscellaneous Publ. #06-01, College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, University of Missouri. Pages 101-108. Nathan, M., Scharf, P. and Y. Sun. 2006.Comparison of Woodruff Buffer and Modified Mehlich buffer Tests for Determining Lime requirement in Missouri Soils. In: Missouri Soil Fertility and Fertilizers Research Update 2005. Agronomy Miscellaneous Publ. #06-01, College of agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, University of Missouri. Pages 109-113. Nathan, M. V., Scharf, P., and Y. Sun. 2006. Evaluation of Mehlich Buffer as an Alternative to the Woodruff Buffer for Lime Recommendations in Missouri. ASA, SSSA, CSSA Madison, WI. Nathan, M. 2005. Reagents and Standards. Chapter 5. In Quality Assurance and Quality Control Model Plan for Soil Testing Laboratories. Soil Science Society and Oregon State University Publication. Pages 14-17.