00:00
So irons, I think it's a pretty neat little micronutrient. They call it micronutrient.
00:20
But actually for our studies here in Western Iowa and the research we've done, if you look at the soil, one of the biggest mineral deposits in the soil is actually
00:28
iron, but it doesn't mean it's plant available. And when we get in the soil, it can be kind of a negative, so to speak.
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'cause iron's a strong positive charge. One of our key nutrients we look for in the plant's, phosphorus, well, it's a negative charge, well, iron
00:42
and phosphate tied together 'cause they're opposite charges and bond together and create iron phosphate.
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And that's one of the big things that ties up our phosphorus in the soil. ATPs and adeno, tri phosphate.
00:54
So that's main energy source in the plant. So if we can't get phosphorus into the plant, we don't have the energy to, for the sun
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to be converted through the plant. If we get high phs, soils that are high and calcium or magnesium, they'll drive iron outta the soil
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and make it less available in that you can get what in soybeans? Um, if you go east of here towards the center like Des
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Moines, Iowa, Ames, Iowa up that we call it Des Moines lo of soil, you'll get yellow spots on the field
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and we call it IDC, which is iron deficiency sclerosis. So the planting get enough iron in it to, to do the functions iron does.
01:31
And it'll actually be a negative to the plant 'cause it's, the soil is suffocating the iron, so to speak, probably the best way to say it, and affecting the plant.
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So iron's actually kind of a hindrance in the soil at times because of its soil characteristics.
01:46
So we deal with that in different ways. Uh, we use products to help break that bond, get that phosphorous plant available,
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and even get that iron available too. So it, so that's how we deal with it in soil. Uh, once it gets into the plant, it has one of,
02:01
probably the key things it does is help assimilate nitrogen in the plant. It's part of the key reaction phases in the plant, uh,
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to convert nitrogen and protein. And protein turns into sugars, all that stuff that are important.
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And for the growth of the fruit or the seed or the things we harvest basically outta crops, soybeans or whatever.
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So we have a lot of iron in the soil and we struggle to get in the plant. So we're really starting to learn how
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to manage nitrogen in the plant by small doses here and there for foer applications to help us use that essential micronutrient
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and the key phases of the growing of our crops.