It’s taken nine years for Koch Agronomic Services to bring a solution for growers’ unique anhydrous ammonia stabilizer needs, but they got the deal done. And CENTURO is the first nitrification inhibitor approved by the EPA in the last 40 years.
“What growers can expect to see is a reduction in nitrate leaching, denitrification, improved yield, and overall performance of their crops with this product,” said Ryan Potter, Product Manager for CENTURO, Koch Agronomic Services.
To demonstrate how the product works, Potter says we must first look how nitrogen reacts in the soil.
“The nitrogen system is a very leaky system by nature. We have the nitrogen cycle that everyone understands and anhydrous ammonia is one of those products that is very widely used commercially and has a lot of great benefits for growers,” Potter said. “What we wanted to do is enhance the benefits of anhydrous ammonia by providing a product that could slow that ammonia conversion to nitrate, keeping that nitrogen there for the crop.”
In the first two years of an ongoing study at Iowa State University, CENTURO reduced nitrate leaching by an average of 44 percent in fall-applied anhydrous ammonia and an average 23 percent in spring-applied anhydrous ammonia compared to the standard untreated. In eight replicated trials conducted in Illinois, Missouri, and Nebraska, CENTURO-treated fall-applied ammonia increased corn yield by eight bushels per acre compared to untreated.
“One of the things a grower can expect is that when you use an early application of a spring anhydrous and you might have a rain event that might cause some nitrogen loss, with our product you can see a reduction in that nitrogen loss which can improve yields,” Potter said. “We have seen when you have a loss event with anhydrous ammonia or UAN, you can save an additional 25 nitrogen use efficiency with our product over standard practice.”
One item to note CENTURO is not registered for sale or use in all states. Potter said growers can contact their state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if the product is registered for sale or use in their state.
