Product Spotlight: Utrisha N

In a year with high input costs across Canada, farmers will be looking for ways to save wherever they can. Luckily, Corteva™ AgriScience has introduced a new product, Utrisha™ N to help Canadian crops fix nitrogen.  

“Utrisha N is a nutrient efficiency biostimulant. It contains a bacteria called methylobacterium symbioticum, which has the ability once it's in the plant to start fixing nitrogen from the atmosphere,” says Nicole Philp, market development specialist with Corteva based in Regina, Sask. 

Utrisha N provides a sustainable, alternative source of nitrogen that reduces dependency of nitrogen uptake from the soil and ensures the plant has access to nitrogen all season long. 

“It is a foliar product, so it must enter the plants through the stomata. Once it's in there, it's going to start colonizing and translocating within the plant. It can start fixing nitrogen in as little as a couple of days,” notes Philp. “It will fix nitrogen for as long as it's in the plant and supply nitrogen throughout the entire crop cycle.” 

Utrisha N works best when it is applied to the crop early and can fix nitrogen for as long as possible, says Philp. 

“For canola, application timing is anywhere from four-leaf to bolting. For cereals same thing, four leaf to jointing. Corn is anywhere from V4 to V8. So, it is fairly flexible in terms of timing.”
 

Utrisha N comes in 40-acre bags and one case contains two bags. It can be applied in the morning or evening, but you want to make sure your plant’s stomata are open. 

“If the stomata are closed during the day, it does take a couple of hours for them to open up back up. So that's why morning is the best time to apply.  

“We want to make sure that it's being applied to healthy crops to ensure translocation, but it can't translocate unless the plant has the moisture and is generally healthy. We want to make sure that we're applying to plant biomass, so if it's applied to the ground, it's not going to be taken up by the roots,” explains Philp. 

Utrisha N is compatible with many products including InterLock^® by WinField United, which can help improve deposition of the product onto the leaf surface.  

Another consideration to be made when using this product is water quality. Water too high in chlorine can kill the bacteria, so you’ll want to have a chlorine content less than two parts per million. You also want to have a pH between five to eight, says Philp. 

Utrisha N, although new, had a lot of success in field trials in 2021, even with the unprecedented drought conditions across certain areas of the country. 

“When we look at the average yield response across all 16 trial sites, we averaged about 1.3 bushel to the acre yield improvement. We didn't win every single site, but when you look at the sites where we had a positive yield response, our yield advantage is 2.2 bushels per acre, that to me suggests that nitrogen was limiting in those plots. Where nitrogen is lacking, Utrisha N is going to be a great fit,” says Philp. 

The positive responses were observed under many different management systems, from zero till to conventional, which means the product can be flexible. 

“Nitrogen is so critical for your crop development. So having a product that can help supply nitrogen to Canadian crops throughout the crop cycle is unique and interesting,” notes Philp. 

For more information and to get Utrisha N for your crops, talk to your local WinField United retailer. 

Featuring: Nicole Philp, market development specialist – Corteva