Wheat - Protect Your Nitrogen Investment

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Article by Andre Coutinho
Crop Sale Specialist
AGRIS Co-operative - BRIGDEN

Maximize Your Nitrogen Efficiency in Wheat

How can you make the most of every dollar spent on nitrogen application in wheat? While timing and rate are key factors, there’s another critical element that often gets overlooked—protecting your nitrogen investment. Without proper protection, nitrogen losses can reduce your yield.

Understanding Nitrogen Loss

Nitrogen loss can happen in two main ways:

Above-Ground Loss

• Volatilization – When nitrogen is lost to the atmosphere, especially from UREA or UAN fertilizers. This occurs due to urease, an enzyme in the soil that converts urea into ammonia gas. If nitrogen isn't incorporated into the soil (through mechanical means or rainfall), up to 20% of nitrogen can be lost.

Below-Ground Loss

• Leaching – Nitrate, which has a negative charge, does not bind to soil and can be washed deep into the soil profile by water, making it unavailable to plants.

• Denitrification – If the soil becomes waterlogged, microbes convert nitrate into nitrogen gas, which is lost to the atmosphere. Up to 5% of available nitrogen can be lost per day under these conditions.

Protecting Your Nitrogen Investment

It is important to remember that the N application in wheat (UREA or UAN) does not allow us to incorporate it mechanically into the soil. The Nitrogen is left unprotected, and losses above and below ground will cost bushels in the final yield and the money invested in fertilizer.

Using nitrogen stabilizers helps reduce volatilization and denitrification, preserving more nitrogen for your crop.

Choosing the Right Nitrogen Stabilizer

Product	type of protection	mode of action
	ABOVE GROUND	Urease inhibitor that slows down urea hydrolysis and volatilization (NBPT)
	ABOVE & BELOW GROUND	Urease inhibitor plus Pronitridine, which protects against denitrification

The Economic Impact of Nitrogen Loss

Let’s break it down:

• If you plan on applying 120 lbs of nitrogen with a 10% risk of loss can result in 10 bushels per acre of yield reduction.
• The cost? Lost yield + 12 lbs of nitrogen.
• Applying a nitrogen stabilizer typically costs about 2 bushels per acre—a worthwhile investment to protect yield potential.

Plan Ahead for 2025

Don’t let nitrogen loss take away from your bottom line. Talk to your local AGRIS Crop Sales Specialist about the best nitrogen protection strategy for your wheat fields.