The On-Farm Network (OFN) has finally begun harvesting field scale on-farm research trials. This year harvest started a little later than usual but that’s the kind of year it’s been.
The first trial harvested was a double versus single pea inoculation trial and it came off on Aug, 13 in the RM of Woodlands. The double inoculant treatment consisted of Osmium liquid on-seed plus nitrogen row granulated peat in-furrow versus Osmium liquid on-seed for the single inoculant. We conducted nodule ratings in early August and while were no differences between the double (rating of 6.7/13 where a higher value is more nodulation) and single (rating of 6.3/13) inoculation strategy, we were late getting into the field due to poor conditions and many nodules were already desiccating and fell off during the digging and washing process so we will take this nodule rating result with a grain of salt.
2026 pea inoculation trial yield results:
- Single inoculant yield: 49.4 bu/ac
- Double inoculant yield: 48.8 bu/ac
Because yields weren’t significantly different, there’s no increased income to offset the increase in price for the additional inoculant.
Ever wonder if you need two formulations and placements of inoculation in field pea production? Perhaps use our past field-scale research to help guide the decision making.
Before this year, the OFN had conducted three pea double versus single inoculation field-scale trials held in 2021, 2022 and 2024. There was no nodule rating nor yield difference between double and single inoculation strategies at these trials, including the trial held in 2026. Therefore, the single inoculation strategy was the more economical option in every case.
The current recommendation is to follow similar guidelines as soybeans, consider double-inoculating first-time pea fields. Single inoculate if the field has a history of peas and if previous crops have nodulated well.