Some time ago, I had a couple of fact sheets out on some of the work that was being done by Rick Engel and colleagues here in Montana, addressing the issue of chloride on cereal grains. Apparently, she had been thinking about putting out a story on chloride and she asked me to take a look.
Chloride is an essential element for plant growth, especially small grain.
Many producers are not aware of this, and most fail to consider Cl in their fertility program. While crops do not always show an economic response, if you are searching for ways to push certain small grain yields higher, you may want to conduct some field checks with chloride. As early as the 1970s research indicated adding the nutrient as a fertilizer had a significant response on wheat yields. Field tests in recent years at several locations throughout the United States back up those early findings. Such crops as winter wheat, spring wheat and barley have shown a positive response to fertilizer containing Cl.