Agricultural Plant and Crop Testing

Order Sampling Kits
Download Request Forms
Track Lab Jobs
Technical Notes
View results
Contact Us

Agricultural Plant and Crop Testing

Plant materials can be tested for mineral nutrients or feed quality. Plant nutrient levels are valuable to identify nutrient deficiency or toxicity and to monitor the fertiliser programme.

Why Test Plants?

Soil and herbage analyses help pastoral farmers and their advisers choose the best fertiliser programme. They also highlight mineral imbalances that might be affecting the health of pasture or animals that feed on it. Herbage tests of pasture complement soil tests and allow important trace nutrients like cobalt, selenium, copper and iodine to be adjusted for improved animal health. Using both herbage and soil testing will provide a better overall picture of the farm nutrient status for an improved fertiliser programme.

What tests to order?

  • For pasture, the Mixed Pasture Profile analysis is commonly selected and this contains a Basic Plant Profile with added cobalt, molybdenium and selenium tests.
  • For those wanting a more comprehensive view of their pasture, especially when metabolic disorders are an issue Hill Labs offers an Extended Feed Profile. This suite contains the Mixed Pasture Profile combined with the Feed Profile.
  • Clover-only testing is another useful way of understanding potential soil mineral issues. This is because clover develops mineral deficiencies before pastural grasses and is therefore an early indicator of potentially looming soil mineral issues.
  • The Animal Dietary Mineral Balance (ADMB) Report is a value-added report that can be requested on all Mixed Pasture Profile tests. This report shows the animal requirements and dietary intake per nutrient for a specific livestock class. To get this report as part of your testing all you need to do is ask for the ADMB Report and supply details of the animals being fed.

Helpful links

Our team of testing experts has meticulously crafted these documents to offer recommendations tailored to your testing requirements.

Crop Guides

View

Technical Notes

View

Analysis Request Forms

View

Latest Stories

Anzac Day Hours

A reminder that our Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Blenheim, and Christchurch labs will be closed on Friday 25th April. Our Bay of Plenty lab will remain open. If you plan to send any time or temperature-sensitive samples, please ensure you schedule these to arrive before or after this date, to avoid delays.
View  
  09 Apr 2025

Easter Hours

A friendly reminder that our Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Blenheim, and Christchurch labs will be closed on Friday, 18th April, and Monday, 21st April. Our Bay of Plenty lab will remain open. If you plan to send any time or temperature-sensitive samples, please ensure you schedule these to arrive before or after this date, to avoid delays.
View  
  09 Apr 2025

Announcement: Hill Labs Broadens Food and Water Services with Acquisitions

We are pleased to announce that at the end of this month, a series of acquisitions will take place on the same day. Firstly, a new company jointly owned by Hill Labs and Sam Brooks will acquire the Canterbury-based sister companies ‘Food and Health Standards’ (FHS) and ‘Auditing Solutions’ (AS) from Ian and Gail Shaw. FHS and AS provide Environmental Health Officer services, food safety auditing services, and municipal water sample collection services to a range of customers within and beyond Canterbury. Secondly, the water operations within FHS, led by Lisa Shaw, will be carved out and moved into Hill Labs, while maintaining a close relationship with FHS.
View  
  17 Feb 2025

View all related news

What our customers have to say

"We've always found them to be responsive in getting results back and giving advice on problems we might be facing."

Andrew Hutchinson, Technical Manager, Turners & Growers

"We strongly recommend Hill Labs as a sound testing service provider to the honey industry."

Nick Walker, Technical Manager, Egmont Honey

"Their sample registration system has made things simple and seamless - collect, scan and send!"

Mathew Bannister, Compliance Manager, First Fresh New Zealand

Accreditations

As a New Zealand accredited laboratory by International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ), Hill Labs' commitment to quality is tantamount to our overall operating philosophy. We pride ourselves on the quality of our work.

View our full accreditations