• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Adjusting corn nitrogen management by including a mineralizable‐nitrogen test with the preplant and presidedress nitrate tests
  • Contributor: Clark, Jason D.; Fernández, Fabián G.; Veum, Kristen S.; Camberato, James J.; Carter, Paul R.; Ferguson, Richard B.; Franzen, David W.; Kaiser, Daniel E.; Kitchen, Newell R.; Laboski, Carrie A. M.; Nafziger, Emerson D.; Rosen, Carl J.; Sawyer, John E.; Shanahan, John F.
  • imprint: Wiley, 2020
  • Published in: Agronomy Journal
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1002/agj2.20228
  • ISSN: 1435-0645; 0002-1962
  • Keywords: Agronomy and Crop Science
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The anaerobic potentially mineralizable N (PMN) test combined with the preplant (PPNT) and presidedress (PSNT) nitrate tests may improve corn (<jats:italic>Zea mays</jats:italic> L.) N fertilization predictions. Forty‐nine corn N response experiments (mostly corn following soybean [<jats:italic>Glycine max</jats:italic> (L.) Merr.]) were conducted in the U.S. Midwest from 2014–2016 to evaluate the ability of the PPNT and PSNT to predict corn relative yield (RY) and N fertilizer over‐ and under‐application rates when adjusted by PMN. Before planting and N fertilization, PPNT (0–30, 30–60, and 60–90 cm) and PMN (0–30 cm) samples were obtained. In‐season soil samples were obtained at the V5 development stage for PSNT (0–30, 30–60 cm) in all N rate treatments and PMN (0–30 cm) in only the 0 and 180 kg N ha<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> preplant N treatments. Increasing NO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>–N sampling depths beyond 30 cm with or without PMN improved RY predictability marginally (R<jats:sup>2</jats:sup> increase up to 0.20) and reduced over‐ and under‐application frequencies up to 14%. Including PMN (preplant only) with PPNT or PSNT improved RY predictability minimally (R<jats:sup>2</jats:sup> increase up to 0.10) only for coarse‐ and medium‐textured soils, but N fertilizer over‐ and under‐application frequencies were not substantially reduced (≤12%). These marginal improvements in RY predictability and N fertilizer over‐ and under‐application frequencies, regardless of the variables used (e.g., fertilization, sampling depth, soil texture, and growing degree‐day categories), demonstrate that including PMN with soil NO<jats:sub>3</jats:sub>–N alone does not improve corn N fertilization need predictions enough to recommend their use.</jats:p>