April 21, 2023
Corn Characteristic Response to Nitrogen - 2022
TRIAL OBJECTIVE
- The optimum nitrogen (N) rate for corn can be difficult to determine as different corn products can require different amounts of N. Inadequate N can cause noticeable reduction in yield, whereas excess N can cause weak stalks and water quality risks.
- Short stature corn* is a new corn breeding innovation that will be part of the Bayer Preceon™ Smart Corn System with a targeted commercial introduction in the United States set for 2024. The product concept for short-stature corn is to design high-yielding hybrids with reduced internode distances (area between leaf nodes), resulting in shortened plant height.
- Short stature corn will have a target height seven feet and a target ear height of at least two feet above the soil level. The shortened height of short stature corn can potentially decrease greensnap and stalk lodging issues often associated with taller corn products.
- The objective of this trial was to evaluate the effects of N rates on three tall commercially available corn products and three short stature corn products.
RESEARCH SITE DETAILS
| Location | Gothenburg, NE | ||
| Soil Type | Hord silt loam | ||
| Previous Crop |
Corn | ||
| Tillage Type |
Strip-till |
| Planting Date | 5/13/22 | ||
| Harvest Date | 11/02/22 | ||
| Potential Yield (bu/acre) |
250 | ||
| Seeding Rate (seeds/acre) |
36,000 |
- The trial design was a split-plot with N fertilizer as the whole plot and corn product as the subplot with four replications.
- A total of six N rates and six corn products were selected for this trial.
- N rates: 0, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300 pounds per acre
- Three tall corn products with relative maturity (RM) of 113 RM and three short stature corn products* with a 113 RM were evaluated under six different N rates (0, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300 lb N/acre).
- Nitrogen was applied with 360 Y-DROP® fertilizer tube attachments on 6/20/22.
- Weeds were uniformly controlled with herbicides and no other pesticides were applied.
- The trial received 6 inches of water by sprinkler irrigation and 10.63 inches of rain during the growing season.
- Plots were combine-harvested with total plot weight, test weight, and moisture data collected.
- The grain yield was corrected to a standard moisture content of 15%.
*The Preceon™ Smart Corn System, including short stature corn developed through traditional breeding, is expected to be available, subject to final commercialization decisions, for planting in the 2024 growing season.
UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS
Figure 1. 2022 corn yield response to nitrogen rate averaged across all corn products tested in Gothenburg, NE.
- There was no significant interaction between N rate applied and corn product.
- No significant lodging was observed in this study, even at higher N rates. This could be due to the abnormally dry growing season.
- The greatest yield response to an incremental increase of N was from 0 lb/acre to 60 lb/acre across all corn products (Figure 1).
- There were no positive statistical differences in yield when N rates above 120 lb/acre were applied across all corn products (Figure 1).
Figure 2. 2022 corn product yield response averaged across all nitrogen treatments in Gothenburg, NE.
- The short stature corn products* performed significantly better across all N rates than the commercially available corn products (Figure 2).
KEY LEARNINGS
- The diminishing return rate for nitrogen can vary because of several factors. These factors include but are not limited to corn product characteristics, population, precipitation, soil type and management practices such as crop rotation.
- Carefully matching nitrogen rate with corn product, yield potential, soil moisture conditions, and residual soil nitrogen is key to maximize the potential benefit of N fertilizer while minimizing potential drawbacks.
*The Preceon™ Smart Corn System, including short stature corn developed through traditional breeding, is expected to be available, subject to final commercialization decisions, for planting in the 2024 growing season.
1213_220043
Corn Characteristic Response to Nitrogen - 2021
TRIAL OBJECTIVE
Many new corn products are developed each year as research and development pipelines aim to improve the corn portfolio and farmer choice. Farmers have a short time to become familiar with what nitrogen application strategy the corn product is most responsive to.
Flex-ear corn products can adjust yield components and set more rows around on the cob, more kernels per row, or increase kernel depth if conditions are favorable. Increasing seeding rates to increase yield are recommended for fixed-ear corn products as the yield components do not change much.
Agronomists make recommendations for corn products with high or low late-season plant health and ear flexibility. These corn characteristics may affect N uptake and allocation and impact corn yield potential. Additional information about N applications can help farmers improve their N management system for individual corn products.
The objective of this study was to evaluate corn characteristics for a second year and compare results from year 1: (1) late season plant health and (2) corn ear flex and their influence on corn yield potential with different N application strategies.
RESEARCH SITE DETAILS
| Location | Gothenburg, NE | ||
| Soil Type | Hord silt loam | ||
| Previous Crop |
Soybean | ||
| Tillage Type |
Strip-trip |
| Planting Date | 4/26/21 | ||
| Harvest Date | 10/21/21 | ||
| Potential Yield (bu/acre) |
290 | ||
| Seeding Rate (seeds/acre) |
36,000 |
- A soil test report on April 1, 2021 indicated 189 lb N/acre was recommended (31 lb N/acre in the top 2 ft of soil plus 40 lb N/acre legume credit) for a yield goal of 270 bu/acre.
- The study design was a split-plot with fertilizer as the whole plot and corn characteristics as the subplot with four replications.
- The trial was sprinkler irrigated.
- Fertilizer Treatments:
- Up-front Nitrogen (N) – Strip-tilled 29 lb N/acre on 4/13/2021, and applied 160 lb N/acre with 360 Yield Center Y-Drops on 5/12/2021 when corn was at the V1 growth stage.
- Split N - Strip-tilled 29 lb N/acre on 4/13/2021 and applied 40 lb N/acre with the Y-Drops on 5/12/2021, followed by 120 lb N/acre applied by fertigation. The fertigation was split into 4 to 30 lb N/acre increments with applications on 6/29, 7/9, 7/27, and 8/6.
- Corn Characteristic Treatments:
- Late-season plant health
- High – 105-day relative maturity (RM), 111RM, and 113RM
- Low – 110RM, 111RM, and 113RM
- Ear Flex
- High – 104RM, 113RM, and 113RM
- Low – 108RM, 109RM, and 113RM
- Late-season plant health
- Fertilizer Treatments:
- The study area also received 60 lb P/acre, 25 lb S/acre, and 0.25 lb Zn/acre with the 4/13/2021 strip-till application.
- Weeds were uniformly controlled with herbicides and no other pesticides were applied.
- Test weight, moisture, and total shelled weight were collected to calculate yield.
- Yield was corrected to a standard of 15% moisture content.
UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS
Late Season Plant Health
- The difference in how corn that was classified as either ‘high’ or ‘low’ for late season plant health responded to a split nitrogen (N) or the up-front N treatments is detailed in Figure 1.
- Corn products with “high” late-season plant health had greater yields from the split N treatment compared to the up-front N treatment. Corn products with “low” late-season plant health had no yield difference between the two N strategies.
- These results are similar to those observed in 2020.
Figure 1. Response of late season plant health to nitrogen strategy. (Bars represent the split N application average yield minus the up-front N application average yield)
Ear Flex
Corn rated either ‘high’ or ‘low’ for ear flex had a positive response to the split N application treatment with a significant difference observed for corn classified as ‘high’ ear flex. Corn rated with ‘low’ ear flex also had a positive response to the split N application but not to the same extent as corn rated with “high” ear flex (Figure 2).
The differences were more pronounced than what was observed in 2020; however, the 2020 results with ‘high’ ear flex corn had a trend for higher yields with a split N application.
Figure 2. Response of corn ear flex to nitrogen strategy. (Bars represent the split N application average yield minus the up-front N application average yield)
KEY LEARNINGS
Late season plant health - ‘High’ late season plant health had a consistent positive response to split N applications, whereas ‘Low’ late season plant health did not respond to split N applications in either 2020 or 2021.
Ear Flex - Results varied between 2020 and 2021 on the impact that nitrogen strategy had on ‘high’ or ‘low’ ear flex. However, no negative response was observed from a split N application across either ‘high’ or ‘low’ ear flex products in either year.
- Testing to evaluate the response of corn characteristics to nitrogen strategy will continue in 2022.
1011_R6_21
Corn Response to Nitrogen Rates - 2020
TRIAL OBJECTIVE
- The optimum nitrogen (N) rate for corn can be difficult to determine. Inadequate N can cause a noticeable reduction in yield while excess, unused N reduces the return on N investment and can have negative environmental impacts.
- The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of corn products to different N rates.
RESEARCH SITE DETAILS
| Location | Gothenburg, NE | ||
| Soil Type | Hord silt loam | ||
| Previous Crop |
Corn | ||
| Tillage Type |
No tillage |
| Planting Date | 4/3/20 | ||
| Harvest Date | 11/4/20 | ||
| Potential Yield (bu/acre) |
250 | ||
| Seeding Rate (seeds/acre) |
36K |
- The study was set up as a split-plot design with four replications.
- Four different relative maturity (RM) corn products (109RM, 111RM, 112RM, and 114RM) were evaluated under six different N rates (0, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300 lb N/acre). Nitrogen was applied with 360 Y-DROP® fertilizer tube attachments at the V6 growth stage on 6/18/20.
- Weeds were uniformly controlled, and no insecticides or fungicides were applied.
- Grain weight and grain moisture were collected to calculate yield.
Figure 1. The yellow coloration of the corn leaves on the left (0 lb N/acre) indicate the beginning of a N deficiency compared to the dark green of the leaves to the right (60 lb N/acre).
UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS
Figure 2. Average yield response to N application rates.
Figure 3. Pounds of N to produce one bushel of grain based on total available N per acre (including residual soil N).
- There was no N rate by corn product interaction, so data were averaged across corn products.
- The previous crop was corn which depleted the soil profile of N and other nutrients. The residual N in the top two feet of soil is shown in Table 1.
- As N rate increased, yield increased until it reached a maximum at 240 lb N/acre (Figure 2).
- The amount of N to produce on bushel of grain increased as the applied N rate increased. More N was needed to produce one bushel of grain at the higher N rates compared to the lower N rates (Figure 3).
- As N fertilizer cost increased, the return on N investment decreased. For this trial, the largest return on N investment was at the 60 lb N/acre rate and the lowest return was at the 300 lb N/acre rate (Table 2).
KEY LEARNINGS
- The law of diminishing returns is illustrated in this study with more value observed from the first 60 lb N/acre applied compared to the last 60 lb N/acre.
- Nitrogen application rates are a key factor in maximizing yield. Determining residual N in the soil in combination with an N application rate that maximizes the return on N investment should be taken into consideration when developing a cost-effective fertility program.
1011_R6_20
Corn Response to Nitrogen Rates - 2019
Trial Objective
| Location | Gothenburg, NE | Planting Date | 5/15/19 |
| Soil Type | Hord Silt Loam | Harvest Date | 10/25/19 |
| Previous Crop | Corn | Potential Yield (bu/acre) |
220 |
| Tillage Type | Strip Tillage | Seeding Rate seeds/acre |
34K |
The study was set up as a split-plot design with four replications.
The previous crop was corn, which depleted the soil profile of N and other nutrients. The residual N in the top two feet was 26 lb N/acre.
Nitrogen rate was the whole plot factor with six rates of N: 0, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300 lb/acre, which was applied with 360 Y-DROP® fertilizer tube attachments at the V5 corn growth stage on June 26th, 2019. No additional nutrients were applied to the plots.
Corn product was the subplot with the three products evaluated ranging in maturity from 100 to 117 relative maturity.
Weeds were uniformly controlled; no other pests were controlled in the study.
Shelled corn weight and grain moisture were collected, and bushels per acre calculated.
UNDERSTANDING THE RESULTS
Figure 1. Yield response to N application rates. The positive yield response to additional N leveled off at the 240 lb N/acre rate with 91% of the yield potential achieved with the 180 lb N/acre rate.
Figure 2. Pounds of N to make one bushel of grain based on total available N per acre (including soil residual N).
There was no N rate by corn product interaction, so data were averaged across corn products.
The amount of N to produce one bushel of grain increased as the applied N rate increased. Compared to the first increments of applied N, more N was needed to make one bushel of grain at the greater rates of applied N (Figure 2).
Application of 180 lb N/acre calculated 1.08 lb of N to make one bushel. This result coincides with the application recommendation of 1.0 to 1.2 lb N/acre calculated from fertility formulas based on the yield goal of a field.1,2
Figure 3. Total available N per bushel of yield gained over the previous treatment.
Approximately 14 lb of N was needed to produce one bushel of grain with the greatest rate of applied N (300 lb/acre). In comparison, it took 1.6 lb of N to produce one bushel of grain with the lowest rate of applied N (60 lb/acre) (Figure 3).
KEY LEARNINGS
The law of diminishing returns is illustrated in this research with more value observed from the first 60 lb N/acre applied than the last 60 lb N/acre increment.
Nitrogen application rates are a key factor in driving yield, but residual N should be considered to tailor the N rate for a specific field.
While maximum yield potential is the goal of many operations, the value of the input in increasing crop yield needs to be carefully considered as farmers put together their fertility plans.
Sources:
1 Nielsen, R.L. 2001. Optimizing fertilizer decisions. Corny News Network. Purdue University. https://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/articles.01/N_Use_Efficiency_0221.html.
2 University of Maryland Cooperative Extension. 2009. Nutrient recommendations by crop. Maryland Nutrient Management Crop Recommendations | University of Maryland Extension (umd.edu)
Web sources verified 11/9/19. 1011_R1