Nitrogen placement, row spacing, and water management for furrow-irrigated field corn

Lehrsch, G. and Sojka, R. and Westermann, D. (2008) Nitrogen placement, row spacing, and water management for furrow-irrigated field corn. pp. 42-48. In: Moore, A. (ed.) Proceedings of the Idaho Nutrient Management Conference. Vol. 4. USA-ID-Jerome, 2008/03/04.

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Abstract

Banding and sidedressing nitrogen (N) fertilizer on a never-irrigated side of a row of corn
(Zea mays L.) were hypothesized to maintain yield and decrease nitrate leaching. In a two—year
field study on a Portneuf silt loam (Durinodic Xeric Haplocalcid) in southern Idaho, we
evaluated effects on yield and N uptake of 1) urea placement (broadcast pre-plant vs. band at
planting), 2) row spacings (30-in vs. an offset 22—in spacing in which every pair of 22-—in rows
was positioned close to a furrow rather than each row on a bed center), and 3) water
management. Our water management, termed irrigated furrow positioning, consisted of every-
second furrow irrigation in which we applied water to either a) the same or b) the Opposite side
of the row with successive irrigations, the latter called alternating furrow irrigation. At season’s
end, we harvested 20 ft of row at three locations in each plot for silage and at three other
locations for grain. Grain yield was not affected by the positioning of the irrigated furrow.
However, averaged across years, grain yield from 22-in rows was 113 bu acre-1 from banded
plots, 5% greater (P<0.05) than broadcast plots. Two-year average grain yield from 30-in rows
was 107 bu acre-1, with no difference between banding and broadcasting. In the second year, N
uptake in grain averaged across row spacings was 72.3 lb acre-l from banded plots and 65.5 lb
acre-l from broadcast plots (P<0.01). Silage yield increased up to 26% and N uptake in silage
increased up to 21% from banding, compared to broadcasting, where we irrigated the same
furrow in the study’s second year. In both years, grain and silage yield and N uptake in grain
and silage were similar or greater where urea was banded on one side of a row rather than
broadcast.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
NWISRL Publication Number:	1243
Subjects:	Irrigated crops > Corn / maize Water > Water management Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User:	Users 6 not found.
Date Deposited:	12 Mar 2008 21:00
Last Modified:	19 Oct 2016 19:23
Item ID:	1267
URI:	https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/1267