Nitrogen (N) fertilization recommendations are not available for corn in rotation with small grains or forages despite the possibility that the N response may differ from that of more conventional corn-soybean rotations. Rotations of corn with soybean (CS), corn with soybean and oat (CSO) and corn with soybean and an oat/berseem clover intercrop (CSOB) were established in 1991 and studied from 1993 through 1998 to determine the optimal N fertilization level for corn produced in each rotation. Corn in each rotation received NH4N03 applied at the rates of 0, 56, 112, or 168 kg N ha-1. Significant differences in corn grain yield occurred between rotations in three years, but no rotation was consistently superior. Corn grain yield increased with N fertilizer in each year, but in 3 of 6 years there was no advantage to applying Nat a rate greater than 112 kg ha-1. No difference in N response between rotations was observed

Cruse, R. M.

Ghaffarzadeh, M.

Harbur, M. M.

English

Name not available

Corn (Zea mays L.) Yield Response to Nitrogen Fertilizer in Conventional and Alternative Rotations

University of Northern Iowa

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIASVolume 107 | Number Article 52000Corn (Zea mays L.) Yield Response to NitrogenFertilizer in Conventional and AlternativeRotationsM. M. HarburIowa State UniversityM. GhaffarzadehIowa State UniverstiyR. M. CruseIowa State University, rmc@iastate.eduCopyright © Copyright 2000 by the Iowa Academy of Science, Inc.Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/jiasPart of the Anthropology Commons, Life Sciences Commons, Physical Sciences andMathematics Commons, and the Science and Mathematics Education CommonsThis Research is brought to you for free and open access by UNI ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of the Iowa Academy ofScience: JIAS by an authorized editor of UNI ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact scholarworks@uni.edu.Recommended CitationHarbur, M. M.; Ghaffarzadeh, M.; and Cruse, R. M. (2000) "Corn (Zea mays L.) Yield Response to Nitrogen Fertilizer inConventional and Alternative Rotations," Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS, 107(2), 42-45.Available at: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/jias/vol107/iss2/5four. Iowa Acad. Sci. 107(2):42--45, 2000 Corn (Zea mays L.) Yield Response to Nitrogen Fertilizer in Conventional and Alternative Rotations M.M. HARBUR, M. GHAFFARZADEH, AND R.M. CRUSE Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 mmharbur@iastate.edu Nitrogen (N) fertilization recommendations are not avail~ble for corn in rotation. with smal~ grains or fof'.1ges despite the possibil!ty that the N response may differ from that of more conventional corn-soybean rotations. Rotations of corn with soybean (CS), corn with soybean and oat (CSO) and corn with soybean and an oat/berseem clover intercrop (CSOB) were established in 1991 and studied from 1993 through 1998 to determine the optimal N fertilization level for corn produced in each rotation. Corn in each rotation received NH4N03 applied at the rates of 0, 56, 112, or 168 kg N ha- 1. Significant differences in corn grain yield occurred between rotations in three years, but no rotation was consistently superior. Corn grain yield increased with N fertilizer in each year, but in 3 of 6 years there was no advantage to applying Nat a rate greater than 112 kg ha- 1. No difference in N response between rotations was observed: INDEX DESCRIPTORS: corn, soybean, oat, berseem clover, rotation, nitrogen. The potential to increase yields through crop rotations has been well established. Rotations can contribute to soil fertility (Copeland 1992), aggregation, water infiltration (McVay et al. 1989), and water holding capacity by increasing soil organic matter. Rotations can also improve soil quality when less erosive crops such as small grains and legumes are included (Dick and Van Doren 1985; Griffith et al. 1988). Pest cycles, including weeds, insects, and disease may also be broken by rotation (Francis and Clegg 1990). Research in Minnesota suggests that adding a third crop between corn and soybean [Glycine max (1.) Merr.) would create a cropping system superior to corn-soybean alone, particularly from the yield standpoint (Crookston et al. 1991). Small grains are a favorable candidate for a three-crop rotation, but are unpopular in Iowa because of low market value and high yield variability. Esteem for small grains, however, may increase if they are intercropped with a forage legume. Such forage legumes may either be used as livestock feed and/or to contribute N to suc-ceeding crops. Legume cover crops can contribute from 67 to 134 kg N ha- 1 to the succeeding crops; in nonhern climates, approxi-mately 101 kg N ha- 1 can be contributed to the succeeding corn crop by legumes intercropped with small grains (Bruulsema and Christie 1987). Traditional grass legume combinations include oat (Avena sativa 1.) underseeded with alfalfa (Medicago sativa 1.) or mammoth red clover (Trifolium pratense 1.), or rye (Secale cereale 1.) or oat underseeded with hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth subsp. villosa). However, pre-venting legume regrowth in the following corn crop is a major chal-lenge. Surviving legumes may deplete soil moisture to the detriment of corn yield (Ebelhar et al. 1984; Hesterman et al. 1986; Frye et al. 1988; Badaruddin and Meyer 1989). One potential solution to this challenge is berseem clover. Berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum 1.), also known as Egyptian journal Paper No. J-18595 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Project No. 2463, and supported by Hatch Act and State of Iowa funds. clover, is a true annual that winterkills in Iowa. It responds well to multiple cuttings and produces high quality forage. Berseem pro-duces as much as as 10 Mg dry matter ha- 1 yr- 1 (Singh et al. 1989). Berseem may be left to contribute N to the succeeding crop or to meet livestock needs in the event that the intercropped small grain produces low yield. As livestock feed, berseem may be harvested as hay, made into silage, or grazed. Grazing studies of berseem have shown no cases of bloat in ruminants (Baldridge et al. 1993; Sims 1991.). Corn yield response suggests that berseem contributes about 44 kg N ha- 1 to the following corn crop (Ghafffarzadeh 1997). It is unclear, however, how much of the corn yield increase is due to berseem N contribution and how much may be due to improvements in soil quality, decreases in pest pressure, or other rotation effects (Bullock 1992). It has been suggested that the amount of N con-tributed by legumes may be overestimated by as much as 123% (Hesterman et al. 1986). Therefore, traditional corn N response curves to fertilizer cannot be used to determine how to manage soil fenility when berseem clover is included in the rotation. A new N response curve may be necessary to determine how much additional N must be added to optimize corn yield. The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate corn yield po-tentials in a conventional corn-soybean rotation and in corn-soybean-oat rotations with and without berseem clover and to determine the optimum fertilizer rate to be used with corn following berseem clo-ver. METHODS Plots Research was conducted from 1993 to 1998 near Nashua, IA. Soil was predominantly Kenyon (fine-loamy, mixed, mesic Typic Haplu-doll) series with 0-5% slope. Treatments included a two year rota-tion of corn-soybean (CS); and three-year rotations of corn-soybean-oat (CSO) and corn-soybean-oat/berseem clover (CSOB). Rotations were established in 1991. CORN RESPONSE TON FERTILIZER IN ROTATIONS 43 Table 1. Total precipitation data from Nashua, IA (NOAA-NCDC, 1993-1998). YEAR MONTH 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 MEAN Precipitation (mm) April 61.0 29.0 101.8 May 54.0 38.0 61.7 June 138.0 29.0 172.2 July 331.9 83.0 140.0 August 252.6 35.0 147.0 September 38.5 37.0 59.0 October 0.0 49.0 43.9 Total 876.0 300.0 725.6 **data missing Crop strips were 4.6 m wide and 60 m long. Corn and soybean were spaced in six rows 0.76 m apart; oats were drilled in 24 rows spaced 0.19 m apart. Seeding rates (ha- 1) were: 60,000 corn, 395,000 soybean; 134 kg oat in the CSO rotation; 134 kg oat and 16.8 kg berseem were used in CSOB. All crop components of a rotation treatment were grown in sep-arate but adjacent strips each year. This allowed the collection of corn N response data each year. Corn followed soybean in the CS treatment, corn followed oat in the CSO treatment and corn followed the oat/berseem intercrop in the CSOB treatment. Treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with each treatment replicated once per block. There were four blocks. Corn main plots were divided into four 15 m long subplots. Each subplot received a different (0, 56, 112, or 168 kg ha- 1) nitrogen rate, hand-applied as inorganic fertilizer prior to cultivation. Nitro-gen was applied as NH4N03 in all years. Phosphorus and potassium were not applied to any crops because of high soil tests for both nutrients. Pre-emergence weed control was accomplished by banding granule alachlor ("Lasso") at planting. Corn and soybean were cultivated two to three times per season. In late August 1993, oat plots in the CSO rotation were tilled in order to control weeds after grain harvest. Corn yield measurements were harvested from the center two rows of the six row strip and from the center 12.2 m of each subplot using a small-plot combine. Grain yields were adjusted to 15.5 and 13% grain moisture for corn and soybeans, respectively. Statistics A split-plot analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to interpret effect. The linear additive model used to describe the effects was: Yijkt =µ+Ai+ B<ili + Rk + ARik + BRcilik +Ni+ ANil + BNciJjl + RNkt + ARNikl + BRN(i)jkl where A is the effect of years, B is the effect of blocks, R is the effect of rotation, and N is the effect of N rate. Years and blocks were considered to be random effects, while rotation and N rate were considered to be fixed effects. Effects were considered significant when the probability of a larger F-value was P<0.05. RESULTS Weather Temperature and precipitation data were collected at the research station. Note that precipitation was greater than normal in 1993 and ** 78.3 65.6 67.1 64.6 74.2 113.2 67.6 99.0 157.0 203.1 133.1 33.0 122.0 30.1 123.3 90.0 123.0 170.0 136.3 67.0 97.0 44.9 57.2 ** 202.0 164.2 91.8 ** 853.5 791.1 676.5 Table 2. Mean temperature data from Nashua, IA (NOAA-NCDC, 1993-1998). YEAR MONTH 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 MEAN Temperature (°C) April 6.4 8.4 6.2 ** 6.5 9.9 14.0 May 14.5 15.6 13.6 12.1 11.9 16.2 14.0 June 19.3 22.2 21.1 19.8 21.2 19.4 20.5 July 18.6 22.7 22.3 20.4 21.4 21.3 21.1 August 11.0 20.1 23.6 19.9 19.6 22.3 19.4 September 9.1 18.6 14.9 15.9 16.9 19.2 15.8 October 6.6 11.3 9.1 ** 10.4 10.8 9.6 Mean 12.2 17.0 15.8 17.6 15.4 17.0 17.0 **data missing 1997 and below normal in 1994 and 1996 (Table 1). Average monthly temperatures during 1993 were cooler than normal (Table 2). All plots were destroyed by hail in 1995, and, therefore, no yield data are shown for that year. Rotation Effect There was a significant interaction between year and rotation, and so it was necessary to analyze each year separately. There was no significant interaction between rotation and N rate, and so the results presented for rotation are averaged across all levels of N. Significant rotation effects occurred in three of the five years stud-ied (Table 3). No single rotation, however, proved to be superior over the five years of the study. This is surprising, given the work of Ghaffarzadeh (1997), which included the first three years of this study and suggested that the CSOB rotation provided a significant 10% corn yield advantage over a CSO rotation. Fertilizer N Because there was no significant yield increase (and hence, little N contribution) by the CSOB rotation, there was also no significant interaction noticed between rotation and N effect. Each year was analyzed separately, however, so as to better relate the N effect to the previously-discussed rotation effect. As mentioned previously, there was no significant rotation*N effect, and so the N effect was averaged across all rotations. 44 JOUR. IOWA ACAD. SCI. 107(2000) Table 3. Annual corn grain yield (Mg ha- 1) by rotation and year. All plots were destroyed by hail in 1995 so data are not shown. Rotations are: corn-soybean (CS), corn-soybean-oat (CSO) and corn-soybean-oat/berseem (CSOB). ROTA- YEAR TION 1993a 1994a 1996a 1997 1998 ALL cs 3.38 6.66 9.99 7.72 7.95 7.64 cso 4.35 8.26 8.67 6.97 7.27 7.82 CSOB 6.28 6.62 8.90 7.67 8.25 8.34 Mean 4.67 7.18 9.19 7.46 7.83 7.93 LSDo.os 1.29 1.20 1.26 1.21 1.54 1.21 aRotation effect significant at P < 0.05 level of probability Table 4. Annual corn grain yield (Mg ha- 1) by fertilizer N rate and year. Yields are averaged across the three rotations (corn-soybean, corn-soybean-oat and corn-soybean-oat/berseem). KG N YEAR HA- 1 93 94 96 97 98 ALL 0 2.96 4.77 6.90 4.09 5.42 4.83 56 4.13 6.92 8.72 6.23 6.53 6.51 112 5.47 8.20 10.35 8.50 9.12 8.33 168 6.13 8.84 10.78 9.39 10.32 9.46 mean 4.67 7.18 9.19 7.05 7.85 7.38 linear fit ** ** ** ** ** ** **Significant at P 0.01 level of probability; NS, not significant at P < 0.05 N rate, as anticipated, had a significant effect on corn grain yield in every year (Table 4). In each case, yield generally increased with N rate. In three of the five years, however, there was little advantage to applying Nat the rate of 168 kg ha- 1 rather than at the rate of 112 kg ha- 1 (Figure 1). DISCUSSION We suspect that there are three explanations for the difference in results between our study and that of Ghafffarzadeh (1997). First, one must consider the variability of the berseem contribution to corn yield. Mc Vay et al. (1989) found that yield benefit of berseem to a following crop (expressed as the amount of synthetic N fertilizer required to realize the same yield) ranged from 16 to 97 kg ha- 1 over the three years of their study. This variability is typically related to the relative success in establishing the berseem stand. Secondly, some of the N fixed by berseem will be sequestered or displaced by the concurrent small grain crop (Holderbaum et al. 1990). In the case of our study, the presence of oat may have reduced the net N contribution to the following corn crop. Thirdly, it seems that the advantage of berseem may be most strongly recognized in years of adverse weather. In dry years, berseem (or any other cover crop, for that matter) may help to conserve mois-ture, similar to that observed by Myers and Wagger (1991) with crimson clover. In very wet years, the more gradually-released N from berseem residue may be less prone to early-season leaching during heavy rain than synthetic-fertilizer N which is often applied entirely at the beginning of the growing season. We found the results of this study to very surprising given the 9 ..... 8 'ns .c en 7 ~ "O Qi > c: 'i! (!) c: ... 0 0 5 4 3 y = 12.328*(1-0.6618e-0.oo52x) 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 N rate (kg ha"1) Fig. 1. Mean corn grain yield response to fertilizer N. Response is averaged across rotations. Response was fit with monomolecular func-tion. studies discussed in the introduction to this article which attribute yield advantages to the use of longer rotations. We suspect that the same general soil which has allowed Iowa farmers to succeed for a quarter century with a minimal rotation (corn-soybean) may also have responded less to the potential soil fertility and structure ben-efits offered by longer rotations. It also is important to note that other legumes, including hairy vetch and crimson clover, have offered greater corn yield benefits than berseem clover (McVay et al. 1989). LITERATURE CITED BADARUDDIN, M. and D. W. MEYER. 1989. Water use by legumes and its effect on soil water status. Agronomy Journal 29: 1212-1216. BALDRIDGE, D., DUNN, R., DITTERLINE, R., SIMS, J., WELTY, L., WICHMAN, D., WESTCOTT, M. and STALLKNECHT, G. 1993. Ber-seem clover: a potential hay and green manure crop for Montana. Mon-tana Cooperative Extension Service Publication MT 9201 (AG). BRUULSEMA, T. W. and B. R. CHRISTIE. 1987. Nitrogen contribution to succeeding corn from alfalfa and clover. Agronomy Journal 79: 96-100. BULLOCK, D. G. 1992. Crop rotation. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 11: 309-326. COPELAND, P. J. 1992. Crop sequence affects nutrient composition of corn and soybean grown under high fertility. Agronomy Journal 84: 503-509. CROOKSTON, R. K., J. E. KURLE, P. J. COPELAND, J. H. FORD and W. E. LUESCHEN. 1991. Rotational cropping sequence affects yield of corn and soybean. Agronomy Journal 83: 108-113. DICK, W. A. and]. D.M. VAN DOREN. 1985. Continuous tillage and rotation combinations effects on corn, soybean, and oat yields. Agronomy Journal 77: 459-465. EBELHAR, S. A., W. W. FRYE and R. L. BLEVINS. 1984. Nitrogen from legume cover crops for no-tillage corn. Agronomy Journal 76: 51-55. FRANCIS, C. A. and M. D. CLEGG. 1990. Pages 107-127. In Crop rota-tions in sustainable production systems. In Sustainable Agricultural Sys-tems. C. A. Edwards, ed. Soil and Water Conservation Society, Ankeny, IA. FRYE, W. W., R. L. BLEVINS, M. S. CORAK and]. J. VARCO. 1988. Role of legume cover crops in efficient use of water and nitrogen. Pages 129-154. In Cropping strategies for effecient use of water and nitrogen. W. L. Hargrove, ed. ASA, CSSA, and SSSA, Madison, WI. GHAFFFARZADEH, M. 1997. Economic and biological benefits of inter-cropping berseem clover with oat in corn-soybean-oat rotations. Journal of Production Agriculture 10: 314-319. GRIFFITH, D. R., E. ]. KLADIVKO,]. V. MANNERING, T. D. WEST CORN RESPONSE TON FERTILIZER IN ROTATIONS 45 and S. D. PARSONS. 1988. Long-term tillage and rotation effects on corn growth and yield on high and low organic matter, poorly drained soils. Agronomy Journal 80: 599-605. HESTERMAN, 0. B., C. C. SHEAFFER, D. K. BARNES, W. E. LUESCH-EN and]. H. FORD. 1986. Alfalfa dry matter and nitrogen production, and fertilizer nitrogen response in legume-corn rotations. Agronomy Journal 78: 19-23. HOLDERBAUM, ]. F., A. M. DECKER, ]. ]. MEISINGER, F. R. MUL-FORD and L. R. VOUGH. 1990. Fall-seeded legume cover crops for no-tillage corn in the humid East. Agronomy Journal 82: 117-124. MCVAY, K. A., D. E. RADCLIFFE and W. L. HARGROVE. 1989. Winter legume effects on soil properties and nitrogen fertilizer requirements. Soil Science Society of America Journal 53: 1856-1862. MYERS,]. L. and M. G. WAGGER. 1991. Reseeding potential of crimson clover as a cover crop for no-tillage corn. Agronomy Journal 83: 985-991. SIMS, ]. R. 1991. Yield and bloat hazard of berseem clover and other forage legumes in Montana. Montana State University Agricultural Experiment Station 8: 4-10. SINGH, V., JOSHI, Y. P. and VERMA, S. S. 1989. Studies on the produc-tivity of Egyptian clover and oats under intercropping. Experimental Agriculture: 25: 541-544. 

https://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1211&amp;context=jias

Corn (Zea mays L.) Yield Response to Nitrogen Fertilizer in Conventional and Alternative Rotations

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Name not available

University of Northern Iowa