Progress 10/01/11 to 09/30/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The two primary audiences for this project are those people providing fertilizer recommendations to farmers and those farmers/producers applying N fertilizers to corn. This would include fertilizer industry employees, county agents, crop consultants, soil testing labs, farm supply company employees and state and federal agency staff such as NRCS, Kansas Department of ag , EPA and Kansas Department of Health and Environment. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Over the course of this project 1 PhD student and 3 MS students were trained whose thesis or dissertation topics focused on nitrogen management. Two of these students are now faculty members at Land grant Universities and the other two are crop consultants. In addition, 3-4 undergraduate students were utilized as student workers and exposed to the ideas and concepts of N management in each year of the project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Since I have a split appointment with research, teaching and extension responsibilities, the results of this work quickly move into the classroom where I teach a course on Applied Nutrient Management to seniors and graduate students. The majority of these students will enter the work force upon graduation as crop consultants, county agents, go back to the farm or go on to graduate school. Through extension I regularly contribute to our electronic newsletter which is targeted to county agents, crop advisors, crop consultants and farmers. I also prepare other extension publications of various types which go to a number of the key target audiences. I also conduct training programs for these same people regularly. I contribute to a number of regional CCA training courses each year where Certified Crop advisers get required continuing education in Kansas and other states. I also do similar training for county agents and farmers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
A large data set has been developed for corn, grain sorghum and hard red winter wheat in Kansas which provides insight into how these crops respond to applied N fertilizers, and how soils, previous crop, weather and fertilizer management interact to impact yield and potentially environmental quality. This data set clearly shows that the response to the use of commonly available tools thaught to improve N use is extremely site and year specific. The data also shows the optimum N rate will vary from year to year depending on residual nitrogen present in the soil profile, N mineralization from organic sources such as crop residue and soil organic matter, and how mineralization is synchronized with crop N use and N loss from various mechanisms such as denitrification, leaching and ammonia volitilization. The data further shows that N loss rates, while significantly impacted by weather and soil properties can also be impacted by management factors such as N fertilizer source, how the fertilizer is applied to the crop and when or how frequently the N is applied. The data collected in this project is currently bing organized with the goal of making it available to other scientists in the near future.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Asebedo, Antonio Ray, 2015. Development of Sensor-Based Nitrogen Recommendation Algorithms for Cereal crops. Ph.D. Dissertations, Kansas State University
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Foster, Timothy J. 2014. The use of nitrogen timing and nitrification inhibitors as tools in corn and wheat production in Kansas. M.S.Thesis. Kansas State University
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Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The two primary audiences for this project arethose people providing fertilizer recommendations to farmers and those farmers/producers applying N fertilizers to corn. This would include fertilizer industry employees, county agents, crop consultants, soil testing labs, farm supply company employees and state and federal agency staff such as NRCS, Kansas Department of ag , EPA and Kansas Department of Health and Environment. A number of Educational activities were conducted in 2014/2015 aimed at each of these groups. Educational programs focused on corn, but also applied concepts learned in this project to other important crops where N was applied including wheat and grain sorghum. Winter training courses for farmers, Continuing Education courses for Certified Crop Advisors and County Agents, Field days for farmers and crop advisors. Changes/Problems:The field component of the project is ending this fall. Efforts will shift exclusively to data summary and analysis, publication and technology transfer for the last year of the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One of the key goals of this project is to train both graduate and undergraduate students. During 2015 one PhD student finished, who was working on developing sensor based algorithms to enhance yield and NUE in corn, wheat and grain sorghum. In addition 3 undergraduate students worked on the project this year. Many of the undergrads go back to the farm or go o work in the target audiences. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Since I have a split appointment with research, teaching and extension responsibilities, the results of this work quickly move into the classroom where I teach a course on Applied Nutrient Management to seniors and graduate students. Current enrollment is 43, and the majority of these students will enter the work force upon graduation as crop consultants, county agents, go back to the farm or go on to graduate school. Through extension I regularly contribute to our electronic newsletter which is targeted to county agents, crop advisors, crop consultants and farmers. I also prepare other extension publications of various types which go to a number of the key target audiences. I also conduct training programs for these same people regularly. I contribute to a number of regional CCA training courses each year where Certified Crop advisers get required continuing education. I also do similar training for county agents and farmers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We should complete the revisions of our fertilizer recommendation software in 2016. One huge improvement is that the new reports will projide not just rate recommendations, but also additional comments and links to additional documents to provide information on using BMP's to enhance NUE. The software will be in two parts: one internal which will print reports and recommendations for people who use the KState lab, but a second version which will be available free by download from the lab website for folks who use other labs to input their data and get our recommendations and the same BMP information. I have already scheduled presentations in Kansas, Missouri, Indiana and North Dakota for this winter for CCA continuing edutaion workshops. One extension publication is being revised to focus on when to apply N to maximize NUE, and several other articles are planned.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The assessment of current N recommendations for corn is currently underway. Four field studies on corn are being conducted in 2015 focused on the interaction of N rate x time of N application on soils differing in soil texture/leaching potential with and without irrigation. Data collected includes total N uptake by the plant to allow direct measurement of NUE by difference. These sites will be the last field experiments conducted under this project. To date over 15 successful field experiments have been conducted looking at various Best Management Practices including N sources, time of application, placement of N fertilizers on or below the soil surface, and the use of fertilizer additives such as nitrification and urease inhibitors. A summary of work of all the data from this project, and similar work with grain sorghum and wheat is underway, with the goal of better understanding how these different practices, particulalry application time(s), method of placement, and the use of slow release products, urease inhibitors and nitrification inhibitors impact N itrogen fertilizer recovery (NUE) and crop yield in different areas and on soils differing in there drainage as defined by the saturated conductivity in the most restrictive layers in the root zone. Revised Kansas N fertilizer recommendations for corn, based on this work, will be available for use with the 2016 corn crop.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The two primary audiences for this project are those people providing fertilizer recommendations to farmers, and those farmers/producers applying N fertilizers to corn. This would include: fertilizer industry employees, county agents, crop consultants, soil testing labs,farm supply employees and state and federal agency staff such as NRCS staff, Kansas Department of Ag, Epa and Kansas Department of health and Environment. A number of educational activities were conducted in 2014 aimed at each of these groups.Winter training courses aimed at farmers, Continuing Education courses offered for Certified crop Advisors, Webinars for County agents and CCA's, Field Days and Field Training courses were all offered in 2014. Changes/Problems: No major changes in the field program are planned. The shift from field research to data summary and utilization to improve recommendations will continue in 2015. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? One of the key goals of this project is to train graduate students and undergraduate students. During 2014 one graduate student finished his MS focused on the use of time of application and nitrification inhibitors as tools to enhance NUE in corn. A second PhD student is working on developing sensor based algorithms to enhance yield and NUE in corn, wheat and grain sorghum. In addition 4-5 undergraduate students work on the project each year. Many of whom go basck to the farm or to work in the target audiences. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Since I have a split appointment with research, teaching and extension responsibilities, the results of this work quickly move into the classroom where I teach a course on Applied Nutrient Management to seniors and graduate students. Through extension I regularly contribute to our electronic newsletter which is targeted to county agents, crop advisors, crop consultants and farmers. I also conduct training programs for these same people regularly. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? we are currently revising the software used to make N fertilizer recommendations in our soil testing lab, and in that process making the first needed revisions in our N recommendations for corn. Our data collected in part by work on this project, clearly shows that the current assumption that total N need per unit of corn production is not a constant, but rather declines rapidly as corn yield increases. Currently we assume that corn requires1.6 pounds total (fertilizer plus soil contributions) N per bushel of corn produced. As stated in our objectives this is based on a Nitrogen Use Efficiency, as measured by recovery, of 50%. Initial changes being proposed are to use a stepped system, still assuming a 50% NUE, of 3 pounds total N per bushel at uields <100 bushel per acre, 2.5 pounds total N per bushel at yields from 101 to 120 bushels per acre, 2 pounds total N per bushel from 121 to 140 bushels per acre, 1.6 from 141 to 160 bushels per acre, 1.4 pounds total N from 161 to 180 bushels per acre, 1.2 pounds per bushel from 181 to 200 and 1.1 pounds per bushel for yields over 200 bushels per acre. The soil contribution to total N is measured by soil test for residual nitrate in the profile and soil organic matter content. We also will start efforts to use soil series/texture, cropping system and location to provide better estimates of expected NUE, and some potential management tools that could be considered to enhance NUE and reduce fertilizer needs. These suggestions will be given along with standard rate recommendations on soil test reports.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The assessment of current N recommendations for corn is underway. Six field studies on corn N fertilization were conducted in 2014 focused on time of N application as a tool to enhance N use efficiency. Excellent data was collected measuring the effect of application timing, including split applications on N uptake and yield, and the use of alternative tools such as polymer coated ureas to slow release of N to the environment. WOrk conducted to date show that the response to these BMP's is clearly influenced by soil texture and drainage, and rainfall patterens, Achieved NUE is very site and year dependent. This makes developing appropriate Best Management Practices very difficult and site specific. what works best in central kansas may not be the same or appropriate for central Indiana. A summary of work on this project since 2006, and similar work with grain sorghum and wheat has been started. A meta analysis is being conduted to help understand how different practices, particulalry application time(s), method of placement, and the use of slow release products, urease inhibitors and nitrification inhibitors impact N itrogen fertilizer recovery (NUE) and crop yield in different areas and on soils differing in there drainage as defined by the saturated conductivity in the most restrictive layers in the root zone.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Tremblay, N., M.Y. Bourboubi, C.B. Belec, R. Mullen, N. Kitchen, W. Thomason, S. Ebelhar, D. Mengel, B. Raun, D. Francis, E. D. Vories and I. Ortiz-Monasterio. 2012. Corn response to nitrogen is influenced by soil tesxture and weather. Agron. J. 104(6)1658-1671.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Woli, Krishna P., Fabian G. Fernandez, John E. Sawyer, Joshua D. Stamper, David B. Mengel, Daniel W. Barker and Mark Hanna. 2014. Agronomic comparison of anhydrous ammonia applied with a high speed low draft opener and conventional knife injection in corn. Agron. J. 106(3): 881-892.
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Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: The two primary audiences for this project are the fertilizer industry employees, county agents and others providing nitrogen fertilizer recommendations to farmers, and farmers/corn producers appling N to a corn crop. In addition, agency staff from organizations such as USDA, KS Department of Ag, EPA are important constituents. A number of activities were conducted in 2013 aimed at these audiences. Winter training courses focused at farmers, Continuing Education courses offered for Certified crop Advisors, Webinars for county Agents and CCA's, Field Days and Field Training courses were all conducted in 2013. Changes/Problems: No major changes in the actual field research plans are foreseen. However, effort will be shifting from field research to using the data for implimentation of the results as revised N fertilizer recommendations. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? One of the key goals of this project is graduate and undergraduate student training. In 2013 the project served as the base for the thesis/dissertation for one MS and one PhD student. In addition the project proved the base of the work for a summer internship for one undergraduate student. The project leader and the graduate students participated in two national and one regional conference/meeting with focus on NUE. Of particular value was the KC NUE meeting sponsored by Woods Hole Laboratories and the Soil Science Society of America. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will be utilizing the data collected over the past two project periods to refine the KSU nitrogen fertilizer recommendations for corn and grain sorghum. Two major components of that revision will be a reduction in the N reguirement per bushel of expected production, particularly at higher yields. A new non-linear relationship has been defined which will increase the N recommendations at low yield levels and significantly reduce the N recommended at high yield levels. The second major change will be the introduction of an expected NUE term to adjust N recommendations for NUE in a speciific soil, climatic zone, management system such as method and time of application, N source and use of tools such as nitrification inhibitors or urease inhibitors. A matrix approach will be used to provide appropriate examples of expected NUE for different regions of the state and different management systems commonly used. These values will range from approximately 35 to 70% fertilizer recovery.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Seven field studies were conducted in 2013 aimed at gathering data to address goal 2 above. It is clear that NUE, as defined as fertilizer recovery varies widely across the state of Kansas. The variation is created by many factors including; soil drainage at or within a particular field; specific rainfall pattern and amount received that year; soil temperature as it influences soil processes such as nitrification, denitrification and mineralization; crop residue management; time of fertilizer placement, source of N fertilizer selected; and how the fertilizer is applied. It is also clear that the amount of N required per bushel of corn production varies sharply with yield and is not linear. As yield increases, the plant is capable of utilizing N more efficiently and addituional N added is not as high as at lower yield levels. These two relationships require that many of the conventional beliefs about N fertilization be rethought.
Publications
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: A number of field experiments were conducted in 2012 focused on production practices which could increase nitrogen use efficiency in corn (NUE). These included studies aimed at the time of N application, the use of fertilizers of fertilizer additives to enhance NUE, methods of N placement, and the use of crop sensors.The majority of the 2012 work was impacted by the heat and drought. However very useful information was obtained from irrigated work at Rossville KS and Scandia KS under sprinkler irrigation. At Rossville, with no-till corn following soybeans, wiithest yields and NUE were obtained with spring preplant applied anhydrous ammonia, as compared to fall ammonia or any surface applied liquid or dry fertilizer product. While the use of a NBPT urease inhibitor, or polymer coated urea enhanced performance over straight urea, these surface applied products did not match the performance of anhydrous ammonia under the unique conditions found in 2012 at this site. Similar trends were observed in 2011 at this site.At the Scandia KS site the no-till corn was planted into corn residue. All the fertilizer materials used were broadcast on the soil surface. At this site the closer the time of application to nutrient utilization, the better the NUE. Sidedressing at the 8 leaf growth stage gave consistantly higher yields than applications shortly after emergence, which performed better than applications made in early spring, before planting. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
These experiments are providing valuable data which strongly suggests that in the no-till production systems common in the central plains and western cornbelt, how the N fertilizer is applied, and when it is applied are critical for attaining high crop yields and NUE. Placing N fertilizer products below the soil surface reduces potential loss from immobilization withing the decomposing residue or from volatilization of ammonia from urea containing products. This data is extremely valuable to technology transfer programs designed to change current behavior which emphasizes surface application of urea based fertilizers weeks or months prior to planting. By switching to ammonia of liquid N products, and appling these below the residue, NUE can be enhanced. For those farmers who choose to continue to use urea based, granular products, moving application time closer to uptake periods of the crop, and ppootentially utilizing urease inhibitors or controlled release coatings could substantially increase NUE and reduce N loss.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Plans were developed during the fourth quarter of 2011 for the initiation of field research in 2012. Space was obtained on University farms and private farms for field projects focused on enhancing nitrogen use efficiency in corn. PARTICIPANTS: D. Mengel is the lead investigator on this project. He is a Professor of Agronomy with over 30 years experience in conducting field research on nitrogen fertilization on corn, rice, sorghum and wheat. His role is to plan, coordinate and execute field research in Kansas aimed at the objectives of this project. TARGET AUDIENCES: Farmers, Certified Crop Advisors, Industry Agronomists, Agency staff such as County agents, NRCS Conservationists, Agronomists and soil scientists, and other state and federal agencies. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
No outcomes or impacts were developed during the first three months of this project.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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