Progress 03/22/19 to 09/30/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences reached by my efforts include other researchers, graduate students, post-docs, visiting scholars, producers, and extension personnel. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided opportunities to train graduate students and staff in research project management, statistical analysis (e.g., fitting crop yield response functions), meta-analysis and literature synthesis, and research communication. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?I have presented results from this project to growers, extension personnel, and agronomists at a nitrogen-focused conference at University of Minnesosta, as well as at the annual Indiana CCA conference. My graduate students, post-doc, and I have also presented this work to other researchers at the American Society of Agronomy meeting in 2020 and 2021. Lastly, the results have been disseminated to other researchers through peer-reviewed publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
For the first objective, to gain a more thorough understanding of the influence of macro- and micro-scale ecosystems and landscape properties on soil N dynamics: My research teamcontinued a field experiment to investigate the interactive effect of landscape position and winter cover crop (rye-clover mixture, rye monoculture, no cover)on N dynamics during corn growth. Within this field study, we conducted a litter bag study investigating how cover crop mass loss and N release vary across hillslopes throughout the corn growing season. We found that cover crop decomposition and N release was similar among landscape positions and between cover crop treatmentsdespite differences in temperature and moisture conditions. However, when we multiplied the proportion of N released by the biomass produced at each landscape position, we found that more N was released from rye-clover mixtures than rye monocultures on backslopes. This finding suggests that planting a mixture on sloping land could increase N supply to the corn crop relative to a rye monoculture, helping producers know where to invest the extra cost of legume cover crop seed.This study was recently published in Agriculture, Ecosystems, and the Environment. We have also started to measure N2O fluxes inthis study. In 2021, we found that the cover crop mixture led to higher rates of soil N2O emissions than no cover crop at the toeslope position, but not at the backslope and summit positions. This finding suggests that although cover crops can increase soil C storage, this beneficialeffect on the greenhouse gas balance may be partially offset by higher N2O fluxes when they are placed in specific landscape positions. Again, this finding helps producers understand where cover crops will have the greatest benefits on the landscape. My former graduate student Sam Leuthold completed a modeling study evaluating how corn yield responds to cover crop treatments by landscape position under a range of weather conditions using field data to calibrate and validate the model. The study showed that cover crops can raise yields of corn during dry years, particularly on backslope positions, by helping to conserve water. This positive effect on the water balance may also promote betterN recovery by corn during dry years. We demonstrated that cover crop benefits may be underestimated when they are only evaluated on flat research plots. This study was recently published in Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment. Lastly, Sam completed a literature synthesis study of previously published data on the interactive effects of weather andtopographic attributes and corn and soybean yield. We found that corn typically yields higher in flat, low-lying landscape positions but the trend is less pronounced under high rainfall conditions. Our results provide guidance for farmers about how to designate yield-based management zones that can be used to deliver inputs more precisely, and suggest that these management zones maybe easiest to identify during dry years.This study was recently published in Field Crops Research. For the second objective, to explore optimization of nitrogen management practices through interrogation of corn nitrogen use efficiency dataset from studies conducted across the North Central region: I contributed yield data N rate trialsto a regional effort to understand the relationship between yield gaps and optimum N fertilizer rates for corn. The study was recently presented at the ASA-CSSA-SSSA International meeting. The study found that the yield gap is a good predictor of the agronomic optimum N rate. This result will be used to developalgorithms to predict optimum N fertilizer rates in different environments. In addition, I contributed data on corn N use efficiency to a literature synthesis study about short-term vs. long-term N fertilizer recovery efficiency. The study shows that N fertilizer recovery efficiency can increase by 20 percentage points when considering multiple years vs a single year, meaning that N fertilizer that is not used in the first year can provide benefits to subsequent crops and potentially reduce N fertilizer requirements in future years. This paper is currently under review at European Journal of Soil Science. For the third objective, to develop nitrogen management decision-making tools for crop advisers and growers: My post-doc Lucas Canisares wrote a newsletter article for agronomists and farmers about how optimum N fertilizer rates vary by landscape position, and also how N fertilizer rates can be adjusted due to higher N fertilizer prices. The newsletter article is based on an on-farm study where different N fertilizer rates were applied at specific landscape positions throughout a field and corn yields were measured in these different zones. The newsletter article provides guidance to farmers about which landscape positions they could consider reducing N fertilizer inputs to minimize cost and avoid environmental N losses.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Leuthold, SJ., D. Quinn, F. Miguez, O. Wendroth, M. Salmeron, and H. Poffenbarger. 2021. Topographic effects on soil microclimate and surface cover crop residue decomposition in rolling cropland. Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Environment, 107609.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Leuthold, SJ., O. Wendroth, M. Salmeron, and H. Poffenbarger. 2021. Weather-dependent relationships between topographic variables and yield of maize and soybean. Field Crops Research, 108368.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Canisares, LP., J. Grove, F. Miguez, and H. Poffenbarger. 2021. Long-term no-till increases soil nitrogen mineralization but does not affect optimal corn nitrogen fertilization practices relative to inversion tillage. Soil and Tillage Research 213, 105080.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Leuthold, SJ., M. Salmeron, O. Wendroth, and H. Poffenbarger. 2021. Cover crops decrease maize yield variability in sloping landscapes through increased water during reproductive stages. Field Crops Research 265, 108111.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Quinn, DJ., H. Poffenbarger, SJ. Leuthold, and CD. Lee. 2021. Corn response to in-furrow fertilizer and fungicide across rye cover crop termination timings. Agronomy Journal 113, 3384-3398.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Vonk, WJ., R. Hijbeek, MJ. Glendning, D. Powlson, A. Bhogal, I. Merbach, JV. Silva, H. Poffenbarger, J. Dhillon, K. Sieling, and HFM. ten Berge. Under review. Long-term mineral nitrogen fertiliser recovery in cereals.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Antonio-Ordonez, R., C. White, M. Spargo, JT. Kaye, JP. Sanders, RR. Weil, WE. Thomason, MD. Ruark, J. Iqbal, N. Fiorellino, AL. Shober, MJ. Castellano, SV. Archontoulis, JH. Grove, C. Lee, GJ. Danalatos, LA. Puntel, H. Poffenbarger, and HL. Wells. 2021. Yield gap as a key metric to determining N fertilizer rates in maize crop. ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT.
|
Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences reached by my efforts include other researchers, graduate students, visiting scholars, producers, and extension personnel. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided opportunities to train graduate students and staff in research project management, statistical analysis (e.g., fitting crop yield response functions), meta-analysis and literature synthesis,and research communication. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?My graduate students and I have presented results from this project to growers, extension personnel, and agronomists at the Kentucky Corn, Soybean, and Tobacco Field Day, the Kentucky Corn CORE Farmer workshop, and the Tri-State Advanced Soil Health Training in 2019 and 2020. My graduate students and I have also presented this work to other researchers at the American Society of Agronomy meeting in 2019 and the International Crop Modeling Conference in Montpelier, France in 2020. Lastly, the results have been disseminated to other researchers through peer-reviewed publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, we will complete manuscripts on the landscape x cover crop x N rate study and use this data set to simulate cover crop effects on spatial and temporal variability of yield and optimum N rate across different weather conditions. We will continue the coordinated cover crop study and literature synthesis study on soil C response to N fertilization.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
(1)Gain a more thorough understanding of the influence of macro- and micro-scale ecosystems and landscape properties on soil N dynamics. My graduate student, Sam Leuthold, continued a field experiment to investigate the interactive effect of landscape position and winter cover crop on N dynamics during corn growth. My team measured the effects of cover crops on soil moisture and soil inorganic N content during corn growth, as well as cover crop decomposition, corn N uptake and yield at the summit, backslope, and toeslope positions of hillslopes in two fields. We found that cover crop growth and legume cover crop N fixation differed by landscape position, while cover crop decomposition did not. Although corn yields and soil inorganic N concentrations differed depending on landscape position (both highest at toeslope and lowest at backslope), we did not findconsistent effects of landscape position on the optimum N rate for corn.The results of this study were presented at conferences in fall of 2019 and winter of 2020 and will be presented in upcoming manuscripts. My graduate student Brian Rinehart is leading a study to investigate changes in corn root system traits due to breeding and the impact of these changes on soil organic C and N formation and turnover. He has found that, through breeding over the last 70 years, corn root systems have been smaller in terms of mass and length. This suggests that roots of modern corn plantsmay contribute less to soil organic matter and may be less capable of scavenging nitrogen than older varieties, but further study is needed in the field. My graduate student Dan Quinn is finishing up a study to test the effects of cover crops on the optimal N rate and timing for corn. His initial results suggest that sidedressed N can be used more efficiently by corn than pre-plant N, especially in the presence of cover crops. I am also leading a coordinated study to evaluate the effects of grass and legume cover crops on the optimum N rate of corn involving 15 locations across the eastern and midwestern United States. The cover crops for that study were planted this fall. (2)Explore optimization of nitrogen management practices through interrogation of corn nitrogen use efficiency datasets from studies conducted across the North Central region. I contributed soil data, yield data, and soil samples to a regional effort to understand soil health effects on the response of corn to N fertilizer inputs. I helped to prepare the manuscript, which was lead-authored by a graduate student at Ohio State University. The study found that increases in soil biological health can increase corn yields for a given unit of N fertilizer, but cannot replace mineral N fertilization in corn production. Themanuscript has now been accepted. The study is important because it shows the value of soil health practices to enhance nitrogen use efficiency in corn production. My graduate student Dan Quinn performed a meta-analysis on starter fertilization impacts on corn yield in the United States. The study found that starter fertilizer increases corn yield by approximately 5% across many different management and soil conditions. This paper is important because it reveals that starter fertilizer can be beneficial even under relatively high-fertility conditions. In addition, my graduate student Travis is conducting aliterature synthesis project that evaluates the effect of N fertilization on the retention of corn Cinputs in soil organic matter. He has found that N fertilization does not impact the C retention efficiency of corn C inputs. He is presenting the results at an upcoming conference. The results help to resolve the ongoing debate about whether or not N fertilizer inputs promote faster residue decomposition. (3)Develop nitrogen management decision-making tools for crop advisers and growers. The meta-analysis paper completed by Dan Quinn was transformed into an extension publication that is currently under internal review. This publication will make the results of his meta-analysis available to extension agents and farmers.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Huang, Y., J. Grove, H. Poffenbarger, K. Jacobsen, B. Tao, X. Zhu, D. McNear, and W. Ren. 2020. Assessing century-scale synergistic effects of no-tillage and cover crops on soil carbon dynamics in a maize cropping system under climate change. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 291: 108090.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Quinn, D., C. Lee, and H. Poffenbarger. 2020. Corn Yield Response to Sub-Surface Banded Starter Fertilizer in the U.S.: A Meta-Analysis. Field Crops Research 254: 107834.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Wade, J., S. Culman, J.A.R. Logan, H. Poffenbarger, M.S. Demyan, J.H. Grove, A.P. Mallarino, J.M. McGrath, M. Ruark, and J. West. 2020. Improved soil biological health increases corn grain yield in N fertilized systems across the Corn Belt. Scientific Reports 10(1):3917.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Leuthold, S., H.J. Poffenbarger, M. Salmeron Cortasa, O. Wendroth, and E.R. Haramoto. Investigating the interactions between cover crops and complex agricultural terrain in southeastern maize systems. American Society of Agronomy Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX, November 2019.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Leuthold, S., H.J. Poffenbarger, M. Salmeron, O. Wendroth, and E. Haramoto. Do cover crops increase or decrease spatiotemporal variability in maize yield? International Crop Modeling Conference, Montpellier, France, February 2020.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Poffenbarger, H.J., and J.H. Grove. Effects of long-term no-till on optimal nitrogen fertilization practices for corn. American Society of Agronomy Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, November 2019.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Quinn, D., H.J. Poffenbarger, and C.D. Lee. Optimum nitrogen fertilizer rate and timing for corn following a rye cover crop. American Society of Agronomy Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, November 2019.
|
Progress 03/22/19 to 09/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audiences reached by my efforts include other researchers, graduate students, producers, and extension personnel. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided opportunities to train graduate students and staff in research project management, statistical analysis (e.g., fitting crop yield response functions), and research communication. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?I presented results from this project to growers, extension personnel, and agronomists at the Kentucky Commodity Conference in 2019. My graduate students and I have also presented this work to other researchers at the American Society of Agronomy meeting in 2019. Lastly, the results have been disseminated to other researchers through peer-reviewed publications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next reporting period, we will complete an additional year of two ongoing studies and begin preparing manuscripts on these studies. A new project will be starting to investigate the effects of legume cover crops on optimum N fertilization practices for corn.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1: Gain a more thorough understanding of the influence of macro- and micro-scale ecosystems and landscape properties on soil N dynamics. My graduate student, Sam Leuthold, conducted a field experiment to investigate the interactive effect of landscape position and winter cover crop on the optimum N rate for corn. My team measured the effects of cover crops on soil moisture and soil inorganic N content during corn growth, as well as corn N uptake and yield at the summit, backslope, and toeslope positions of hillslopes in two fields. The results were presented at conferences in summer and fall of 2019. This project will continue for at least one more year. Goal 2: Explore optimization of nitrogen management practices through interrogation of corn nitrogen use efficiency datasets from studies conducted across the North Central region. I have contributed soil data and soil samples to a regional effort to understand soil health effects on the response of corn to N fertilizer inputs. I helped to prepare the manuscript, which was lead-authored by a graduate student at Ohio State University. The manuscript is currently under review. Goal 3: Develop nitrogen management decision-making tools for crop advisers and growers. My graduate student, Dan Quinn, conducted a study to determine whether N fertilization recommendations should be modified when corn is following a grass cover crop. He presented the project results at the American Society of Agronomy meeting in fall 2019. The project will continue for another year.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Wade, J., S. Culman, J.A.R. Logan, H. Poffenbarger, M.S. Demyan, J.H. Grove, A.P. Mallarino, J.M. McGrath, M. Ruark, and J. West. Improved soil biological health increases corn grain yield in N fertilized systems across the Corn Belt. Under review at Scientific Reports.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Castellano, M.J., S.V. Archontoulis, M.J. Helmers, H.J. Poffenbarger, and J. Six. 2019. Sustainable intensification of agricultural drainage. Nature Sustainability 2: 914-921.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Mahal, N.K., W.R. Osterholz, F.E. Miguez, H.J. Poffenbarger, J.E. Sawyer, D.C. Olk, S.V. Archontoulis, and M.J. Castellano. 2019. Nitrogen fertilizer suppresses microbial mineralization of soil organic matter in maize agroecosystems. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 7: 1-12.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Leuthold, S., H.J. Poffenbarger, M. Salmeron Cortasa, O. Wendroth, and E.R. Haramoto. Investigating the interactions between cover crops and complex agricultural terrain in southeastern maize systems. American Society of Agronomy Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX, November 2019.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Poffenbarger, H.J., and J.H. Grove. Effects of long-term no-till on optimal nitrogen fertilization practices for corn. American Society of Agronomy Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, November 2019.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Quinn, D., H.J. Poffenbarger, and C.D. Lee. Optimum nitrogen fertilizer rate and timing for corn following a rye cover crop. American Society of Agronomy Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, November 2019.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Leuthold, S, M. Salmeron Cortasa, O. Wendroth, E.R. Haramoto, and H.J. Poffenbarger. Understanding spatial variability in cover crop growth and decomposition. North Central Extension-Industry Soil Fertility Conference, Des Moines IA, November 2019.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Leuthold, S. and H.J. Poffenbarger. Cover crop productivity and mixture composition differ by topographic position, but their impacts on early season soil properties do not. Southern Cover Crop Council Meeting, Auburn, AL, July 2019.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Poffenbarger, H.J. and J. McGrath. Kentucky Commodity Conference. Nitrogen rate decision support for Kentucky corn grain production. Bowling Green, KY, January 2019.
|
|