TY - JOUR
T1 - Strengths and limitations of Nitrogen rate recommendations for corn and opportunities for improvement
AU - Morris, Thomas F.
AU - Murrell, T. Scott
AU - Beegle, Douglas B.
AU - Camberato, James J.
AU - Ferguson, Richard B.
AU - Grove, John
AU - Ketterings, Quirine
AU - Kyveryga, Peter M.
AU - Laboski, Carrie A.M.
AU - McGrath, Joshua M.
AU - Meisinger, John J.
AU - Melkonian, Jeff
AU - Moebius-Clune, Bianca N.
AU - Nafziger, Emerson D.
AU - Osmond, Deanna
AU - Sawyer, John E.
AU - Scharf, Peter C.
AU - Smith, Walter
AU - Spargo, John T.
AU - Van Es, Harold M.
AU - Yang, Haishun
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the American Society of Agronomy. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/1/1
Y1 - 2018/1/1
N2 - Nitrogen fixation by the Haber–Bosch process has more than doubled the amount of fixed N on Earth, signifi cantly infl uencing the global N cycle. Much of this fixed N is made into N fertilizer that is used to produce nearly half of the world’s food. Too much of the N fertilizer pollutes air and water when it is lost from agroecosystems through volatilization, denitrifi cation, leaching, and runoff. Most of the N fertilizer used in the United States is applied to corn (Zea mays L.), and the profi tability and environmental footprint of corn production is directly tied to N fertilizer applications. Accurately predicting the amount of N needed by corn, however, has proven to be challenging because of the eff ects of rainfall, temperature, and interactions with soil properties on the N cycle. For this reason, improving N recommendations is critical for profi table corn production and for reducing N losses to the environment. The objectives of this paper were to review current methods for estimating N needs of corn by: (i) reviewing fundamental background information about how N recommendations are created; (ii) evaluating the performance, strengths, and limitations of systems and tools used for making N fertilizer recommendations; (iii) discussing how adaptive management principles and methods can improve recommendations; and (iv) providing a framework for improving N fertilizer rate recommendations.
AB - Nitrogen fixation by the Haber–Bosch process has more than doubled the amount of fixed N on Earth, signifi cantly infl uencing the global N cycle. Much of this fixed N is made into N fertilizer that is used to produce nearly half of the world’s food. Too much of the N fertilizer pollutes air and water when it is lost from agroecosystems through volatilization, denitrifi cation, leaching, and runoff. Most of the N fertilizer used in the United States is applied to corn (Zea mays L.), and the profi tability and environmental footprint of corn production is directly tied to N fertilizer applications. Accurately predicting the amount of N needed by corn, however, has proven to be challenging because of the eff ects of rainfall, temperature, and interactions with soil properties on the N cycle. For this reason, improving N recommendations is critical for profi table corn production and for reducing N losses to the environment. The objectives of this paper were to review current methods for estimating N needs of corn by: (i) reviewing fundamental background information about how N recommendations are created; (ii) evaluating the performance, strengths, and limitations of systems and tools used for making N fertilizer recommendations; (iii) discussing how adaptive management principles and methods can improve recommendations; and (iv) providing a framework for improving N fertilizer rate recommendations.
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U2 - 10.2134/agronj2017.02.0112
DO - 10.2134/agronj2017.02.0112
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85040170526
SN - 0002-1962
VL - 110
SP - 1
EP - 37
JO - Agronomy Journal
JF - Agronomy Journal
IS - 1
ER -