The ideal nitrogen fertilizer rate in the corn belt has been climbing for decades, the state study shows news

Ames, Iowa – The amount of nitrogen fertilizer required to maximize the profitability of corn production in midwests has been increasing by about 1.2% per year for the last three decades, according to the New Iowa State University Research.

StudyPublished in Nature Communications last month, analyzed data from pre-long and short-term studies by the University of Iowa State and Illinois, which to calculate the continuous growing optimal nitrogen rates of the corn belt, who thought that researchers thought that were stable over time despite the year-old fluctuations. The authors of the study mainly attributed the increase in optimal nitrogen rates from 1991 to 2021 to increase damage during wet springs and increase in nutritional demands of high yields, which increased by about 1.2% per year.

Study co-author Michael Castalono, Agronomy Professor and William T. The study co-writer Michael Castalono in Frankenberger Professor Soil Sciences said, “It was not really surprising to us when you sat down and thought about it,” the co-writer of the study Michael Castaleno, Agronomy Professor and William T. Frankenberger Professor in Soil Sciences. “It is like a bank account. If you withdraw money, you need to deposit more money to keep an account. ,

Analysis tracks with Iowa farmers’ surveys, whose self-reported rate of implementing nitrogen fertilizer on corn has also increased in recent decades.

“Looking at this study, I am sure some of them would say, ‘I knew it!’,” The study co-writer Sotirios Archontolis, Pioneer Hi-Bred Agronomy Professor said.

Improvement in efficiency

The corn-climbing data-based confirmation reiterates the importance of continuously improving the efficiency of fertilizer use, which is necessary to limit water quality and the impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Knowing that science is high with farmers’ experiences, experts can help insufficient to create confidence in the recommendations to effectively implement nitrogen fertilizer, Professor of Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering and Brent and Cindy Heart Professor Matthew Hellers, Director of Iowa Nutritional Research Center, Primary Fundar of Studies.

“Farmers listen to information from many different sources. There is some uncertainty, “Hellemers said, co-writer of the study too. “But the more they can fix their nitrogen management, the more returns they will see on their investment in the field and the more we will reduce environmental loss.”

While there is still space to grow, farmers have become more efficient in implementing nitrogen fertilizer. Using 0.7 pounds of nitrogen or low perch in recent years is a general goal for Iowa farmers, but the recommendation of the state of Iowa was 1 pound per bushl 20 years ago and 1.2 pounds per rage was a Bucer, Castelano said. The rate of optimal nitrogen increases in the last 30 years. If the increase in better efficiency had not slowed the increase, it would have been even higher.

According to ISU Extension and Outreach, crop rotation, improved drainage and spring fertilizer app are one of the highest impact practices for increasing efficiency use of nitrogen. Tipheet Last year, many researchers released by many researchers who contributed to new studies.

It is also important to apply the correct amount of nitrogen, and farmers have more resources than ever to determine rates to suit individual areas. Iono nitrogen initiative Iowa corn conducts tests on private farms across the state, using data and cropping systems modeling to offer more accurate suggested nitrogen rates to farmers. Public-private partnership-Castaleno and Archontolis led by the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and supported by many commodity groups-released its initial version earlier this month Digital decision support equipmentN-fact (nitrogen fertilizer application consultation tool) recommends custom rates by space, weather, soil nitrogen, planting date, crop system and market prices.

“Farmers knew that the optimal rates were growing, before we did, and now through our partnership with the farmers, research would match the real realities of on-form production,” Castelano said.

The possibility of continuing to continue

Efficiency has a greater impact on the rate of nitrogen fertilizer at the rate at which it is applied. This is good news as the inching is likely to continue at the optimal rates, said Mitchell Bome, the postdoral Research Associate in Agronomy Department and the first writer of the study.

“As long as the yield is going to increase, unless there is a massive increase in efficiency, we do not see any signs of this slowing down,” the bom said.

The analysis mentioned in the study focuses at three different types of optimal nitrogen rates: economic, agriculture and environment. Economic optimal farmer is based on maximizing profits, agronomic optimal is the point that has no effect on additional nitrogen yield and covers the estimated financial cost of environmental optimal nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate leaching in groundwater.

The economic optimal is always less than the agronomic optimal and higher than the environmental optimal, but the gaps between the rates are changing. The difference between the maximum-maximum agronomic optimal and maximum-profit economic optimal decreased by 79% in 30 years, while the difference between economic and environmental rates increased by 34%.

Archontoullis stated that reducing nitrogen fertilization rates for environmental optimal will lead to a decline in yield of about 6%, while only nitrogen loss, a adverse trade-closure.

“If you want to cut nitrogen fertilizer rates under the required optimal and maintain yields too, then we may not have everything. If you reduce nitrogen, you reduce the yield, ”he said.