New innovations for the 4R’s of nutrient stewardship to improve corn productivity

Foxhoven, Scott William

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/116146 Copy

Description

Title

New innovations for the 4R’s of nutrient stewardship to improve corn productivity

Author(s)

Foxhoven, Scott William

Issue Date

2022-06-03

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Below, Frederick

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Below, Frederick

Committee Member(s)

• Lee, DoKyoung
• Margenot, Andrew
• Brown, Howard

Department of Study

Crop Sciences

Discipline

Crop Sciences

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Corn
• P
• Phosphorus
• K
• Potassium
• Fertility
• Sidedress
• Band
• banding
• broadcast
• MicroEssentials
• Aspire:4R
• Timing
• Placement
• Source
• Rate
• Sulfur
• Zinc
• Boron
• Co-granulated
• cogranulated
• in-season
• dry-drop
• drydrop
• row-applied
• row applied
• in-season band
• struvite
• synchro
• ostara
• slow-release
• root-activated
• soil P availability
• APP
• 10-34-0
• ammonium polyphosphate
• Illinois
• Southern Illinois
• Central Illinois
• Northern Illinois
• Grain yield
• yield
• nutrient uptake
• nutrient
• hybrid
• population
• planting population
• hybrid selection
• rooting
• root
• roots
• root surface area
• root digs
• yield components
• corn roots
• corn rooting

Abstract

The average U.S. corn (Zea mays L.) yield has steadily risen year by year since the 1960s. In order to maintain high corn yields, U.S. growers are greatly dependent upon using supplemental fertilization of mineral nutrients. However, at the same time, society has become increasingly concerned about current resource management practices and their potential environmental impact, especially when it comes to nutrient management. In an effort to improve fertilizer efficiency, the 4R Nutrient Stewardship framework was created to emphasize and teach the importance of choosing the right source, rate, timing, and placement of fertilizers. However, adoption of better nutrient stewardship practices has been slow due to grower fears of reduced yields and profits. The goal of this research was to identify unique fertilization strategies, using innovations in fertilizer source, rate, timing, and placement, that could improve both fertilizer use efficiency and overall grain yield production. Exploration of these new fertilizer management practices encompassed three research areas: Can innovations in fertilizer source and placement technology improve the efficiency and yield of corn? Phosphorus, potassium, sulfur, zinc, and boron fertilizer treatments were applied to corn using variations in fertilizer source (MAP+MOP or MESZ+Aspire), rate (full or half), timing (preplant or in-season), and placement (broadcast, band, or row-applied). Fertilizer placements that concentrated nutrients near the crop row, preplant subsurface banding or in-season row-applications, improved both the nutrient use efficiency and the grain yield production of corn compared to traditional broadcast applications. Notably, the greatest yield and fertilizer efficiency was achieved by applying MESZ+Aspire at a full rate and using the new in-season row-application placement method. When fertilizing with half rates of MAP+MOP, yields could be maintained if fertilizer was applied as an in-season row-application. A strong interaction between fertilizer source and placement on final grain yield was identified, and site-year had a marked impact on the grain yield response to fertilizer source and application timing. Although fertilizer source, rate, timing, and placement affected the nutrient use efficiency of all the fertilized nutrients, the magnitude was greatest for phosphorus, potassium, and boron. These results show that innovations in fertilizer source and placement can have a large impact on corn yield and fertilizer use efficiency, as well as a subsequential impact on fertilizer rate and application timing. What are the agronomic benefits of using co-granulated struvite plus diammonium phosphate for corn production? Phosphorus fertilization treatments consisting of preplant banded co-granulated struvite plus diammonium phosphate (Synchro), preplant banded diammonium phosphate (DAP), infurrow ammonium polyphosphate (APP), and a blend of APP+Synchro were all tested to compare their effects on soil P availability, nutrient uptake, and grain yield of corn. Soil fertilized with Synchro did not increase P availability compared to soil fertilized with APP or DAP, but fertilization with APP+Synchro resulted in the highest soil P availability compared to all other P fertilizer treatments. Although soil P availability was higher when APP and Synchro were fertilized together, the combination of the two fertilizers did not increase corn grain yield compared to pure Synchro fertilization. The two northern Illinois site-years had preplant soil test P levels of 40 and 245 ppm, yet these site-years had the greatest grain yield increases in response to fertilizer P applications. Corn fertilized with Synchro resulted in greater grain yield production and total P uptake compared to DAP or APP, when used at the lower-fertility central or southern Illinois site-years, but did not change yield or P uptake at the northern Illinois site-years. These results indicate that soil test P availability is not predictive of corn grain yield response to P fertilizer applications, yet natural soil fertility and geographical location can impact the effects of P fertilizer source variations. Overall, the data show that co-granulated struvite:DAP (Synchro), can improve the nutrient use efficiency and yield of corn compared to other water-soluble phosphorus sources. How does hybrid selection and planting population affect corn nutritional requirements and grain yield response to fertilizer applications of phosphorus and potassium? The corn grain yield response to P & K fertility was significantly impacted by both hybrid selection and planting population, as well as the placement of fertilizer application. As planting populations increased, corn grain yields increased more in response to banded P & K compared to broadcast P & K. The hybrid-based grain yield responses to population changes were also affected by the P & K fertility treatment. Since most of corn’s nutritional needs are acquired through root-to-soil contact, the mass and surface area of roots was measured. The size of each corn plant’s root system significantly decreased as populations were increased from 30,000 to 42,000 plants acre-1. The decreased root size in response to higher planting population is speculated to be the reason that grain yield response to banded P & K was greater at higher planting populations. Additionally, individual hybrids varied in the inherent size of their root system as well as the extent that root system size decreased in response to higher planting populations. Evidence from this study supports the hypothesis that variations in rooting, resulting from changes in hybrid selection, may be one the main factor affecting the grain yield response of corn to planting population and P & K fertilizer applications. These findings suggests that corn nutrient efficiency could be improved with hybrid- and population-specific fertilizer recommendations.

Graduation Semester

2022-08

Type of Resource

Thesis

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2022 Scott Foxhoven

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