Fine Tuning Nitrogen Requirements for Economically Growing a Corn Crop

Kyle Van Overbeke

My objective in requesting this grant is to fine tune my nitrogen requirements to grow a com crop and not leave valuable nutrients susceptible to leaching. I would like to compare the value in different Nitrogen Management decision tools. The tools I would like to compare are Encirca nitrogen model and 360 Yield Center’s Soil Scan machine. Both are designed to determine the in season Nitrogen needs of a growing com crop. I will also be comparing these two tools against soil samples sent to Midwest Labs for nitrate testing to determine accuracy of the decision tools.

I attended a Nitrogen SMART meeting last year and understand the need to spoon feed nutrients to a growing com crop rather than over-apply and over-spend just to make sure there is enough to get through the whole season. This is not beneficial to the environment or my bottom line. I also worked with Minnesota Department of Ag on a nitrogen timing and nitrogen rate trial to validate the need for a split application. The results were positive for split applying. This led me to want to verify the amount of nitrogen needed at side-dress application. Every growing season is different and thus requires testing to determine the amount of nitrogen needed in season.