Nitrogen dynamics and losses in artificially drainage agricultural fields

Linsday Pease

Increases in both corn production and drained acres are especially prominent in NW MN. NW MN currently lags behind the rest of the state in terms of how N cycling is impacted by these management changes due to the region’s unique combination of soils and climate. Studying how soil nutrients cycle on fields with varying drainage will improve our ability to make fertilizer recommendations for NW MN corn systems. Specifically, understanding N movement and N use efficiency, which has been shown to be altered by drainage, is especially important. Better fertilizer recommendations will help reduce nutrient loss to both ground and surface water. With more farms adopting drainage systems in the coming decades, supporting growers with research-based recommendations will help promote improvements in both fertility and water quality.

This project would establish two monitoring sites on active corn fields in NW MN with varying drainage spacing and design, providing useful information in making fertilizer recommendations for NW MN corn growers. The sites will provide a greater understanding of different drainage factors impacting N dynamics. These sites will be monitored through soil, water, and yield measurements.
Findings and results from this project will be complementary to the ongoing work at the UMN NW Research and Outreach Center (NWROC) in Crookston with recently installed drainage. Comparison of these three sites will extend the applicability of findings for the two newly established sites and help to provide a robust understanding of how N losses and dynamics occur over a variety of drainage conditions in NW MN. This understanding will allow for more precise fertilizer and management recommendations to growers based on their specific field conditions as well as associated environmental impacts.