Many corn growers in Minnesota install subsurface (tile) drainage to remove excess water from their fam1land. While this practice greatly enhances agricultural productivity, it can also cause leaching of excess inorganic nutrients, especially nit rate, from soil to surrounding water environments.
Research Category: 2017
BioElectroChemical Reactor for Treating Agricultural Drainage Water
Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contamination of surface waters from non-point source agricultural pollution are a serious concern nationwide, as well as in the Midwestern US, including Minnesota. Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico has been an issue since the mid 1980’s
Nanoscience to Predict Nitrogen Mineralization in Soil
Nitrogen mineralization has been difficult to assess. Many attempts have been made to develop indices of N mineralization, but the methodologies to do so have been elusive. These attempts have included laboratory methods of chemical extractions (Keeney, 1982) and incubation studies (Stanford and Smith, 1972)
Economic Benefit of Variable Rate Nitrogen Programs
Split application of nitrogen has gained popularity with growers on corn acres as a way to potentially increase nitrogen efficiency, crop yields, net profit, as well as decreasing nitrogen loss. This typically means applying a portion of nitrogen pre-plant, followed by a seasonal application (top-dress) at the V4 to V7 growth stage.
Drip Irrigation and Nitrogen Management
The demonstration site has been in a corn soybean rotation with conventional tillage. The field is well drained and has been grid sampled for fertility levels. The field has 13 years of yield data and RTK is used for planting consistency.