Fertilizer

Nitrogen loss is difficult to predict because it depends in many factors such as time of N application, type of N source, soil type and temperature and the amount of precipitation received. While it is difficult to know how much N is lost without a direct analysis of soil N, you can determine what to do about N applications this growing season....More

Modern hybrids absorb more than half of their final N content after flowering. In fact, they absorb 27% more total N from the soil after flowering than hybrids grown between 1950 and 1990, says a newly released Purdue study. Today’s hybrids absorb more grain-N during grain fill, as opposed to N being remobilized from plant leaves and stems. The higher amount and duration of N uptake contributed to better grain yields, even as actual grain N concentrations decline; hybrids are much more efficient. But as corn plants increase N use, they increase their uptake of other nutrients....More

Applications of liquid manures have the potential to provide nitrogen (N) that can be counted toward meeting the needs of the corn crop and substituting for 28% or other fertilizer N sources. Research on the application of manure preplant or sidedress to corn has been ongoing in Ohio for several years....More

Ignored for decades, moist sample analysis saves money and boosts yields. Soil labs and scientists alike abandoned field moist soil sampling decades ago. Common until the 1980s, field moist soil sampling was replaced with a faster and easier "dry and grind" procedure....More