Abstract
Producers in the northeastern semiarid region of Brazil have been cultivating irrigated corn. The commercialized product comprises mainly green ears and silage. However, the irrigation of crops for dry grain has been questioned regarding costs and price competitiveness in relation to the same non-irrigated product cultivated in other regions. In recent years, the use of drip tapes and fertigation has spread among corn producers in the region. The aim of this study was to determine the N dose, via fertigation, which provides the maximum economic production of corn for dry grain, in two crop seasons (summer and winter), in the semiarid region of Brazil. The experimental design was performed in randomized blocks, with four replications. In both crops, the treatments consisted of four doses of N (0, 80, 160, and 240 kg ha-1) applied in the form of urea. In the hybrid corn (Bt Feroz), the N content was evaluated in terms of leaves, grain yield, gross and net incomes, the rate of return, and the profitability index. Independent of the crop season, the yield of dry grain (5,441.03 kg ha-1) was highest when the corn was fertigated with a dose of 104.05 kg ha-1 N. The highest net incomes of the dry grain were obtained with 80 kg ha-1 N in summer (R$ 1,190.78 ha-1) and 160 kg ha-1 N in winter (R$ 2,757.54 ha-1). The winter crop was more favorable to the economic production of dry grain.
Highlights
Corn is one of the main Brazilian agribusiness crops, and it has significant socioeconomic and nutritional importance
In the 2018/19 harvest, the area planted with corn reached a record of 17.49 million hectares, producing 100.04 million tons of grain and average productivity of 5,719.00 kg ha-1 (Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento [CONAB], 2020)
Despite the water demand of corn being served through irrigation, its dry grain yield can be affected (Galindo et al, 2017) mainly as a result of the average air temperature under semiarid conditions, which in worse cases exceeds 35oC
Summary
Corn is one of the main Brazilian agribusiness crops, and it has significant socioeconomic and nutritional importance. In the 2018/19 harvest, the area planted with corn reached a record of 17.49 million hectares, producing 100.04 million tons of grain and average productivity of 5,719.00 kg ha-1 (Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento [CONAB], 2020). Corn is a C4 plant, with a high photosynthetic rate and CO2 fixation, which is responsible for a partial increase in maximum air temperature (up to 30.2oC during the post-silking stage) with high productivity (Zhou et al, 2017). Despite the water demand of corn being served through irrigation, its dry grain yield can be affected (Galindo et al, 2017) mainly as a result of the average air temperature under semiarid conditions, which in worse cases exceeds 35oC. The optimal doses ranged from 90 to 240 kg ha-1 (Farinelli & Lemos, 2010, 2012; Valderrama, Buzetti, Benett, Andreotti, & Teixeira Filho, 2011; Vilela et al, 2012; Lyra, Rocha, Lyra, Souza, & Teodoro, 2014; Oliveira et al, 2016)
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