Abstract
Nitrogen (N) losses due to leaching, denitrification and/or ammonia volatilization are of utmost concerns since they reduce farm profitability and adversely affect environmental quality. To combat these N losses, a new nitrification inhibitor (NI), pronitridine, can be used to slow down the nitrification process. A two-year (2014, 2015) field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of pronitridine at different rates (9.4, 18.7, and 28.1 L ha-1) with anhydrous ammonia (AA) at 112 kg N ha-1 when applied in the fall or pre-plant on claypan soils in northeast Missouri. Using pronitridine at 9.4 L ha-1 with AA in the fall during a low yielding year (2015) increased corn grain yield 7% compared to AA + nitrapyrin (2.3 L ha-1). Agronomic efficiency and yields were greatest with pronitridine at 9.4 L ha-1 than AA + nitrapyrin. Grain N removal was highest for AA + pronitridine at 18.7 L ha-1 compared to AA + nitrapyrin. Pre-plant application of AA + pronitridine at 9.4 L ha-1 increased grain starch content compared to AA without NI, but it was not significantly different from AA + nitrapyrin. Results indicated that pronitridine was effective in increasing yields when applied in the fall and was similar to other NI’s when applied pre-plant in the spring.
Highlights
A best management practice (BMP) for reducing the environmental impact of N loss through denitrification, volatilization and leaching while sustaining or increasing corn yields includes the use of a nitrification inhibitor (NI) (Abalos, Jeffery, Sanz-Cobena, Guardia, & Vallejo, 2014; Malhi, Grant, Johnston, & Gill, 2001)
Blackmer and Sanchez (1988) reported corn grain yields were reduced when nitrapyrin was added and they reported that nitrapyrin increased the susceptibility of plants to moisture stress and induced ammonia toxicity to the plants
Our study indicates that the new NI pronitridine was effective in increasing corn grain yield in a low yielding year when rainfall received was 49% greater than the 10-yr average
Summary
A best management practice (BMP) for reducing the environmental impact of N loss through denitrification, volatilization and leaching while sustaining or increasing corn yields includes the use of a nitrification inhibitor (NI) (Abalos, Jeffery, Sanz-Cobena, Guardia, & Vallejo, 2014; Malhi, Grant, Johnston, & Gill, 2001). Nitrapyrin (NS) is generally added to AA for fall N applications to prevent subsurface N leaching losses (Randall, Vetsch, & Huffman, 2003), whereas a micro-encapsulated liquid version of nitrapyrin (I) is used with urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) application. Randall and Vetsch (2005) reported that the addition of nitrapyrin to fall-applied AA decreased average flow-normalized NO3-N leaching losses by 10% compared to fall-applied AA without nitrapyrin. The addition of nitrapyrin to AA increased corn grain yield 0.94 Mg ha-1 compared to treatments without nitrapyrin (Vetsch & Randall, 2004). Blackmer and Sanchez (1988) reported corn grain yields were reduced when nitrapyrin was added and they reported that nitrapyrin increased the susceptibility of plants to moisture stress and induced ammonia toxicity to the plants
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