Spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) yield and grain protein responses to N fertilizer in topographically defined landscape positions

Abstract

A 3-yr field study was initiated in 1996 to examine the different grain yield and grain protein responses of wheat to varied N fertilizer rates in a typical glacial till landscape in Saskatchewan, Canada. Our objective was to assess the agronomic and economic feasibility of variable rate fertilizer (VRF) N application for wheat. Results suggest that spring soil water status largely determined the yield and the protein content of wheat both within different years of the study and between different landscape positions within a given year. Although grain yield was strongly related to spring soil water and was predictable on that basis, the grain yield response of wheat to fertilizer N additions was highly variable due, in part, to the dual role that N played in determining both grain yield and grain protein content. As a consequence of the unpredictable nature of the varied response of wheat to N fertilizer additions, there was little economic rationale for using VRF strategies in the 3 yr of this study. However, in the long-term, we believe that VRF N application strategies can be employed to manage N inputs from the perspective of managing and replacing harvested N. Key words: Variable rate fertilizer application, precision farming, nitrogen application, N fertilizer, Saskatchewan