Sugarcane Response to Nitrogen Fertilization on a Histosol with Shallow Water Table and Periodic Flooding

Abstract

AbstractSugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is increasingly exposed to periodic floods and shallow water tables on Histosols in Florida’s Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). In the past, when these soils were usually well drained, they provided excess N for sugarcane through microbial oxidation. It is not known if supplemental N would now improve yields because microbial oxidation is reduced by shallow water tables and periodic floods. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of N fertilizer rates on two sugarcane cultivars exposed to a 25‐cm water‐table depth with and without repeated 2‐day floods. Two studies were planted in containers in 2001 and 2002 with two sugarcane cultivars and five equally spaced rates of N fertilizer from 0 to 200 kg ha−1. Leaf, stalk and root weights were reduced by periodic flooding and the magnitude of the reduction sometimes differed between cultivars. Plant weights, leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD) and leaf N content were often highest near an N rate of 100 kg ha−1. Usually, N fertilizer rate did not interact with water treatment. Nitrogen fertilization may be useful for sugarcane exposed to water‐table depths of 25 cm with and without 2‐day repeated floods on EAA Histosols.