Yield and nitrogen balance in corn grown under no-tillage system

Helton De S Silva,Michelly F Dos Santos,Adailson P De Souza,Valéria B Da Silva,Mary A B De Carvalho,Ewerton Da S Barbosa

doi:10.1590/1807-1929/agriambi.v24n11p728-734

Helton De S Silva, Michelly F Dos Santos + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-1929/agriambi.v24n11p728-734

Copy DOI

Abstract

ABSTRACT The corn crop is highly responsive to nitrogen fertilization; however, the application of high doses generally causes a reduction in the use efficiency of fertilizer. In this sense, this study aimed to determine the yield and nitrogen balance in corn grown under the no-tillage system. The experiment consisted of the application of four nitrogen doses (0, 30; 70 and 95 kg ha-1). In all plots with the AG 1051 hybrid corn, 80 and 56 kg ha-1 of P2O5 and K2O were applied, respectively. The experiment was arranged in a randomized block design with five replications. The grain yield had a linear increasing behavior according to the nitrogen doses, which reached 5,684.79 kg ha-1. The fertilization efficiency and the N extraction increased linearly with the increase of the nitrogen doses, obtaining with the highest dose the extraction of 114.93 kg ha-1 of N and a fertilization efficiency of 65%. The soil N stock of 4,489 kg ha-1 provides corn plants with 52.81 kg ha-1 of this nutrient. Corn adjusts the biomass production according to the availability of nitrogen, with no effect of N doses on the nutrient content in plant tissues.

Highlights

Brazil is one of the largest consumers of nitrogen fertilizers in the world, in 2017 the consumption was 5.18 million tons, occupying the fourth position on the world stage, following China, India and the USA, respectively
There was a linear increase with the increase of the N dose, with maximum grain yield of 5,684.79 kg ha-1 (Figure 2)
Nitrogen fertilization at appropriate doses and times is essential to achieve high grain yield with corn, which is influenced by the cultivation system (Nicolodi et al, 2008), variety (Cruz et al, 2008) and water availability (Souza et al, 2015)

Summary

Introduction

Brazil is one of the largest consumers of nitrogen fertilizers in the world, in 2017 the consumption was 5.18 million tons, occupying the fourth position on the world stage, following China, India and the USA, respectively. From the total nitrogen consumed, 90% are from external sources (FAO, 2019), which increases the cost of production. This high consumption of N in agriculture is explained by the demand for mineral fertilization by grasses and the low recovery of nitrogen fertilizers, generally ranging from 35 to 65% (Morris et al, 2018; Oliveira et al, 2018). If the need for nitrogen fertilization is exceeded, or if the fertilization is split in inappropriate times, the percentage of N-fertilizer recovery decreases with increasing doses applied (Halvorson et al, 2004; Fernandes et al, 2005)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion