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- Title
Grain yield and crop N offtake in response to residual fertilizer N in long-term field experiments.
- Authors
Petersen, J.; Thomsen, I. K.; Mattsson, L.; Hansen, E. M.; Christensen, B. T.
- Abstract
Organic inputs [e.g. animal manure (AM) and plant residues] contribute directly to the soil organic N pool, whereas mineral N fertilizer contributes indirectly by increasing the return of the crop residues and by microbial immobilization. To evaluate the residual effect of N treatments established in four long-term (>35 yr) field experiments, we measured the response of barley (grain yield and N offtake at crop maturity) to six rates (0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 kg N/ha) of mineral fertilizer N (N) applied in subplots replacing the customary long-term plot treatments of fertilizer inputs (N). Rates of N above 50-100 kg N/ha had no consistent effect on the soil N content, but this was up to 20% greater than that in unfertilized treatments. Long-term unfertilized plots should not be used as control to test the residual value of N in modern agriculture with large production potentials. Although the effect of mineral N on grain yield and N offtake could be substituted by N within a range of previous inputs, the value of N was not eliminated irrespective of N rate. Provided a sufficient supply of plant nutrients other than N, the use-efficiency of N did not change significantly with previous mineral N fertilizer rate. The residual effect of mineral N fertilizer was negligible compared with the residual effect of N from AM and catch crop residues.
- Subjects
EXPERIMENTAL agriculture; NITROGEN fertilizers; CROP residues; PLANT nutrients; NITROGEN in soils; CATCH crops
- Publication
Soil Use & Management, 2010, Vol 26, Issue 4, p455
- ISSN
0266-0032
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1475-2743.2010.00297.x