Alan Sundermeier*, Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent
Dr. Ed Lentz, Extension NW District Agronomist
Objective: To evaluate corn response in two strip-tillage systems and one no-till system on a loam soil.
Background |
|
| Cooperator:
County: Soil type: Tillage: Previous Crop: Fertilizer: Seeding rate: Planting date: Harvest date: Soil test: |
Ron & Todd Hesterman
Henry loam CEC 9.2 strip or no-till soybeans variable 31,000/acre April 25, 1999 October 3, 1999 OM = 3.1 %, P = 23 ppm, K =103 ppm |
The experimental design was a complete randomized block of field-length, 12-row-wide strips with three replications. Fall strip tillage was done on November 30, 1998.
| Tillage | Fall fertilizer
actual N-P-K |
Fertilizer placement |
Planting fert. actual |
Sidedress N actual |
Total lb/ac N-P-K |
| Fall strip | 179-50-64 | 5" deep in strip | none | none | 179-50-64 |
| Fall strip | none | 2 x 2 | 114-19-3 | 114 | 228-19-3 |
| No-till | none | 2 x 2 | 114-19-3 | 114 | 228-19-3 |
On April 7, 1999, the no-till areas had 90% residue coverage compared to 40% residue in the strip-tilled zone. At corn stage V2 (7-in. height), 12-inch-deep soil nitrate samples were taken. At corn stage V5 (14-in. height), top leaf tissue samples were taken. At corn silking stage, ear leaf tissue samples were taken. At corn maturity (black layer), corn stalk nitrate samples were taken. Also at this time, ear and stalk population counts were made.
Continuous recording soil thermometers were placed in the no-till area and in the fall strip-till zone. Soil temperature was recorded at the 2 in. seed zone and mean (average of high and low) temperature calculated.
| April 14 -29 mean temperature |
May 5 - 25 mean temperature |
|
| No-till | 49.8 degrees | 61.6 degrees |
| Strip till | 50.3 degrees | 63.3 degrees |
The following data are the average of three replications.
| Tillage/ | Soil | [V5 tissue] | [Ear leaf tissue] | Stalk | ||||
| fertilizer | nitrate | N | P | K | N | P | K | nitrate |
| timing | ppm | % | % | % | % | % | % | ppm |
| no-till spring |
15.0 B | 5.14 | .30 B | 3.61 | 3.28 | .20 B | 1.74 B | 3503 |
| strip till spring fert. |
16.5 B | 5.07 | .27 C | 4.09 | 3.19 | .18 C | 1.79 AB | 3240 |
| strip till fall fert. |
8.7 A | 5.06 | .33 A | 4.05 | 3.21 | .23 A | 1.90 A | 2563 |
| LSD (p=0.05) | 4.0 | NS | .01 | NS | NS | .017 | .14 | NS |
| Tillage/ | |||
| fertilizer | Ear | Stalk | Yield |
| timing | pop/acre | pop/acre | bu/acre |
| no-till/ spring |
32,033 | 32,700 | 163.0 A |
| strip till/ spring fert. |
30,100 | 31,000 | 161.5 A |
| strip till/ fall fert. |
30,000 | 30,633 | 182.7 B |
| LSD (p=0.05) | NS | NS | 10.4 |
| Treatment means followed by the same letter are not significantly different from each other. NS = not significant. | |||
The spring-applied total nitrogen was higher (228 lb/ac) vs. fall-applied actual nitrogen (177 lb/ac) which may account for soil and stalk nitrate differences. Fall applied P and K resulted in higher tissue test results. Yield was significantly higher with fall strip tillage combined with fall fertilizer. The effect appears to be from better availability of P and K since stalk nitrate levels were not significantly different and adequate in all treatments.
Weather may have minimized nitrogen losses. Soil was dry from fall throughout the following growing season. This may have kept fall-applied N from leaching. Also soils were warm, which may have allowed more natural release of organic nitrogen.
*For additional information, contact:
Ohio State University Extension, Henry County
104 E. Washington St., Suite 107
Napoleon, OH 43545
419-592-0806 or sundermeier.5@osu.edu