70243 Injected and Banded Nitrogen Fertilization for No-Tillage Winter Wheat In Virginia.

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See more from this Session: Professional Poster – Soils
Sunday, February 5, 2012
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Mark S. Reiter, Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Virginia Tech, Painter, VA, James S. Reiter, Prince George County Unit, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Prince George, VA and Wade Thomason, Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA
Wheat acreage produced using no-tillage has increased across Virginia over the last 10 years resulting in a need for refinement of fertilization practices. We initiated a study on loam and sandy loam soils to test the utility of various N treatment application methods and to find the corresponding N rate for each practice that produced highest yields. Nitrogen application methods included surface-broadcast, surface-banded (38 and 76 cm bands), and subsurface-banded applications (38 and 76 cm bands) of urea-ammonium nitrate (300 g N kg-1) at four different N rates (45, 90, 135, and 180 kg N ha-1). Three no-fertilizer controls were included. Two of the no-fertilizer controls had the subsurface applicator ran across the plots at 38 and 76 cm spacing to test for plant damage from the no-tillage coulters. Nitrogen treatments were made in the spring with 50% of the N applied at Zadok’s growth stage 25 and the remaining N applied at Zadok’s growth stage 30. Wheat grain yield was used to compare N treatments. At the loam soil location, wheat yield was highest when 135 kg N ha-1 was used (4368 and 5330 kg grain ha-1 for 2009 and 2010, respectively); averaged across application method. For application method, 38 cm surface banded applications had superior yields compared to other treatments and averaged 4704 kg grain ha-1 in 2009; averaged over N rate. In 2010, all N application methods were equal and averaged 5013 kg grain ha-1. Overall, alternative N fertilization practices may increase yield in certain years and may not harm yield in other years.