Contrasting Soil Management Practice, Nitrogen Source, and Harvest Method Effects on Corn Production in Ohio and Tennessee

Current global agricultural production is completed with little regards to sustainable soil use. It is clear that the research and use of sustainable management practices must be expanded in order to preserve this natural resource. The objectives of this research were to focus on improving soil fertility and resource use efficiency by 1) evaluating farm management practices to find those that conserve soil and improve yields, 2) looking at alternative methods of fertilizing through the reuse of waste materials in agriculture. The last objective was to 3) test a more efficient method data collection and research production, resulting in more rapid outreach and use of sustainable methods.

A study initiated in May 2015 in Ohio compared no-till (NT) and tillage (T) management practices by examining the release of preserved nitrogen (N) from a soil that has been under long-term no-till corn and soybean production. Crop N sufficiency and yields from the T and NT treatments were compared at varying urea application rates. The results showed that the T whole plot consistently provided higher N uptake, crop productivity, and yields when compared to the NT whole plot, but results may have been influenced by unusually high rainfall following fertilizer application.

A study initiated in May 2015 in Tennessee tested the use of an industrial byproduct, spent microbial biomass (SMB) as a potential N source for corn. The biomass was compared at varying rates to the current farmer urea application rate. Nitrogen availability and crop uptake was compared within the treatments and no significant differences between the urea treatment and SMB treatment yields were found, indicating that SMB could offer a sufficient source of N in local corn production.

To improve efficiency in corn research and data collection, a reduced effort hand-harvest method was compared to the currently accepted method in the Ohio and Tennessee studies. Yields extrapolated using the ten plant harvest method and the current hand harvest method were not found to be significantly different in either study (p>0.05). These results indicate the potential use of this method in future maize studies to improve project efficiency and increase research production.