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Fertilizer nitrogen addition to winter wheat crops in England: comparison of farm practices with recommendations allowing for soil nitrogen supply

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

W. S. Wilson ,
K. L. Moore ,
A. D. Rochford  and
L. V. Vaidyanathan
W. S. Wilson
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK
K. L. Moore
Affiliation:
Statistics Department, IACR-Rothamsted, Harpenden AL5 2JQ, UK
A. D. Rochford
Affiliation:
Agricultural Development and Advisory Service, Soil and Water Research Centre, Anstey Hall, Maris Lane, Trumpington, Cambridge CB2 2LF, UK
L. V. Vaidyanathan
Affiliation:
Agricultural Development and Advisory Service, Soil and Water Research Centre, Anstey Hall, Maris Lane, Trumpington, Cambridge CB2 2LF, UK
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Summary

Measurements were made during 1987/88 on 20 winter wheat crops grown in Essex, four on each of five soil types – sandy loam, sandy silt loam, silt loam, calcareous clay loam and clay loam – where winter wheat, dried peas, winter faba beans or winter oilseed rape was the previous crop in 1986/87. The sites had a wide range of soil mineral N (SNS), 40–198 kg/ha N, as NH4 plus NO3, in the 0–90 cm soil profile. Optimum grain yield and fertilizer N could not be estimated but yields measured in the absence of fertilizer N enabled evaluation of the use of SNS on its own and the response to fertilizer N (187 ± 32 kg/ha). For crops receiving fertilizer N, each tonne of grain was associated with 35kg of total available N in the soil profile (SNS + fertilizer N); a little over 63% of this N was found in the above-ground parts of the crops at harvest. Fertilizer N requirement was predicted as:

Fertilizer N needed (kg/ha) = [35 × predicted grain yield (t/ha)]–SNS (kg/ha)

An arbitrary assumption of 8 t/ha grain for every site (fortuitously the same as the average of 8·07t/ha measured in crops given fertilizer N) showed that differences between added and predicted amounts of N differed by c. 30 kg/ha for only seven of the 20 sites, mostly because of large SNS or yields much less than 8 t/ha. Measuring SNS and using the formula would be justified in the majority of winter wheat crops, provided reliable yield estimates could be made in time.

Type
Crops and Soils
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 127 , Issue 1 , August 1996 , pp. 11 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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References

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