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Water Table Depth Interaction with Nitrogen Rates on Subirrigated Corn 1
Author(s) -
Woodruff J. R.,
Ligon J. T.,
Smith B. R.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
agronomy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.752
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1435-0645
pISSN - 0002-1962
DOI - 10.2134/agronj1984.00021962007600020025x
Subject(s) - water table , loam , agronomy , soil water , environmental science , yield (engineering) , drainage , hydrology (agriculture) , groundwater , soil science , geology , ecology , biology , geotechnical engineering , materials science , metallurgy
Water table control for both drainage and subirrigation holds potential benefit to crop production on many soils with imperfect drainage. Losses of soil NO ‐ 3 ‐N may occur through denitrification under partial anaerobic conditions such as would be encountered near a water table. In this 3‐year field study, four N rates were superimposed over three water table depths to test the effect of water table depth on corn ( Zea mays L.) response to N in a Chewacla silt loam (fine‐loamy, mixed, thermic Fluvaquentic Dystrochrepts). Water table depths were 0.35,0.70, and 1.00 m and N rates were 0,112,224, and 336 kg ha −1 . The effects of N fertilization depended on the water table depth. For the 3‐year means, quadratic regressions described the relationship between N rate and ear yield or leaf N for each water table depth except 1.00 m ear yield for which no response to N fertilizer was obtained. The N rate required for maximum ear yield or leaf N increased with decreasing water table depth. There were positive linear regressions of stover yields and soil NO ‐ 3 ‐N on N rate for each water table depth. With the 1.00 m water table, the N response slope was less for stover yield and greater for soil NO ‐ 3 ‐N than over the shallower water table depths. The lowest ear and stover yields were associated with deficient leaf N concentrations (< 27.5 g kg −1 ) where no N was added over the 0.35 and 0.70 m water table depths. The results suggest that soils with water tables within 0.70 m depth require more N fertilization to reach maximum corn yields than soils with deeper water tables.