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Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Maize as Affected by Nitrogen Availability and Row Spacing
Author(s) -
Barbieri Pablo A.,
Echeverría Hernán E.,
Saínz Rozas Hernán R.,
Andrade Fernando H.
Publication year - 2008
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/agronj2006.0057
Subject(s) - nitrogen , agronomy , dry matter , mathematics , grain yield , yield (engineering) , row , row crop , crop , zea mays , factorial experiment , chemistry , biology , agriculture , materials science , ecology , organic chemistry , database , computer science , metallurgy , statistics
Efficient use of N in plant production is an essential goal in crop management. An experiment was performed at INTA Balcarce, Argentina during 3‐yr to evaluate the effect of row spacing and N level on nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in no‐till (NT) irrigated maize ( Zea mays L.). Treatments consisted of a factorial combination of row width (70, 52 and 35 cm) and N rates (0 to 180 kg N ha −1 ). Nitrogen rate and narrow rows increased total dry matter (DM), grain yield, and N accumulation. Relative responses to narrow rows decreased as N availability increased. The NUE decreased with N rate and increased with narrow row spacing. Narrow rows increased NUE by 12 and 15% expressed as DM or grain yield per unit of available N, respectively. Physiological efficiency decreased with N rate and was not affected by row spacing. Recovery efficiency (RE) decreased with increasing N rate, and increased for the narrow row spacings. The effect of narrow rows on RE decreased as N availability increased. Narrow rows increased NUE largely as a result of increased RE. These increments in RE could contribute to increase the profitability of maize production and to diminish the risk of environmental pollution.