Premium
Nitrogen Accumulation in Cotton Grown Continuously or in Rotation with Peanut Using Subsurface Microirrigation and GOSSYM/COMAX Management
Author(s) -
Hunt P. G.,
Bauer P. J.,
Camp C. R.,
Matheny T. A.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
crop science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.76
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1435-0653
pISSN - 0011-183X
DOI - 10.2135/cropsci1998.0011183x003800020023x
Subject(s) - loam , malvaceae , fiber crop , fertilizer , agronomy , gossypium hirsutum , low flow irrigation systems , randomized block design , biology , gossypium barbadense , mathematics , horticulture , irrigation , soil water , drip irrigation , ecology
Excessive N application to cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) is an unnecessary cost and a potential cause of elevated groundwater N. The objectives of this study were to determine if seed yields or excess N were affected by timing of N application via buried microirrigation tubing, tubing spacing, or peanut ( Arachis hypogaea L.) rotation. The experimental design was a randomized complete block in split‐plot arrangement with four replications. The main plots (continuous cotton and peanut‐cotton rotation) were planted with cotton cultivar PD 3 in May of 1991 through 1994 on an Eunola loamy sand (fine‐loamy, siliceous, thermic Aquic Haphidult). Water and N were applied through microirrigation tubing that was buried 0.30 m directly under each row (IR) or under alternate row middles (AM). Sidedress‐N was applied in one 112‐kg ha −1 application (STD); five, 22‐kg ha −1 increments (INC); or 11‐ to 22‐kg ha −1 increments when required by GOSSYM/COMAX (GC) [a cotton growth model/expert system]. Rotation did not significantly affect any of the measured parameters. Cotton managed with the IR‐STD treatment had the highest seed yield, 2.02 Mg ha −1 yr −1 . The GC management did not improve seed yield, but it did reduce excess N (fertilizer N ‐ seed N) to <20 kg ha −1 yr −1 . The best overall treatment was AM‐GC. It had 1.87 Mg ha −1 yr −1 seed yield, 8 kg ha −1 yr −1 excess N, 45 kg less N applied, and 50% less tubing installed. Cotton managed by AM‐GC also had a low (9.2) ratio of accumulated shoot N per 100 kg of lint.