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Variations in Corn Yield and Nitrogen Uptake in Relation to Soil Attributes and Nitrogen Availability Indices
Author(s) -
Nyiraneza Judith,
N'Dayegamiye Adrien,
Chantigny Martin H.,
Laverdière Marc R.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj2007.0374
Subject(s) - chemistry , nitrogen , yield (engineering) , stepwise regression , zoology , humic acid , organic matter , agronomy , fertilizer , mathematics , biology , materials science , statistics , organic chemistry , metallurgy
Identification of soil attributes most determinant to crop yield is still a matter of debate. The main objective of the present study was to relate the variations in corn ( Zea mays L.) yield and N uptake to 16 soil attributes. Samples were collected in 2005 and 2006 from a long‐term experiment. Soil organic C (SOC), total N (TN), potential mineralizable N (PMN), NO 3 extractable with KCl (NO 3 –KCl) and CaCl 2 (NO 3 –CaCl 2 ), NO 3 adsorbed on anion exchange membranes (NO 3 –AEM), N extracted with NaHCO 3 read at 205 nm (N‐NaHCO 3 −205) and 220 nm (N‐NaHCO 3 −220), N present in fulvic acid (FA‐N), humic acid (HA‐N) and non‐humified fractions (NHF‐N), mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWD), total, macro‐ and microporosity, and bulk density (D b ) were measured. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted with the measured soil attributes, and the principal components (PCs) were used in a stepwise regression with corn yield and N uptake. In both years, a maximum of 88% of the total variance was explained. The stepwise regression analysis indicated that the first two PCs explained 78 to 91% of the variability in corn yield and N uptake. Based on the PCA, TN, HA‐N, NO 3 –KCl, NO 3 –CaCl 2, NO 3 –AEM, and PMN appeared as primary indicators of corn yield and N uptake, whereas MWD, FA‐N, and NHF‐N appeared as secondary indicators. When the variability in corn yield and N uptake explained by each N availability index was assessed, NO 3 –KCl and NO 3 –CaCl 2 appeared as the best predictors of corn yield because of their ease of measurement and reliability across years.