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. 2018 Feb 20;13(2):e0192776.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0192776. eCollection 2018.

Understanding N timing in corn yield and fertilizer N recovery: An insight from an isotopic labeled-N determination

Silas Maciel de Oliveira  1 , Rodrigo Estevam Munhoz de Almeida  2 , Ignacio A Ciampitti  3 , Clovis Pierozan Junior  1   4 , Bruno Cocco Lago  1 , Paulo Cesar Ocheuze Trivelin  5 , José Laércio Favarin  1
Affiliations

Understanding N timing in corn yield and fertilizer N recovery: An insight from an isotopic labeled-N determination

Silas Maciel de Oliveira et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Early fertilizer nitrogen (N) application on cover crops or their residues during the off-season is a practice adopted in Brazil subtropical conditions under no-tillage corn (Zea mays L.) systems. However, the effect of early N application on yield, plant N content, and N recovery efficiency (NRE) for corn is not yet well documented. Five fertilizer N timings in an oat-corn system were evaluated in two studies utilizing an isotopic-labeled N determination, 15N isotope. The N fertilization timings were: (i) oat tillering, (ii) 15 days before corn planting time, over the oat residues, (iii) at corn planting time, (iv) in-season at the three-leaf growth stage (V3), and (v) in-season split application at V3 and six-leaf (V6) growth stages. Based on the statistical analysis, the N fertilization timings were separated into three groups: 1) N-OATS, designated to N applied at oat; 2) N-PLANT, referred to pre-plant and planting N applications; and 3) N-CORN, designated to in-season corn N applications. Corn yield was not affected by the N fertilization timing. However, the N-CORN N fertilization timings enhanced NRE by 17% and 35% and final N recovery system (plant plus soil) by 16% and 24% all relative to N-OATS and N-PLANT groups, respectively. Overall, N-OATS resulted in the largest N derived from fertilizer (NDFF) amount in the deeper soil layer, in overall a delta of 10 kg N ha-1 relative to the rest of the groups. Notwithstanding corn yield was not affected, early N fertilization under subtropical conditions is not a viable option since NRE was diminished and the non-recovery N increased relative to the in-season N applications.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Seasonal precipitation and average air temperature during study period, from April 2012 to March 2013.
(A) for site I, Guarapuava and (B) for site II, Taquarituba both located in Brazil. Blue bars referred to the precipitation, and red dashed lines represent the average seasonal temperature.
Fig 2
Fig 2. The isotopic labeled-N (15N) fertilizer was applied only to the central microplot row installed in each plot.
Plants were sampled from the center part of the adjacent and the central rows.
Fig 3
Fig 3
Data distribution for grain yield (A), plant N content (B) and NDFF (C) for the fertilizer N timing groups: fertilizer N applied to oats (N-OATS, red color), N applied at pre-plant and at planting time for corn (N-PLANT, green color), and in-season N added at V3 and at V3/V6 growth stages for corn (N-CORN, blue color).
Fig 4
Fig 4
Relationship between grain yield and plant N content (A), biomass and NDFF (B), and NDFF, plant N content (C), and the overall fertilizer fraction on plant N content for the fertilizer N timing groups: fertilizer N applied to oats (N-OATS, red color; n = 8), N applied at pre-plant and at planting time for corn (N-PLANT, green color; n = 16), and in-season N added at V3 and V3/V6 growth stages for corn (N-CORN, blue color; n = 16).
Fig 5
Fig 5
Fate of N from fertilizer (A) and N source used by corn plants (B). Uppercase letters compare means of the components of the fate of N from fertilizer (A) or N source (B) within each fertilizer N timing level. Greek letters compare total N fertilizer recovered in the columns. Bars represent the standard error for each treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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