Nitrogen fertilizer placement and timing affects b

Authors: Kathrin Grahmann Bram Govaerts Simon Fonteyne Carlos Guzmán Ana Paullette Galaviz Soto Andreas Buerkert Nele Verhulst

Publish Date: 2016/09/13

Volume: 106, Issue: 2, Pages: 185-199

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Abstract

Searching for sustainable cropping systems has often focused on the optimization of system sustainability yield or ideally both It is important to also include wheat quality characteristics like grain protein concentration GPC and breadmaking quality loaf volume The effect of placement and timing of nitrogen N fertilizer on performance and quality of the bread wheat cultivar Navojoa was tested in two tillage systems under furrow irrigation conventionally tilled beds CTB new beds formed after disc ploughing and residue incorporation and permanent beds PB only furrows reshaped and residues retained on the surface N fertilizer 120 kg N ha−1 as urea was broadcast applied in furrows or diskbanded on top of beds The timing treatments were all fertilizer applied before planting or split between preplanting and first node Permanent beds had the highest yield and grain quality was highest with split bed and furrow application Averaged over four years N use efficiency and GPC were significantly higher in CTB 245 kg kg−1 and 101  respectively than in PB 222 kg kg−1 and 99  respectively indicating the necessity in PB for optimal N management to obtain stable yields and acceptable grain quality A reduced number of cold hours and solar radiation negatively affected grain yield Broadcast fertilizer application reduced grain quality and N use efficiency N fertilizer management in furrowirrigated wheat cropping systems should combine splitting the N dose and disking it on the bed preplanting and in the furrow later in the season depending on the crop needs at the application timeK Grahmann received PhD scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD and the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes This field research was partly funded through a Small Grant Project number 117860700100 from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GIZ GmbH and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center CIMMYT through ‘Desarrollo sustentable con el productor’ part of ‘Modernización Sustentable de la Agricultura Tradicional’ supported by Secretaria de Agricultura Ganaderia Desarrollo Rural Pesca y Alimentacion SAGARPA Mexico DF Mexico and was conducted under the WHEAT Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research CGIAR Program We thank Manuel de Jesús Ruiz Cano Jesús Gutiérrez Angulo Juan de Dios Sánchez Lopez Álvaro Zermeño Juan Gastelum Flores Beatriz Martínez Ortiz Nehemias Buitimea Esteban Ontamucha for technical assistance and Ken D Sayre for designing and initiating the trial

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