Nutrient Use Efficiency Nutrient use efficiency is important in efficiently growing corn. This year some
adjustments were made to improve nitrogen use efficiency because we were not satisfied last year. We also raised our yield goals and expectations and had a very stressful weather year that resulted in a nitrogen use efficiency similar to 2021. Personally this is what we need to improve the most on the farm. On our low P and Zn Soils at the farm we are doing a great job of utilizing those nutrients. This year we tested if we were providing the plant with enough sulfur. What we learned is that in 2022 we over applied sulfur, and we need to make adjustments for the 2023 season. Had we hit our yield goal of 350 bpa, our N and S NUE would have been acceptable. For the 2023 growing season, we will lower expectations across the plot area and plan to have an area where we push for maximum yield this will help us manage nutrients more responsibly.
Yield bu/a lbs N/bu lbs P 2 O 5 /bu lbs S/bu lbs Zn/bu
266.0 0.94 281.3 0.89 261.1 0.96 314.0 0.80 350.0 0.72
0.41 0.39 0.39 0.42 0.35 0.31
0.33 0.0019 0.31 0.0018 0.31 0.0018 0.33 0.0020 0.28 0.0016 0.25 0.0015
P0622 P1082
Weighed Farm Average 283.4 0.89
Worst
Best Goal
Figure 4. NUE from the 2022 Orthman research farm.
13
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online