Wednesday, November 7, 2007
320-8

Nitrogen Rates, Sources and Application Methods for No-till Wheat.

Hugo Fontanetto, INTA Rafaela, Ruta 34 KM 227, Rafaela, 2300, Argentina and Agustin Bianchini, AAPRESID, Paraguay 777 Piso 8 Of. 4, Rosario, 2000, Argentina.

Nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency in wheat under continuous no-tillage is affected by several factors including N rate, and sources, being the most important for the Argentinean Pampas, previous crop, N rate and source and application method. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of N rates and N sources in no-till wheat with two application methods. Treatments were a control, and a factorial design with two N sources (urea (46% N) and UAN solution (30% N)), two N rates (40 and 80 kg N ha-1), and two pre-plant application methods (broadcast and incorporated). The experimental units were small plots (20 m2) with 4 replications. Average grain yield for the control and fertilized treatments were 1944 kg ha-1 and 3083 kg ha-1, respectively. The UAN solution yielded 15% more than urea. The higher rate yielded 26% more than the lower rate. The incorporated method yielded 19% more than the broadcast. The incorporation of urea produced 24% more wheat that the broadcast, whereas the incorporation of the UAN solution increased yield by 15%, showing that the first source was more affected. No-till wheat farmers need to take into account these variables to increase N use efficiency and yield and reduce the pollution of the environment.