Friday, 14 July 2006
95-10

Comprehensive Farm-Level Nutrient Management Planning Software.

Robert Hill, Patricia Steinhilber, and Eugene Mironenko. University of Maryland, NRSL - 1112 H.J. Patterson, College Park, MD 20742-5821

Nutrient Management for Maryland, Professional Edition (NuMan Pro) is Windows ® based nutrient management planning (NMP) software that was released in April 2005. The software serves as an updated and integrated version of the Nutrient Management for Maryland (NuMan MD) software program and the Maryland Phosphorus Site Index (PSI) software program. NuMan Pro facilitates the use of organic wastes and fertilizers to meet crop needs in an efficient and easy-to-use manner. The software presents an integrated software solution including components for nutrient management planning, animal waste generation, waste utilization and balance components, phosphorus loss risk assessment, and calculation of estimated soil erosion losses. Software development has emphasized a user interface that is simple and easy-to-use. All nutrient management planning information previously only available in numerous books and tables can be easily addressed and incorporated into the planning process from drop-down menu choices. All nutrient management planning calculations can, therefore, be quickly performed with the click of a few buttons. Color-coded backgrounds were used to differentiate entry box use within the program. Although a single field is addressed in the active window, the user may address and save information for up to 999 fields in a single file. The software code has been "soft-coded" in that variable names instead of numerical values have been used which will allow for easy updating of the program. The electronic files saved by the software simplify and facilitate record keeping requirements. The software calculates fertilizer and nutrient recommendations for over 250 crop/management scenarios (forage, vegetable, row crops, fruit crops, etc.), has over 240 crop/management informational notes, and mineralization rates for 28 types of organic wastes. Options are available to calculate crop-based phosphorus removal and/or to have fertility recommendations in lbs/acre or lbs/1000 sq. foot units. The software will produce nitrogen, phosphorus, and/or potassium-based plans and accounts for 10 years of annual legume and/or organic nitrogen carry-overs, pre-side dress nitrogen testing for corn, and computer file-based soil test inputs. The user may also specify pre-set waste application rates and the software supplies the supplement fertilizer application rates to meet crop nutrient requirements. Split applications of the same and/or different organic wastes may be applied. The software allows for multiple management scenarios to be included for the same field. A warning is indicated when it may be necessary to calculate a phosphorus loss risk assessment via the Maryland Phosphorus Site Index (PSI). In support of the PSI calculations, a simplified version of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) software has been included. Soil information used in calculations has been queried on a county basis for all mapping units in Maryland from the USDA-NRCS National Soils Information System database. The software has a waste balance component that calculates waste storage requirements considering both the timing that waste materials will be used within the nutrient management plan and the rate of waste production. A waste generation component will estimate manure production for almost any animal production system including specialized cake and clean-out modules for the poultry industry and confined/unconfined animal feeding operations such as in the beef/dairy industry. The combination of components within NuMan Pro provides the user with the capabilities to meet the nutrient management requirements for confined animal feeding operations (CAFO). NuMan Pro is a comprehensive software package that addresses all phases of nutrient management planning. The software has simplified the nutrient management planning process so that farmers are now certified to complete their own nutrient management plans with a small amount of training.


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