Abstract
The adoption of precision agriculture techniques for N management has the potential for improving agronomic, economic and environmental efficiency in the use of such input. The present work was aimed at testing a simplified N balance method for the prescription of N fertilization in uniform management zones defined from information on measured soil properties on grain maize in central Italy. The results of this preliminary experience show that the application of the N balance prescription map did not bring to significant differences, from a uniform N fertilisation, in terms of grain yield, economic return above N cost and nitrate content in the soil profile at the end of the growing season. However, the adoption of the prescribed N fertilisation strategy for the whole field would have caused a limited saving in the amount of fertiliser employed, quantified at about 10 kg N ha -1.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e5 |
| Journal | Italian Journal of Agronomy |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 23-27 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| ISSN | 1125-4718 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2011 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Nitrogen balance
- Nitrogen fertilisation
- Spatial variability
- Uniform management zones
- Variable rate application
