Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Accomplishments by major objectives of the Project:

Objective 1. Gain a more thorough understanding of the influence of macro- and micro-scale ecosystems and landscape properties on soil N dynamics.

Activities have conducted on linking soil N dynamics with soil health and N cycling, such as timing of N application, mineralization, reduced tillage, cover crops, organic amendments, improved tile-drainage systems, microbial community, etc.

Short-term Outcomes:

(A) Management of crop residues via tillage or stover removal were found to impact soil quality in Nebraska trials. Corn residue removal led to declined soil microbial biomass and nutrient cycling. (B) Two Tennessee trials were established to determine the best cover cropping to reduce N fertilization. (C) On-farm research conducted in Kentucky showed how landscape and cover crops impacted corn production.

Outputs:

Products in 2020 include: 20 grants, 13 peer-reviewed publications, and 15 presentations at professional meetings and meetings for commodity groups, producers and stakeholders. Please see attachment for details. Multiple graduate and undergraduate students as well as postdocs were trained by project participants.

Activities:

(A) Assessed the effectiveness of various soil nitrogen mineralization tests in predicting corn nitrogen needs. (B) Evaluated the effects of cover crops on corn yield and soil N cycling. (C) Tested how the biochar and N fertilizer interaction affects soil N dynamics.

Objective 2. Explore optimization of nitrogen management practices through interrogation of corn nitrogen use efficiency datasets from studies conducted across the North Central region.

Optimizing N management is a most important goal of corn N research. Compiling large corn N trial data set across the North Central region has been a major effort of this project. How various environmental and management factors impact the corn N use efficiency under different conditions are being analyzed.

Short-term Outcomes:

(A) An ongoing work from the long-term crop rotation field experiment with varying rates of N fertilization under rainfed, no-till maize found several key findings of how optimal N rate is affected by residue and crop rotation. (B) Weather and soil in the US Midwest influence the effectiveness of nitrogen applications in corn production. (C) The four-day soil respiration was found to be related to corn nitrogen fertilizer needs across 49 US Midwest fields.

Outputs:

Products in 2020 include: 12 grants, 5 peer-reviewed publications, and 13 presentations at professional meetings and meetings for commodity groups, producers and stakeholders. Please see attachment for details. Multiple graduate and undergraduate students as well as postdocs were trained by project participants.

Activities:

(A) Evaluate soil respiration to corn nitrogen fertilizer needs across 49 US Midwest fields. (B) An effort to build a large corn N response trial database covering multiple locations and years for the North Central region.

Objective 3. Develop nitrogen management decision-making tools for crop advisers and growers.

Efforts under this objective included improving the ability to forecast N rate requirements by various soil tests, sensors, and satellite imagery data. The economic performances of the N recommendation tools were also evaluated.

Short-term Outcomes:

(A) Predicted early season nitrogen uptake using high resolution aerial hyperspectral imagery. (B) Developed the ground-based optical canopy sensing technologies for corn-nitrogen management in the upper Midwest. (C) Evaluated various corn N rate recommendation tools’ performance across eight U.S. Midwest Corn Belt states.

Outputs:

Products in 2020 include: 9 grants, 6 peer-reviewed publications, and 5 presentations at professional meetings and meetings for commodity groups, producers and stakeholders. Numerous farmers, agronomists, and conservation professionals were educated about N decision making tools at county/regional extension meetings, field days, and conferences.

Activities:

Different soil tests, sensors, and other technologies were being developed and assessed in their performances of predicting corn N needs and optimal N rates. The economic returns of those methods were also being evaluated.

Milestones:

• Establish and collect trial data on N cycling, soil microbial, cover crop biomass, cover crop mineralization, and nutrient release during the growing season.
• Submit peer-reviewed and extension publications
• Disseminate the research outcomes to peers, producers and other stakeholders.
• Train undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdocs.
• Prepare and submit grant proposals to advance the science in the coming years.