1
|
Amissah S, Ankomah G, Lee RD, Perry CD, Washington BJ, Porter WM, Virk S, Bryant CJ, Vellidis G, Harris GH, Cabrera M, Franklin DH, Diaz-Perez JC, Sintim HY. Assessing corn recovery from early season nutrient stress under different soil moisture regimes. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2024; 15:1344022. [PMID: 38510438 PMCID: PMC10950915 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1344022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/22/2024]
Abstract
Corn (Zea mays) biomass accumulation and nutrient uptake by the six-leaf collar (V6) growth stage are low, and therefore, synchronizing nutrient supply with crop demand could potentially minimize nutrient loss and improve nutrient use efficiency. Knowledge of corn's response to nutrient stress in the early growth stages could inform such nutrient management. Field studies were conducted to assess corn recovery from when no fertilizer application is made until the V6 growth stage, and thereafter, applying fertilizer rates as those in non-stressed conditions. The early season nutrient stress and non-stress conditions received the same amount of nutrients. As the availability of nutrients for plant uptake is largely dependent on soil moisture, corn recovery from the early season nutrient stress was assessed under different soil moisture regimes induced via irrigation scheduling at 50% and 80% field capacity under overhead and subsurface drip irrigation (SSDI) systems. Peanut (Arachis hypogaea) was the previous crop under all conditions, and the fields were under cereal rye (Secale cereale) cover crop prior to planting corn. At the V6 growth stage, the nutrient concentrations of the early season-stressed crops, except for copper, were above the minimum threshold of sufficiency ranges reported for corn. However, the crops showed poor growth, with biomass accumulation being reduced by over 50% compared to non-stressed crops. Also, the uptake of all nutrients was significantly lower under the early season nutrient stress conditions. The recovery of corn from the early season nutrient stress was low. Compared to non-stress conditions, the early season nutrient stress caused 1.58 Mg ha-1 to 3.4 Mg ha-1 yield reduction. The percent yield reduction under the SSDI system was 37.6-38.2% and that under the overhead irrigation system was 11.7-13%. The high yield reduction from the early season nutrient stress under the SSDI system was because of water stress conditions in the topsoil soil layer. The findings of the study suggest ample nutrient supply in the early season growth stage is critical for corn production, and thus, further studies are recommended to determine the optimum nutrient supply for corn at the initial growth stages.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Solomon Amissah
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA, United States
| | - Godfred Ankomah
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA, United States
| | - Robert D. Lee
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA, United States
| | - Calvin D. Perry
- C. M. Stripling Irrigation Research Park, University of Georgia, Camilla, GA, United States
| | - Bobby J. Washington
- C. M. Stripling Irrigation Research Park, University of Georgia, Camilla, GA, United States
| | - Wesley M. Porter
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA, United States
| | - Simerjeet Virk
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA, United States
| | - Corey J. Bryant
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA, United States
- Delta Research and Extension Center, Mississippi State University, Stoneville, MS, United States
| | - George Vellidis
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA, United States
| | - Glendon H. Harris
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA, United States
| | - Miguel Cabrera
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States
| | - Dorcas H. Franklin
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States
| | - Juan C. Diaz-Perez
- Department of Horticulture, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA, United States
| | - Henry Y. Sintim
- Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Tifton, GA, United States
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Effects of Soil Water Deficit at Different Growth Stages on Maize Growth, Yield, and Water Use Efficiency under Alternate Partial Root-Zone Irrigation. WATER 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/w13020148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
To investigate the effects of alternate partial root-zone irrigation (APRI) and water deficit at different growth stages on maize growth, physiological characteristics, the grain yield, and the water use efficiency (WUE), a pot experiment was conducted under a mobile automatic rain shelter. There were two irrigation methods, i.e., conventional irrigation (CI) and APRI; two irrigation levels, i.e., mild deficit irrigation (W1, 55%~70% FC, where FC is the field capacity) and serious deficit irrigation (W2, 40%~55% FC); and two deficit stages, i.e., the seedling (S) and milking stage (M). Sufficient irrigation (W0: 70%~85% FC) was applied throughout the growing season of maize as the control treatment (CK). The results indicated that APRI and CI decreased the total water consumption (ET) by 34.7% and 23.8% compared to CK, respectively. In comparison to CK, APRI and CI increased the yield-based water use efficiency (WUEY) by 41% and 7.7%, respectively. APRI increased the irrigation water efficiency (IWUE) and biomass-based water use efficiency (WUEB) by 8.8% and 25.5% compared to CK, respectively. Additionally, ASW1 had a similar grain yield to CK and the largest harvest index (HI). However, the chlorophyll and carotenoid contents were significantly reduced by 13.7% and 23.1% under CI, and by 11.3% and 20.3% under APRI, compared to CK, respectively. Deficit irrigation at the milking stage produced a longer tip length, resulting in a lower grain yield. Based on the entropy weight method and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method, multi-objective optimization was obtained when mild deficit irrigation (55%~70% FC) occurred at the seedling stage under APRI.
Collapse
|
3
|
Duval BD, Ghimire R, Hartman MD, Marsalis MA. Water and nitrogen management effects on semiarid sorghum production and soil trace gas flux under future climate. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0195782. [PMID: 29672548 PMCID: PMC5908084 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195782] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2017] [Accepted: 03/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
External inputs to agricultural systems can overcome latent soil and climate constraints on production, while contributing to greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer and water management inefficiencies. Proper crop selection for a given region can lessen the need for irrigation and timing of N fertilizer application with crop N demand can potentially reduce N2O emissions and increase N use efficiency while reducing residual soil N and N leaching. However, increased variability in precipitation is an expectation of climate change and makes predicting biomass and gas flux responses to management more challenging. We used the DayCent model to test hypotheses about input intensity controls on sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) productivity and greenhouse gas emissions in the southwestern United States under future climate. Sorghum had been previously parameterized for DayCent, but an inverse-modeling via parameter estimation method significantly improved model validation to field data. Aboveground production and N2O flux were more responsive to N additions than irrigation, but simulations with future climate produced lower values for sorghum than current climate. We found positive interactions between irrigation at increased N application for N2O and CO2 fluxes. Extremes in sorghum production under future climate were a function of biomass accumulation trajectories related to daily soil water and mineral N. Root C inputs correlated with soil organic C pools, but overall soil C declined at the decadal scale under current weather while modest gains were simulated under future weather. Scaling biomass and N2O fluxes by unit N and water input revealed that sorghum can be productive without irrigation, and the effect of irrigating crops is difficult to forecast when precipitation is variable within the growing season. These simulation results demonstrate the importance of understanding sorghum production and greenhouse gas emissions at daily scales when assessing annual and decadal-scale management decisions’ effects on aspects of arid and semiarid agroecosystem biogeochemistry.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin D. Duval
- Department of Biology, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Rajan Ghimire
- New Mexico State University, Agricultural Science Center, Clovis, New Mexico, United States of America
| | - Melannie D. Hartman
- Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Mark A. Marsalis
- New Mexico State University, Agricultural Science Center, Los Lunas, New Mexico, United States of America
| |
Collapse
|