Nitrogen Management in Corn: Influences of Urea Ammonium Nitrate (UAN) Applications With and Without Nitrogen Stabilizer Products.

Abstract

Corn (Zea mays, L.) is a major crop produced in the nutrient sensitive Mid-Atlantic region. Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) for corn is considered sub-optimal and farmers in the region use a number of best management practices (BMPs) to improve corn NUE. Two sidedress application methods (surface banding and sub-surface injection) and four commercially available nitrogen stabilizer products (`Agrotain', `Agrotain Plus', `Instinct', `Nutrisphere-N') were investigated during 2009-2011 over three N fertilizer rates at nine total locations. Headspace ammonia accumulation (post-sidedress) was indexed to the surface applied UAN treatment and resulted in application method and stabilizer products having a significant effect for headspace ammonia accumulations. Post-harvest inorganic soil nitrogen was not affected by application method or stabilizer products. Yield was not significantly affected by application method or stabilizer products but was affected by N rate. Total plant N concentration was not significantly affected by application method or stabilizer products.