Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Heinz Peschke zum 65. Geburtstag

The materials of article had been reported at the International Symposium "Nutritional and environmental Research in the 21st Century - The value of long-term field experiments", 5-7 June 2002, Bad Lauchstädt and Halle upon Saale. Agrochemical monitoring of the basic landscape components was launched in order to assess human impacts of land-use on the site of Barybino Experimental Station (Moscow Region, clay loam soddy-podzolic soils. 55°30'N, 37° 36' E). The climate is moderate continental, mean annual temperature of 3.8 °C and mean precipitation of 567 mm (1965-1998) at an elevation of 185 m above sea level. A typical soil cover pattern is represented as a complex of soddy-podzolic soils (podzo-luvisols) with excessive surface moistening features manifested differently according to the influence of the micro relief. The study was carried out from 1991 to 2001 in a crop rotation of silo maize, barley, perennial grasses (clover with timothy) and winter wheat, under different systems of fertilization (application of organic as well as mineral fertilizers, plant remedies and their combinations). Agrochemical monitoring let to establish the anthropogenic impacts on the system "soil-nutrients-plant"-environment. Alterations of the landscape components affected by human activities and climate change were estimated. At the site it could be shown that the amount of precipitation, soil properties and type of cultivated crop had mainly influenced migration of the nutrient elements.     

Dedicated to the 100th birthday of Professor Dr. Dr. h. c. mult. Eduard von Boguslawski

Identifying the optimum resolution where differences in corn (Zea mays L.) grain yields are detectable could theoretically improve nitrogen (N) management, thereby resulting in economic and environmental benefits for producers and the public at large. The objective of this study was to determine the optimum resolution for prediction of corn grain yield using indirect sensor measurements. Corn rows, 15–30 m long, were randomly selected at three locations where the exact location of each plant was determined. In 2005 and 2006, four of eight rows at each location were fertilized with 150 kg N ha^?1 as urea ammonium nitrate (28% N). A GreenSeeker? optical sensor was used to determine average Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) across a range of plants and over fixed distances (20, 40, 45.7, 60, 80, 91.4, 100, 120, 140, 160, 180, 200, 220, and 240 cm). Individual corn plants were harvested and grain yield was determined. Correlation of corn grain yield versus NDVI was evaluated over both increasing distances and increasing number of corn plants. Then, the squared correlation coefficients (r_cc ²) from each plot (used as data) were fitted to a linear plateau model for each resolution treatment (fixed distance and number of corn plants). The linear-plateau model coefficient of determination (r_lp ²) was maximized when averaged over every four plants in 2004 and 2006, and over 11 plants in 2005. Likewise, r_lp ² was maximized at a fixed distance of 95, 141, and 87 cm in 2004, 2005, and 2006, respectively. Averaged over sites and years, results from this study suggest that in order to treat spatial variability at the correct scale, the linear fixed distances should likely be <87 cm or <4 plants as an optimum resolution for detecting early-season differences in yield potential and making management decisions based on this resolution.