WINTER CROPS AS BIOASSAYS OF SOIL NITROGEN-SUPPLYING CAPACITY |
| |
| Authors: | Ernest L. Clawson H. J. Mascagni Jr. Gary A. Breitenbeck Donald J. Boquet Jose F. Liscano Kevin S. McCarter |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Northeast Research Station , Louisiana State University Agricultural Center , Saint Joseph, Louisiana, USA;2. School of Plant, Soil, and Environmental Sciences , Louisiana State University Agricultural Center , Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA;3. Macon Ridge Research Station , Louisiana State University Agricultural Center , Winnsboro, Louisiana, USA;4. Orchard, Nebraska, USA;5. Department of Experimental Statistics , Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | Soil nitrogen (N)-supplying capacity bioassays could present alternatives to traditional soil tests. Objectives were to identify winter crops and associated characteristics with bioassay potential. Saint Joseph and Bossier City, LA experiments used randomized complete block designs with factorial N fertilizer and winter crop treatment arrangements. Nitrogen rates were applied to corn (Zea mays L.) in 2004. Unfertilized winter wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.), cereal rye (Secale cereale L.), native winter vegetation, and weed-free winter fallow treatments followed corn. At Saint Joseph, cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) followed winter crop treatments. Greater corn N rate consistently increased winter crop biomass and N accumulation, suggesting potential as bioassays, and increased Saint Joseph seedcotton yield. Winter crop-seedcotton yield N-response relationships were non-significant by familywise error rate criteria. However, some winter crop characteristics, such as rye N accumulation, for which a relationship to seedcotton yield closely approached significance, may merit further research as soil N-supplying capacity bioassays. |
| |
| Keywords: | nitrogen soil/media testing procedures soil fertility |
|
|
