Effects of Crop Rotation and Nitrogen Fertilization of Corn on Yields of Corn, Soybean, and Oats

Abstract

Materials and Methods Crop rotation influences yield and various soil properties due to changes in availability of nutrients and water, physical properties, and incidence of pests and weeds. A rotation crop study was started in 1979 to assess the effects of various crop sequences and nitrogen (N) fertilization for corn on crop yield. The rotations are continuous corn for grain and for silage, continuous soybean, several corn-soybean sequences with one to three corn crops for every soybean crop, and corn-corn-oats/alfalfa. Alfalfa is undersown with oats and only oats grain is harvested the first year. The tillage practices are chisel-plowing of cornstalks in the fall and field cultivation for all crops in the spring. The N treatments are 0, 80, 160, and 240 lb N/acre only for corn using granulated urea, which is spread in spring and incorporated into the soil. This report summarizes average grain yields of corn, soybean, and oats for the 28-year period (1979-2006) and the last four years when the 4-year rotations completed a cycle.

Footprints of corn nitrogen management on the following soybean crop

“…Most of the variation on soybean yields was mainly linked to year (weather) as the main factor. Overall, by using two independent datasets (a long‐term and a short‐term but more detailed study), we provided insights on the minor and erratic responses of soybean yield to residual N from the previous corn N fertilization, as reported in the scientific literature (Mallarino & Pecinovski, 2007; Welch et al., 1973). The soybean response to N is very inconsistent even when high N fertilization rates are directly applied to the soybean crop (Halvorson & Reule, 2006; Mourtzinis et al., 2018; Ortez et al., 2018; Tamagno et al., 2018).…”

Energy and nutrient cycling in pig production systems

“…It is well known that rotating crops affects production. Based on reports from Iowa (Al-Kaisi et al, 2006b, a;Mallarino et al, 2006;Al-Kaisi and Licht, 2007b, a;Mallarino and Licht, 2007;Al-Kaisi, 2008b, a) the crop model assumed growing corn in any of the 4 noncontinuous corn scenarios will result in an 11% increase in corn production compared to continuous corn. The crop model also assumed growing soybeans in any rotation would result in a 4% increase over growing soybeans continuously.…”

“…The crop model also assumed growing soybeans in any rotation would result in a 4% increase over growing soybeans continuously. For the rotations where soybeans are grown less than every other year, annual production was assumed to increase by 8% over continuous soybeans (Mallarino and Licht, 2007).…”