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A Classification System for Factors Affecting Crop Response to Nitrogen Fertilization

Soil and Water Conserv. Res. Unit, USDA-ARS, ARS, 119 Keim Hall-East Campus, Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68583
Plant Sci. Res. Unit, USDA-ARS, and Dep. of Soil Science, Science, 439 Borlaug Hall, Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108
Southern Exp. Stn., Waseca, MN 56093.

^* Corresponding author.

Crop response to N fertilizer (N_f) is influenced by factors such as N_f management, soil type, crop sequence, and supply of residual and mineralized N, but there is no framework to define the best strategy to account for a given factor in an N_f recommendation. This paper describes a three-component classification system for evaluating the effect of any factor on yield response to N_f. This system provides (i) a vocabulary to describe clearly the effect of a factor on N_f recommendations, and (ii) insight on how to adjust N_f recommendations for the effect. Factors that affect yield response to N_f but not to N supply (N_s) were classified as shift effects (i.e., movement of a response curve in the x and/or y direction, with no change in coefficients of curvature). Factors that interact with N_f and N_s response were classified as interaction effects. Nitrogen supply was defined as the sum of aboveground plant N content of the control (0 N applied) plot, postharvest fall NO^-₃ in the surface 1.5 m of the control plot, and N_f applied. Two 2-yr experiments were conducted at Rosemount and Waseca, MN, to compare N_f response of continuous corn (Zea mays L.) with that of first- and then second-year corn following alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). We used the classification system to evaluate effects of crop sequence, year, and location on corn yield response to N_f. Year and crop sequence effects at Rosemount were primarily shift effects, implying that quantifying the effect on N_s would be sufficient to account for these effects on N_f recommendations. In contrast, the interaction model predominated at Waseca. Consequently, at this location simple adjustments of N_s were not sufficient to account for the complexity of crop sequence effects on N_f recommendations. This classification system facilitates the organization, evaluation, and communication of the many factors that influence crop yield.

Received for publication September 17, 1994.

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