Combining Cover Crops with a Woodchip Bioreactor for Lower Nitrate Loss
Lowell Gentry, Dan Schaefer and Eric Miller are studying how installing a woodchip bioreactor at the edge of a field, along with planting cover crops might limit nutrient loss.
How do current recommendations on drainage depth and spacing influence nutrient loss, crop productivity and nutrient utilization?
Can drainage depth and spacing be optimized to minimize the nutrient losses and maximize crop production?
What is DNRA?
It’s not as complicated as it sounds. DNRA conserves Nitrogen within the system. Since DNRA takes nitrate and converts it to ammonium, it does not produce N2 or N2O.
What is Drainage Water Management?
Dr. Laura Christianson, along with her colleagues from the University of Illinois, are exploring various options of drainage water management. “Drain only what is necessary for good trafficability and crop growth — and not a drop more?
How Useful is Variable Rate Nitrogen
Dr. Amir Sadeghpour and research collaborators at SIU and UK are developing regionally-specific algorithms fro Illinois farmers to use GreenSeeker sensor tools.
What Effect does Nitrogen Placement have on Nutrient Uptake and Yield?
This study supports the premise that concentrating N fertilizer below ground near the crop row can increase grain yield and N removal.
How Much Nitrogen is Lost when no N is Applied?
In this study, plots that received no N fertilizer still lost a notable amount of nitrate-N through the subsurface drainage system.