Investment Insight: Evaluating agronomic systems for yield and tile nitrate loss

Can drainage depth and spacing be optimized to minimize the nutrient losses and maximize crop production?
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?
This study supports the premise that concentrating N fertilizer below ground near the crop row can increase grain yield and N removal.
In this study, plots that received no N fertilizer still lost a notable amount of nitrate-N through the subsurface drainage system.
It just takes a research meeting in San Antonio to bring the NREC-funded research to the forefront of the agronomy world.