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Using An Active Optical Sensor To Improve Nitrogen Management In Corn Production, Donato Titolo

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Corn nitrogen (N) applications are still done on a field basis in Kentucky, according to previous crop, soil tillage management and soil drainage. Soil tests, as well as plant analysis for N, are not very useful in making N fertilizer rate recommendations for corn. Recommended rates assume that only 1/3 to 2/3 of applied N is recovered, variability largely due to the strong affect of weather on the release of soil N and fertilizer N fate. Many attempts have been made to apply N in a more precise and efficient way. Two experiments were conducted at Spindeltop, the University of …