Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Life Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Corn

Plant Biology

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Did Cover Crop Or Animal Manure Ameliorate Corn Residue Removal Effects On Soil Mechanical Properties After 10 Years?, Hans W. Klopp, Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Michael Sindelar, Virginia L. Jin, Marty R. Schmer, Richard B. Ferguson Sep 2023

Did Cover Crop Or Animal Manure Ameliorate Corn Residue Removal Effects On Soil Mechanical Properties After 10 Years?, Hans W. Klopp, Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Michael Sindelar, Virginia L. Jin, Marty R. Schmer, Richard B. Ferguson

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Crop residue removal may negatively affect soil mechanical properties, which are key components of soil quality. To evaluate potential long-term effects, we assessed the 10-yr impact of corn (Zea mays L.) residue removal (59 % of non-grain biomass annually) on surface soil mechanical properties (0–20 cm). We also evaluated whether adding carbon (C) amendments, such as using a winter rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop or surface-applying cattle manure (24 Mg ha− 1 biannually) can ameliorate the effects of crop residue removal. This long-term study was under irrigated no-till continuous corn on a silt loam soil in south-central …


Intensifying A Crop–Fallow System: Impacts On Soil Properties, Crop Yields, And Economics, S. J. Ruis, S. Stepanovic, Humberto Blanco-Canqui Mar 2023

Intensifying A Crop–Fallow System: Impacts On Soil Properties, Crop Yields, And Economics, S. J. Ruis, S. Stepanovic, Humberto Blanco-Canqui

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Intensifying crop–fallow systems could address increased weed control costs, increased land or rental costs, reduced crop diversity, and degraded soil properties in water-limited environments. One strategy to intensify such systems could be the insertion of a short-season crop during fallow. But, how this strategy affects soils, crop production, and farm economics needs further research. Thus, we studied the impacts of replacing fallow in a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L)–corn (Zea mays L.)–fallow system with a short-season spring crop [field pea (Pisum sativum L.)] on crop yields and economics from 2015 to 2019 and 5-yr cumulative effects on …


A Glass Bead Semi-Hydroponic System For Intact Maize Root Exudate Analysis And Phenotyping, Martha G. Lopez-Guerrero, Peng Wang, Felicia Phares, Daniel P. Schachtman, Sophie Alvarez, Karin V. Van Dijk Dec 2022

A Glass Bead Semi-Hydroponic System For Intact Maize Root Exudate Analysis And Phenotyping, Martha G. Lopez-Guerrero, Peng Wang, Felicia Phares, Daniel P. Schachtman, Sophie Alvarez, Karin V. Van Dijk

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background: Although there have been numerous studies describing plant growth systems for root exudate collection, a common limitation is that these systems require disruption of the plant root system to facilitate exudate collection. Here, we present a newly designed semi-hydroponic system that uses glass beads as solid support to simulate soil impedance, which combined with drip irrigation, facilitates growth of healthy maize plants, collection and analysis of root exudates, and phenotyping of the roots with minimal growth disturbance or root damage. Results: This system was used to collect root exudates from seven maize genotypes using water or 1 mM CaCl2, …


Transforming Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) And Multispectral Sensor Into A Practical Decision Support System For Precision Nitrogen Management In Corn, Laura J. Thompson, Laila A. Puntel Jan 2020

Transforming Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Uav) And Multispectral Sensor Into A Practical Decision Support System For Precision Nitrogen Management In Corn, Laura J. Thompson, Laila A. Puntel

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Determining the optimal nitrogen (N) rate in corn remains a critical issue, mainly due to unaccounted spatial (e.g., soil properties) and temporal (e.g., weather) variability. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with multispectral sensors may provide opportunities to improve N management by the timely informing of spatially variable, in-season N applications. Here, we developed a practical decision support system (DSS) to translate spatial field characteristics and normalized difference red edge (NDRE) values into an in-season N application recommendation. On-farm strip-trials were established at three sites over two years to compare farmer’s traditional N management to a split-application N management guided by …


Development Of A Nitrogen Recommendation Tool For Corn Considering Static And Dynamic Variables, Laila A. Puntel, Agustin Pagani, Sotirios V. Archontoulis Mar 2019

Development Of A Nitrogen Recommendation Tool For Corn Considering Static And Dynamic Variables, Laila A. Puntel, Agustin Pagani, Sotirios V. Archontoulis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Many soil and weather variables can affect the economical optimum nitrogen (N) rate (EONR) for maize. We classified 54 potential factors as dynamic (change rapidly over time, e.g. soil water) and static (change slowly over time, e.g. soil organic matter) and explored their relative importance on EONR and yield prediction by analyzing a dataset with 51 N trials from Central-West region of Argentina. Across trials, the average EONR was 113 ± 83 kg N ha−1 and the average optimum yield was 12.3 ± 2.2 Mg ha−1, which is roughly 50% higher than the current N rates used …


Statistical And Machine Learning Methods Evaluated For Incorporating Soil And Weather Into Corn Nitrogen Recommendations, Curtis J. Ransom, Newell R. Kitchen, James J. Camberato, Paul R. Carter, Richard B. Ferguson, Fabian G. Fernandez, David W. Franzen, Carrie A. M. Laboski, D. Brenton Myers, Emerson D. Nafziger, John E. Sawyer, John F. Shanahan Jan 2019

Statistical And Machine Learning Methods Evaluated For Incorporating Soil And Weather Into Corn Nitrogen Recommendations, Curtis J. Ransom, Newell R. Kitchen, James J. Camberato, Paul R. Carter, Richard B. Ferguson, Fabian G. Fernandez, David W. Franzen, Carrie A. M. Laboski, D. Brenton Myers, Emerson D. Nafziger, John E. Sawyer, John F. Shanahan

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer recommendation tools could be improved for estimating corn (Zea mays L.) N needs by incorporating site-specific soil and weather information. However, an evaluation of analytical methods is needed to determine the success of incorporating this information. The objectives of this research were to evaluate statistical and machine learning (ML) algorithms for utilizing soil and weather information for improving corn N recommendation tools. Eight algorithms [stepwise, ridge regression, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso), elastic net regression, principal component regression (PCR), partial least squares regression (PLSR), decision tree, and random forest] were evaluated using a dataset …


A Systems Modeling Approach To Forecast Corn Economic Optimum Nitrogen Rate, Laila A. Puntel, John E. Sawyer, Daniel W. Barker, Peter J. Thorburn, Michael J. Castellano, Kenneth J. Moore, Andy Vanloocke, Emily A. Heaton, Sotirios V. Archontoulis Apr 2018

A Systems Modeling Approach To Forecast Corn Economic Optimum Nitrogen Rate, Laila A. Puntel, John E. Sawyer, Daniel W. Barker, Peter J. Thorburn, Michael J. Castellano, Kenneth J. Moore, Andy Vanloocke, Emily A. Heaton, Sotirios V. Archontoulis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Historically crop models have been used to evaluate crop yield responses to nitrogen (N) rates after harvest when it is too late for the farmers to make in-season adjustments. We hypothesize that the use of a crop model as an in-season forecast tool will improve current N decision-making. To explore this, we used the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) calibrated with long-term experimental data for central Iowa, USA (16-years in continuous corn and 15-years in soybean-corn rotation) combined with actual weather data up to a specific crop stage and historical weather data thereafter. The objectives were to: (1) evaluate the …


Impaired Phloem Loading In Zmsweet13a,B,C Sucrose Transporter Triple Knock-Out Mutants In Zea Mays, Margaret Bezrutczyk, Thomas Hartwig, Marc Horschman, Si Nian Char, Jinliang Yang, Bing Yang, Wolf B. Frommer, Davide Sosso Jan 2018

Impaired Phloem Loading In Zmsweet13a,B,C Sucrose Transporter Triple Knock-Out Mutants In Zea Mays, Margaret Bezrutczyk, Thomas Hartwig, Marc Horschman, Si Nian Char, Jinliang Yang, Bing Yang, Wolf B. Frommer, Davide Sosso

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Crop yield is critical for human nutrition, yet the underlying machinery that ultimately determines yield potential is still not understood. Crop productivity under ideal conditions is determined by the efficiency with which plants intercept light, convert it into chemical energy, translocate photosynthates and convert these to storage products in harvestable organs (Zhu et al., 2010). In many crops, sucrose is the primary form for translocation inside the conduit (i.e. the phloem). A combination of SWEETmediated efflux from phloem parenchyma and subsequent secondary active sucrose import by SUT sucrose/H+ symporters is thought to create the driving force for pressure gradient-driven …


Corn (Zea Mays L.) Seeding Rate Optimization In Iowa, Usa, Mark A. Licht, Andrew W. Lenssen, Roger W. Elmore Jan 2016

Corn (Zea Mays L.) Seeding Rate Optimization In Iowa, Usa, Mark A. Licht, Andrew W. Lenssen, Roger W. Elmore

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Collecting soil, topography, and yield information has become more feasible and reliable with advancements in precision technologies. Combined with the accessibility of precision technologies and services to farmers, there has been increased interest and ability to make site-specific crop management decisions. The objective of this research was to develop procedures to optimize corn seeding rates and maximize yield using soil and topographic parameters. Experimental treatments included five seeding rates (61 750; 74 100; 86 450; 98 800; and 111 150 seeds ha-1) in a randomized complete block design in three central Iowa fields from 2012 to 2014 (nine …