Nitrogen management decisions in crop production under different weather and soil conditions

Qi Dai, Purdue University

Abstract

Nitrogen fertilizer recommendations are usually developed from experiments that have a particular soil type in a single location. These nitrogen recommendations are likely not optimal for a totally different soil type or a location with a different weather pattern. It is virtually impossible to conduct nitrogen experiments for each individual farm or field. The efficient nitrogen management in crop production needs a generalized nitrogen decision model that can provide nitrogen use recommendations crafted for different soil types and weather patterns. In this thesis, a generalized nitrogen decision model is developed to determine the optimal nitrogen recommendations in corn production for different soil and weather conditions. The optimal nitrogen application rates and their expected net returns for corn under different soil and weather conditions are significantly different. The economic losses of incorrectly using nitrogen fertilizer recommendation are evaluated. In this particular research, the cost of applying the optimal nitrogen recommendation to a "wrong" soil could be as high as $43 per acre, the costs of applying the optimal nitrogen recommendation to a location with different weather pattern are ranged from \$0.60 to 6.70 per acre.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Fletcher, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Agricultural economics|Agronomy

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