Lowering the fertilisation rate for corn monocropping: nutritional parameters
Corn (Zea mays cv Prisma) was cropped consecutively for 5 years under the common Mediterranean management practice of plentiful fertilisation and irrigation. The nutritional status of the crop was studied over 5 years of monocropping at three different stages of growth: plantlets of 15 cm height, early tasseling and mature plants. The fertilisation was applied at both one of the highest rates used in SW Spain, 1000 kg ha-1 of a 15(N)-15(P2O5)-15(K2O) fertiliser, plus two top-dressings of urea each of 400 kg ha-1, and the same fertiliser but at one third of this rate. The nutritional status of the crop, and yield, decreased over the study. Concentrations of N and P declined along the years, this effect being most evident during early growth in the case of P and in mature plants in the case of N. Zinc concentration also declined over the first 4 years. DRIS approach also reflected a decrease in the nutritional status of the crop. The high rate of fertilisation did not alleviate the decline in nutritional status, which shows that its routine application is not justified under Mediterranean conditions since it hardly provokes any crop response and increases the risk of environmental pollution.
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | artículo biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
1997
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/60157 |
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