TY - JOUR

T1 - Nitrogen fertilisation management in precision agriculture

T2 - A preliminary application example on maize

AU - Casa, Raffaele

AU - Cavalieri, Andrea

AU - lo Cascio, Benedetto

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - The adoption of precision agriculture techniques for N management has the potential for improving agronomic, economic and environmental efficiency in the use of such input. The present work was aimed at testing a simplified N balance method for the prescription of N fertilization in uniform management zones defined from information on measured soil properties on grain maize in central Italy. The results of this preliminary experience show that the application of the N balance prescription map did not bring to significant differences, from a uniform N fertilisation, in terms of grain yield, economic return above N cost and nitrate content in the soil profile at the end of the growing season. However, the adoption of the prescribed N fertilisation strategy for the whole field would have caused a limited saving in the amount of fertiliser employed, quantified at about 10 kg N ha -1.

AB - The adoption of precision agriculture techniques for N management has the potential for improving agronomic, economic and environmental efficiency in the use of such input. The present work was aimed at testing a simplified N balance method for the prescription of N fertilization in uniform management zones defined from information on measured soil properties on grain maize in central Italy. The results of this preliminary experience show that the application of the N balance prescription map did not bring to significant differences, from a uniform N fertilisation, in terms of grain yield, economic return above N cost and nitrate content in the soil profile at the end of the growing season. However, the adoption of the prescribed N fertilisation strategy for the whole field would have caused a limited saving in the amount of fertiliser employed, quantified at about 10 kg N ha -1.

KW - Nitrogen balance

KW - Nitrogen fertilisation

KW - Spatial variability

KW - Uniform management zones

KW - Variable rate application

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84655174055&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.4081/ija.2011.e5

DO - 10.4081/ija.2011.e5

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84655174055

VL - 6

SP - 23

EP - 27

JO - Italian Journal of Agronomy

JF - Italian Journal of Agronomy

SN - 1125-4718

IS - 1

M1 - e5

ER -