Study Shows Nitrogen Key to Uptake of Other Nutrients in Corn

Research has shown that new corn hybrids take up more nitrogen than older plant varieties after the critical flowering stage. Purdue University Professor Tony Vyn, and Ignacio Ciampitti, a postdoctoral research associate, are looking into the timing of nutrient uptake in corn and how the process affects yield. They found that modern corn hybrids (released after 1990), took up 27 percent more nitrogen from the soil after flowering than pre-1990 corn plants, and that nitrogen uptake after flowering in post-1990 hybrids averaged 56 percent of the total grain nitrogen at the end of the season.

According to Vyn, the timing of nitrogen uptake is also important in understanding how other plant nutrients are affected. He said that optimum nitrogen levels increased the corn plants' abilities to absorb phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur. Adequate nitrogen ensured higher percentages of total plant phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur in the grain fraction at harvest.

Vyn and Ciampitti also found that the timing of nutrient uptake is important in predicting yield and nutrient efficiencies. They said that identifying simple, early-stage plant traits that could be measured to predict final yield would be economically beneficial, though the earliest they could predict yield with even 50 percent certainty was at flowering.

For more information about this study, read the news release available at: http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q2/nitrogen-key-to-uptake-of-other-corn-nutrients,-study-shows.html.