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This project is designed to evaluate alternatives to the Pre-sidedress N test that was introduced sev- Com Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 16,1996—Page eral years ago. One of the test procedures is based on a soil test taken at or near planting and the other procedure involves the use of the Minolta SPAD chlorophyll meter, which is used to assess the chlorophyll content of young com leaves. A third method of evaluating N requirements also involves using the chlorophyll meter at the early dent stage.. This procedure would qot pro vide any information for use in the current season, but could provide feedback for next sea son. These tests looked promis ing when evaluated initially by one of my colleagues here at Penn State, Dr. Dick Fox, but we were interested in having them evaluated under field con ditions and by consultants, extension agents, and fertilizer dealers. As part of the research pro ject, fimdcd by the Pennsylva nia Department of Agriculture, 10 cooperators from around the state have been evaluating these tests by sampling selected fields for com producers in their area and reporting their results, along with field history information, so that we can incorporate this information into our database. Many of these cooperators also have been conducting some N trials to assess the accuracy of the test procedures. The project is in its third year now and over 400 com fields have been tested with these procedures. The initial results are indicat ing that the chlorophyll meter can provide some very accurate results, comparable to the PSNT. Using the chlorophyll meter would eliminate the need for soil sampling and could pro vide growers with immediate feedback in the field. To use this method to accu rately predict sidedressing requirements, however, there needs to be a fertilized check area established in the field prior to sampling to correct for chlorophyll differences due to hybrid, rotation, tillage and other effects. This is the main drawback to using this procedure. The chlorophyll meter can also produce accurate results when used at the early dent stage, and at this stage we do not need the fertilized check area as we do earlier in the sea son. Many of the project cooperators have found this to be a useful tool that they could use to assess the N fertility programs of many fields and give feedback to growers immediately. Also, the timing of the test is attractive because the sampling is done during August and schedules are not nearly as busy as in early June when the other tests are done. Cooperators report that many growers have similar fertility programs from year to year, so feedback in August is valuable in planning for the next year’s fertility program. The at-planting test would be an attractive alternative for those growers who wanted to apply N at or just after planting. In this project, our results have been inconsistent with this test because in some cases the at plant test has overestimated the actual N requirements deter mined from our on-farm tests. In the third year of this pro ject, we will focus on identify ing the factors that cause prob lems with this test so that we can avoid those situations if we decide to use it in the future. Following our evaluation in 1996, we will develop recom mendations for use of these testing procedures under Pen nsylvania conditions. These tests should provide help in bet ter tailoring N applications and reducing input costs where manure and previous legume crops are utilized in the crop ping systems and where the PSNT has not been a viable alternative. 217
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