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Southeast WI | It is used when running a typical N response trial like the land grants do which we also do for our NOPP state trials. Standard practice in small plots are rates from zero to 300 units of N per acre to build a response curve. Typically in past on-farm work we have seen the N curve level off somewhere just north of 200 units of N, however the past 3 years that is not the case as there have been quite a number of sites where the curve technically has not plateaued yet at 250 units of N.
From a realistic farmer standpoint I am not going to put 250 units of N per acre out on my production fields. However from a research standpoint we need to be able to do that. This work we have been doing, our universities have been doing (including yours in IL) are leading to moderate increases in the N rate recommendations across the midwest.
The environmental danger of pushing too much N is you will leave too much in the soil at the end of the year and that will be lost to the groundwater. Our post harvest 2' N samples show a marked increase in Nov soil N once rates go much over 200 units. So it is a balancing act to find the best economic vs agronomic N rate and not harm the environment.
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proper setup for liquid fertilizer applications
