Jim,

The reason you use low testing soil is to show results and your are correct these results show that using 50% rate in a band is not equivalent to 100% broadcast.  If the soil is low in P you loose yield, if the soil is medium or higher, you mine the soil.

In another post you say if you drill beans you have to move the the band around to get uniform P distribution.  I think that is called broadcast.

Strip till may have some good attributes, but decreasing fertilizer rates is not one of them.  Like so many other things, you only get out what you put in.

Ron,

Now you have it directly from crop consultants and university research just what I have told you for years now.  The soil is nothing more than a giant warehouse for P & K.  It makes no difference how you stock it , broadcast, starter, strip till deep band, you have to keep it adequately stocked if you want to maximize yields over the long run.