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Nitrogen Management

Pre-Sidedress Nitrate Test and Other Crop-Based Indicators for Fresh Market and Processing Sweet Corn

^a Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre (ECORC), Central Experimental Farm, 960 Carling Ave., Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0C6
^b Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Greenhouse and Processing Crops Research Centre, 2585 County Rd. 20, Harrow, ON, Canada N0R 1G0

^* Corresponding author (mab{at}agr.gc.ca)

Received for publication January 31, 2006. Commercial sweet corn (Zea mays L.) production requires significant quantities of fertilizer N, leading to inefficient N use and negative environmental impact. A field experiment was conducted for 4 yr (2001–2004) in Ottawa, Canada, to assess and compare presidedress soil nitrate test (PSNT) with some crop-based measurements (canopy reflectance, leaf chlorophyll and plant total N) for improved N management. A fresh market sweet corn (FMSC, hybrid ‘Temptation’) grown from 2001 to 2003, and a processing sweet corn (PSC, hybrid ‘Hollywood’) from 2002 to 2004, both received five fertilizer N rates (0, 50, 100, 150, and 200 kg N ha^–1). Soil samples taken from the V4 to V8 growth stages were analyzed for NO₃^––N. Leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD) and canopy reflectance were also measured for FMSC at the same time. All N treatments affected the number of marketable ears, kernel dry weight and total biomass production. However, in most cases, there was no difference between N treatments from 100 to 200 kg ha^–1. The PSNT NO₃^––N increased linearly with the fertilizer N rates, and there were significant positive correlations between PSNT at V4 to V6 and the number of marketable ears. It was evident that PSNT, plant N concentration at V6, SPAD and canopy reflectance all differentiated sweet corn N response similarly, and they were highly correlated with one another. We concluded that PSNT at V4 to V6 was effective in predicting sweet corn N requirement in this cool and short-growing region.

Abbreviations: DM, dry matter • DW, dry weight • FMSC, fresh-market sweet corn • NDVI, normalized difference vegetative index • PSC, processing sweet corn • PSNT, presidedress nitrate test • SPAD, leaf chlorophyll content

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