Optimize Nitrogen for 2025 Corn Crop
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As farmers’ focus shifts toward improving soil biology and reducing costs, nitrogen fertilizer efficiency is a top concern in corn.
It’s the second highest corn input cost next to seed, so cutting back and applying closer to crop uptake is gaining favor. Along those lines, university nitrogen recommendations continue to improve based on better data and crop modeling.
“While optimum fertilizer rates are going up across the Corn Belt, efficiency is also going up because yield is rising and farmers are harvesting more nitrogen with the grain,” says Mike Castellano, Iowa State University agronomist. “However, farmers are also losing an average of 30 pounds of nitrogen per acre per year from corn and soybeans, so continued improvement is critical for environmental sustainability.”
Nitrogen Management Tool
Actual on-farm nitrogen use data drives Iowa State’s new N-FACT (Nitrogen Fertilizer Application Consultation Tool) decision support system. This first-of-its-kind benchmarking and decision tool uses hundreds of real trials from Iowa farms across the state. Given the many variabilities across environments and operations, the goal is to maximize productivity, profitability and environmental performance by optimizing nitrogen rates.
N-FACT, a result of the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative, is the next generation of the current standard MRTN (Maximum Return to Nitrogen) calculator. Castellano would like to see more states invest in farmer data-gathering to take N-FACT across the Corn Belt.
“For example, since this N-FACT model incorporates weather data, a farmer can obtain a range of optimum nitrogen rates for a May sidedress application by adding farm location, crop rotation, spring and summer weather conditions, planting date and nitrogen/corn prices,” Castellano says. The results page allows for numerous comparison scenarios so growers can see how economic and agronomic optimums change.
Spring Recommendations
In Iowa, Castellano says current nitrate levels in the top two feet of soil are very low, so farmers are starting with an empty gas tank. He believes it’s a great year to consider some in-season N application after a soil test and some pre-plant nitrogen.
When growers ask about total nitrogen applied in relation to the environment, Castellano likes to discuss management from year to year. “You can’t have environmental sustainability if you don’t have economic sustainability,” he says. “If a grower reduces his pounds of nitrogen per bushel yearly, he’s becoming more profitable while improving environmental performance.”
Another tool to help make nitrogen more efficient is the use of nitrogen stabilizers. Castellano says that while they may not be effective every year in all situations, they can help save nitrogen. He recommends them with all fall applications.
Taylor Ferguson advises growers and retailers to consider nitrogen stabilizers as an insurance investment to protect up to $80 to $120 per acre of nitrogen. The Corteva Agriscience Nitrogen Stabilizer Strategic Account Manager for Ohio and Michigan believes that adding more nitrogen instead of a stabilizer increases the opportunity for more nitrogen to be leached away or denitrified into the atmosphere.
“We typically see up to a 70 to 80 percent win rate with our nitrogen stabilizers, increasing yield potential by up to five to eight bushels per acre,” Ferguson says. “We can’t control the weather, and some years growers don’t see a response when nitrogen isn’t the limiting factor. However, soil tests prove these products maintain more ammonium in the soil versus nitrate even when we don’t get rainfall.”
Misconceptions
Growers often think that adding Instinct NXTGEN® to a sidedress nitrogen application isn’t needed because it’s knifed into the ground. Ferguson says the reality is that up to 70% of nitrogen below ground can be lost. Instinct NXTGEN works on the Nitrosomonas bacteria in the soil to slow the conversion from ammonia to nitrate while binding it tightly to the soil to reduce leaching and denitrification. A full rate can provide up to six to eight weeks of greater nitrogen availability in seven out of 10 years.
“Where Instinct NXTGEN is used in the spring, whether for pre-plant, early or late sidedress, it’ll help keep nitrogen available until after tassel when corn uptakes one-third of its total nitrogen,” Ferguson says. “When really warm temperatures and large rain events occur, our stabilizer helps keep nitrogen available for the crop.”
Best ROI This Spring
For growers splitting their nitrogen application this spring, Ferguson says some of their best ROI data over the past two years has come from split application.
“Adding a half-rate (12 ounces/acre) of Instinct with your first nitrogen application, whether that’s 80 to 100 pounds per acre, then add the second half-rate to your post application of 80 to 100 pounds, depending on your total nitrogen program. We’re seeing great results with such a program, whether it’s applied at pre-plant or behind the planter followed by a sidedress anywhere from V3 to V6,” he says.
Optinyte® technology, the active ingredient in Instinct NXTGEN and N-Serve nitrogen stabilizers, is backed by nearly 50 years of research and more than 1,000 field trials and university studies. “Competitor products' yield advantage cannot compare, nor does it compare with the positive environmental impact of Optinyte – reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 51%,” Ferguson says.
He encourages farmers to watch forecasts for wetter weather ahead. Since we can’t predict the weather, he encourages growers to add Instinct nitrogen stabilizer to the tank as added insurance against increasingly extreme weather conditions. For more information, visit with your local retailer and check out nitrostabilizers.com.
Learn more:
- Iowa State University: Nitrogen Fertilizer Application Consultation Tool (N-FACT). Farmers encouraged to sign up.
- ISU: Pounds of Nitrogen per Bushel of Corn – Benchmarking Farms Against Local Averages (PDF)
- ISU: Iowa Nitrogen Initiative program
- Corteva: Nitrogen Stabilizers: Max In. Max Out.
- Corteva: Nutrient Maximizers
- Corteva: TruChoice 10% savings program.
Content provided by DTN/The Progressive Farmer
Instinct NXTGEN® is not registered for sale or use in all states. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your state. Do not fall-apply anhydrous ammonia south of Highway 16 in the state of Illinois. Optinyte® is a registered active ingredient. Always read and follow label directions.
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