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NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT & SOIL & PLANT ANALYSIS

Variations in Corn Yield and Nitrogen Uptake in Relation to Soil Attributes and Nitrogen Availability Indices

^a Université Laval, Pavillon Paul Comtois, Québec, Département des Sols et Génie, Agroalimentaire, G1K 7P4, Canada
^b Institut de Recherche et de Développement en, Agroenvironnement (IRDA), 2700 Rue Einstein, Québec, G1P 3W8, Canada
^c Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada, 2560 Boul. Hochelaga, Québec, G1V 2J3, Canada

^* Corresponding author (judithnyiraneza{at}yahoo.fr).

Identification of soil attributes most determinant to crop yield is still a matter of debate. The main objective of the present study was to relate the variations in corn (Zea mays L.) yield and N uptake to 16 soil attributes. Samples were collected in 2005 and 2006 from a long-term experiment. Soil organic C (SOC), total N (TN), potential mineralizable N (PMN), NO₃ extractable with KCl (NO₃–KCl) and CaCl₂ (NO₃–CaCl₂), NO₃ adsorbed on anion exchange membranes (NO₃–AEM), N extracted with NaHCO₃ read at 205 nm (N-NaHCO₃–205) and 220 nm (N-NaHCO₃–220), N present in fulvic acid (FA-N), humic acid (HA-N) and non-humified fractions (NHF-N), mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWD), total, macro- and microporosity, and bulk density (D_b) were measured. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted with the measured soil attributes, and the principal components (PCs) were used in a stepwise regression with corn yield and N uptake. In both years, a maximum of 88% of the total variance was explained. The stepwise regression analysis indicated that the first two PCs explained 78 to 91% of the variability in corn yield and N uptake. Based on the PCA, TN, HA-N, NO₃–KCl, NO₃–CaCl_2, NO₃–AEM, and PMN appeared as primary indicators of corn yield and N uptake, whereas MWD, FA-N, and NHF-N appeared as secondary indicators. When the variability in corn yield and N uptake explained by each N availability index was assessed, NO₃–KCl and NO₃–CaCl₂ appeared as the best predictors of corn yield because of their ease of measurement and reliability across years.

Abbreviations: CV, coefficient of variation • D_b, bulk density • FA-N, N in fulvic acids • HA-N, N in humic acids • MSA, measure of sampling adequacy • MWD, Mean weight diameter of water-stable soil aggregates • NHF-N, N in the non-humified fraction • N-NaHCO₃–205, N extracted by 0.01 M NaHCO₃ and absorbance read at 205 nm • N-NaHCO₃–220, the absorbance of a 0.01 M NaHCO₃ extract at 220 nm • NO₃–AEM, cumulative NO₃–N adsorbed on anion exchange membranes • NO₃–CaCl_2, NO₃–N extracted by 0.01M CaCl₂ • NO₃–KCl, NO₃–N extracted by 2 M KCl • PCA, Principal Component Analysis • PCs, Principle Components • PMN, potentially mineralizable nitrogen • SOC, soil organic carbon • TN, total Nitrogen • ***, significant at the 0.001 probability level