Maquoketa River
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NEWS RELEASE
6/10/03 More Maquoketa nutrient field demonstrations for 2003 by Chad Ingels, nutrient and manure management specialist, Maquoketa Watershed Project FAYETTE — The scope of nutrient management issues and geographic locations of manure, nitrogen, phosphorus and pesticide management field demonstrations has increased for crop year 2003. Engaging new cooperators is the primary goal for this crop year. Partners include the Iowa Corn Growers Association members and Mud Creek project through its nutrient Best Management Practices (BMP) priorities. Agriculture supply company research and Iowa State University Agronomy research in northeast Iowa have also resulted in expanded geographic coverage of field demonstrations. There are 11 demonstration sites in the Maquoketa Headwaters subwatershed area, one in Mineral Creek subwatershed and three in Mud Creek watershed in Muscatine, Scott and Cedar counties. Local cooperators are Larry and Mark Recker, Matt and Larry Gaul, Steve Goldenstein, Jon Downer, James Ingels, Collin Jensen, Joe Wingert, C & J Farms, Nolan Knight and RandRod Farms. Emphasis has been placed on field-scale, multiple manure-rate, side-dress application of nitrogen, including multiple rates and timing, and manure, phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) management in no-till corn production. N and P management from laying flock manure is also receiving attention. Multiple management alternatives on some of the 15 cooperating farms will provide 37 data sets from crop year 2003 to build multi-year and multi-location northeast Iowa information for evaluation by area crop and livestock producers. Seven corn following soybean growers are hosts of replicated trials using six N rates ranging from zero to 150 pounds per acre and three P rates which include one- and two-year P crop removal rates. Multi-year and location data sets collected in crop years 2000, 2001 and 2002 on 16 northeast Iowa farms demonstrate that 90 pounds of N is the optimum economic N application rate in an average corn production environment. The optimum N rate increased to 115 pounds of N per acre in 2002 when corn yields from the 120 pound per acre N rate averaged 213 bushels per acre across seven farms. No yield response to added P has been found on the 16 farms during the last three years. This is primarily due to 88 percent of the demonstration site soils testing high or very high in P prior to the P trials. Field-scale Geographic Information System-Global Positioning System multi-rate N demonstrations are in progress on six farms. This demonstration includes side-dress N being applied on four of the farms. The Iowa Corn Growers Association is supporting yield loss and end-of-season corn stalk nitrate N analysis costs on the field-scale trials. The same costs are covered for the three multi-rate (four or five rates) swine and dairy manure cooperators. Seven producers are evaluating N and P manure nutrient resources from swine and laying flocks. In addition, three of the producers are evaluating purchased manure. A seed treatment and potential mid-season replicated insecticide treatment trial is in place if the soybean aphid infects northeast Iowa fields as it did in 2001. Other field demonstration cooperators this year are Bruce Reade, Mineral Creek; and Wayne Braun, John Kummerfeldt and David Petersen, Mud Creek watershed.
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