781802 Description

Purdue Agronomy Farm Corn Nitrogen (781802)


Nitrogen fertilization is one of the primary factors responsible for the increased yields in the United States in the past 15 years. Four levels of fertilization, 0, 67, 134, and 202 kg/hectare, providing a range from distinctly deficient to abundant have been selected from a long term fertilization experiment. The specific objectives of the experiment were to (1) determine the threshold of spectral detection of nitrogen deficiency and (2) determine kind and magnitude of changes in reflectance and thermal response as a function of level of nitrogen nutrition. Three replications were used. Measurements were made at approximately 10 day intervals throughout the growing season with the Exotech 20C spectroradiometer over the 0.4 to 2.4 um wavelength range and the Exotech 100 Landsat band radiometer. Radiant temperature of the canopy was also measured.

Agronomic characterizations of the canopies included: leaf area index, biomass, percent soil cover, height, leaf nitrogen, chlorophyll concentration, development stage and grain yield. Vertical and oblique photographs were also taken of the canopies.

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