791802 Description

Purdue Agronomy Farm Corn Nitrogen (791802)


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 $mu$m wavelength range. Radiant temperature of the canopy was also measured. In addition to the standard agronomic data (leaf area index, etc.) leaf nitrogen and chlorophyll concentrations were determined. Also, leaf reflectance measurements were made on several dates.

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