Utilization of Polymer-coated Urea Fertilizer and Managed Subsurface Drainage Systems to Improve N Management and Corn Yields

Agronomic production on poorly drained soils in humid regions, such as the Central Claypan Region (MLRA), can exhibit low crop production in moderate to wet growing seasons. Extended periods of saturated soil conditions during a growing season may severely lower crop production by inhibiting plant growth, increasing the chance of disease, and providing conditions ideal for nutrient loss. Trafficability issues are often overlooked but can have a significant impact on crop production due to potential delays in fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide applications, planting, and harvesting. Installation of a subsurface tile drainage system can effectively minimize issues with saturated soil conditions near the soil surface and the plant root zone. In NE Missouri, subsurface tile drainage has been found to improve corn and soybean yields by 20% compared to non-tile drained soil (Nelson et al., 2010). However, since nitrate-N is soluble and has little affinity for adsorption onto soil particles there is a considerable amount of fertilizer N that can be lost in subsurface drainage water from agricultural soils (Cambardella et al., 1999).