Americas and Oceania Group - International Plant Nutrition Institute

population and fertilizer application (30 kg P 2 O 5 /ha and 30 kg K 2 O/ha). Three N fertilizer application regimes
were combined with the management systems just described: 0-N, 300 kg N/ha applied two out of three
years, and 300 kg N/ha applied every year with the intensive management, and 0-N, 180 kg N/ha applied two
out of three years, and 180 kg N/ha applied every year, with the farmers’ management.
The 2011 season was very bad, with lack of rain at the beginning; followed by flooding, hail storms,
and a devastating early frost in the first week of September. The yield levels were therefore lower than in
the previous years. Yield under intensive management (3,594 kg/ha) was significantly higher than under
traditional management (2,699 kg/ha). This result mirrored the differences in plant population at harvest:
80,208 and 62,691 plants/ha in the intensive and farmers’ management treatments, respectively. Under
intensive management, yields with N (3,906 kg/ha) were 31% higher than without N (2,971 kg/ha), whereas
no significant effects from N could be detected under the traditional management. Partial Factor Productivity
was low under both management systems: 12 and 15 kg grain kg/N, for intensive and traditional, respectively.
Likewise, agronomic efficiency was extremely low (3 kg grain/kg N for both management systems). IPNI-29
Global Maize Project in Brazil: Itiquira, Mato Grosso
Project Leader: Valter Casarin, IPNI Brazil, Rua Alfredo Guedes, 1949 - Ed. Racz Center - Sala 701 Piracicaba.
E-mail: vcasarin@ipni.net
Project Cooperators: Eros A.B. Francisco (MT Research Foundation), Scott Murrell (IPNI USA), Aildson P. Duarte
(Research IAC), and Adriel F. Fonseca (UEPG)
Cropping system intensification will be necessary to meet the future demand for corn (maize). Ecological
Intensification (EI) seeks cereal production systems that satisfy future demands while developing cultivation
practices with minimum interference to the surrounding environment. A Global Maize Project (GMP) was
established to identify gaps in yield between current technology and improved technology aimed at achieving
EI. The experiment was initiated in November 2009 at Itiquira, Mato Grosso in an Oxisol site that has been
under cultivation for 20 years. The experiment has a split-plot design with the main plots involving three
types of cultivation systems and the sub plots involving three levels of N input plus a control. The types of
cultivation being evaluated are: (1) farmer practice (FP) of soybean followed by corn; (2) FP + a forage crop
(Brachiaria decumbens) in the winter; and 3) EI involving a 3-year complete crop rotation cycle of soybean,
corn (second crop), forage, soybean, crotalaria, regular corn, and forage. The EI treatment occurs three times,
alternating the initiation point of the crop rotation to permit the production of corn every summer. The levels
of N input were 50, 100, and 150 kg N/ha for the first corn crop (summer crop) or 30, 60, and 90 kg N/ha for
the second corn crop, plus a control with no N added in both cases.
The results to date indicate: (a) there were good responses to N in both corn crops, which positively
influenced yields and total N uptake, (b) the addition of N positively impacted the dry-matter yield of the
forage grass cultivated with corn, (c) soybean grain yield was higher when cultivated after corn second crop
+ forage than when cultivated only after corn, showing a positive effect of Brachiaria in the system, and (d)
soybean crop responded to N previously applied to corn, showing that for high soybean yields N biological
fixation may not be enough. This is a long-term project intended to influence current opinions on how to best
manage cereal production in the region. IPNI-18
Global Maize Project in Brazil: Ponta Grossa, Paraná
Project Leader: Valter Casarin, IPNI Brazil, Rua Alfredo Guedes, 1949 - Ed. Racz Center - Sala 701 Piracicaba,
E-mail: vcasarin@ipni.net
Project Cooperators: Adriel F. Fonseca (UEPG), Gabriel Bartz (ABC Foundation), Scott Murrell (IPNI USA), Aildson
P. Duarte (Research IAC), and Eros A.B. Francisco (MT Research Foundation)
Cropping system intensification will be necessary to meet the future demands for corn. The proposed
system of Ecological Intensification (EI) seeks cereal production systems that satisfy these future demands
while developing cultivation practices with minimum interference to the surrounding environment. A Global
Maize Project was established to identify gaps in yield between current technology and improved technology
aimed at achieving EI.
The experiment was first established at Ponta Grossa, Paraná, in May 2011, by seeding the winter crops to
the respective treatment plots. The soil in the area is an Oxisol that has been in a no-till system for 6 years.
The experiment had a split-plot design with the main plots involving three types of management systems and
the sub plots being three levels of N input plus a control. Different management systems used were: 1) farmer
practice (FP) involving a 2-year complete crop rotation cycle of black oats, corn, wheat, and soybean; 2) FP
+ silage production; and 3) EI of black oats + forage peas, corn, black oats, and soybean. The EI treatment
is planned to occur twice, alternating the crop rotation initiation point to permit the production of corn every
summer. The levels of N application for the corn were 70, 140, and 210 kg N/ha, plus a control with no N
added.
12 IPNI Interpretive Summaries