Federal funding granted for research on nutrient stewardship

URBANA, IL  – Recent funding in the amount of $1 million from the Foundation for Food and Agriculture and a $1 million matching grant from the 4R Research Fundwill be used to provide greater understanding of the balance needed between the use of nutrients and the environment in the Corn Belt through science-based management. The “4R” concept is to use the right fertilizer source, at the right rate, at the right time, and in the right place to increase production while minimizing nutrient losses and enhancing environmental protection.

Using an established protocol, eight replicated drainage studies will be conducted across the Midwest and a site in Ontario, Canada. Two of the studies will be done by researchers from the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. 

“The aim of this research is to quantify the effects of fertilizer management on crop yield, nutrient use efficiency, nutrient losses in agricultural drainage water, and soil health,” says Lowell Gentry, who is the principal investigator on the study conducted in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences. “Our research group will measure crop yield and nutrient status, as well as nutrient availability in the soil to evaluate nutrient cycling under various fertilizer scenarios, for example split applications of nitrogen versus applying it all in the spring ahead of corn planting.”

Gentry says the study will complement ongoing  U of I research and this new money will be used for more plant, soil, and tile water measurements to construct field input-output balances for all three macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium).

Researchers Laura Christianson and Cameron Pittelkow in U of I’s Department of Crop Sciences will conduct the other replicated tile drainage study.

Christianson notes, “Just over a year ago, a group of us tile drainage researchers came together, at the encouragement of our partners within the fertilizer industry, to think of ways we could leverage the millions of dollars that had collectively been invested in our individual drainage research sites to answer big, bold questions about nitrogen, agriculture, and the environment. We felt that only by synthesizing information across collective sites that were all managed with consistent in-field treatments would we be able to address large-scale agro-environmental questions in a practical way. We’re thrilled that this funding from a strong public-private partnership will allow us to provide robust science-based answers about nitrogen management and reducing nitrogen loss in tile drainage water.”