ABSTRACT:
Data from agronomic field trials in Maryland were used to construct nitrogen response functions for no-till corn following four cover crops and winter fallow. The estimated nitrogen response functions were used to estimate profit-maximizing nitrogen application rates and maximum profit under each treatment. Hairy vetch proved more profitable than crimson clover, Austrian peas, wheat, or fallow under a wide range of prices for corn, nitrogen and vetch seed and of herbicide costs. A hairy vetch-corn rotation exhibited small savings in nitrogen relative to wheat-corn or fallow-corn rotations at profit-maximizing application rates, perhaps because vetch improves nitrogen uptake and thus increases the marginal productivity of nitrogen.
Footnotes
Erik Lichtenberg is an associate professor of agricultural and resource economics, James C. Hanson is an associate professor of farm management, A.M. Decker is a professor emeritus of agronomy and A. J. Clark is a graduate student in agronomy. All are at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742. This research was supported in part by the US, Department of Agricultural US. Environmental Protection Agency ACE Program. Scientific Article No. A (5448, Contribution No. 8647 of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station.
- Copyright 1994 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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