Nitrogen applied as side dressing in corn after white lupine

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted in a Dusky Red Latosol distrophic soil to verify the effect of nitrogen applied as side dressing in corn which was planted after white lupine crop (Lupinus albus). In one of the experiments the white lupine crop was cut at the flowering stage, and in the other the seeds were harvested leaving the rest of the above ground parts in the soil. The doses 0, 40, 80 and 120 kg/ha of N were applied as side dressing in the form of ammonium sulphate, 35 days after germination of the corn. The results showed that there were no significant differences in the corn yield nor in the leaf concentration of N or in the protein content of the seeds with the application of N as side dressing. A simplified economic analysis showed that when seeds of white lupine were produced the net gain was higher.