Maize in Arable and Non-Arable Soil

PURPOSE:

To calculate the impact of using mineral nitrogen fertilizer on arable and non-arable soils to grow maize for grazing animals.

INTRODUCTION:

Growing maize in arable and non-arable soil. At times when the soil is non-arable; which means a few different things and conditions are present. Example of non-arable soil would be elevated levels of pollution, marsh lands, or an abundance of salts and sands (MUSE 2013). Besides adding the mineral nitrogen fertilizer to non-arable soil there are other ways to help make it arable. Some of these are to dig and install irrigation canals and wells, if the land is too hot adding trees for shade is often done (NON-ARABLE SOIL). In this lab we will record the difference when mineral nitrogen is used on non-arable and arable soil types to grow maize.

HYPOTHESIS:

I believe the maize will grow at a better rate in the non-arable soil because the arable soil has been farmed over many years.

METHODS:

In the lab work section the experiment called for Mineral Nitrogen Fertilizer. To get the numbers and results needed we used the fertilizer in kilograms per 100 acres of soil, the fertilizer data is collected in increments of 20 KG per acre. This was added to the maize yield in milligrams of dry mass per 100 acres, per year. As the experiment evolved you could see the maize in the arable soil was growing at a much slower rate than that in the non-arable soil.

RESULTS:

Table 1: Maize Yield from Arable Soil

Amount of Mineral Nitrogen Fertilization (kg per 100 acres) Yield of Maize (mg of dry mass per 100 acres per year) in Arable Soil

0 8

20 10.7

40 13

60 15.2

80 16.4

100 18.2

120 19.2

140 20.8

160 20.4

180 20.1

Table 2: Maize Yield from Non-arable Sandy Loam Soil

Amount of Mineral Nitrogen Fertilization (kg per 100 acres) Yield of Maize (mg of dry mass per 100 acres per year) in Non-arable Sandy Loam Soil

0 15.6

20 17.0

40 18.2

60 19.3

80 20

100 20.9

120 21.2