2017 ASHS Annual Conference

Soil and plant tissue analyses are crucial when determining nutrient applications to corn. Fertility is an important tool growers can use to increase yields, however, over application of fertilizer can potentially decrease yields and reduce profits. Accurate elemental analyses provide economic and environmental benefits. Reliable recommendations are necessary when applying essential elements for optium growth. The objective of this research was to obtain elemental values of soil and plant tissues and to compare nutrient recommendations for corn from four laboratories. Soil and plant tissue samples collected from two sites over a period of five months indicated significant differences between soil and tissue analysis and fertilizer recommendations. High variation of nutrient levels was found between laboratories. Plant tissue values and recommendations had more variation between laboratories than soil. Soil tissue macro- and microelements were significantly different at various stages of growth. Regardless of laboratory methodology fertility recommendations should be similar for crop production. There were variations between recommendations by as much as 200%. Subsequent analysis confirmed that Louisiana State University Soil Testing and Plant Analysis Laboratory and Waypoint Analytical Laboratory satisfied nutrient deficiencies consistently. Future research will include several other species.