Nitrogen is the key limiting aspect in crop production

Nitrogen is the key limiting aspect in crop production (Blumenthal et al., 2008). Consequently, the application of nitrogen fertilizer usually causes considerable increases in crop yields (Sinclair & Rufty, 2012). Nitrogen mainly increases the forage biomass manufacture and grain yields (Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, 2009). In addition, high nitrogen uptake improves the protein content of cereals. Nonarable land can be made productive by increasing amounts of nitrogen in it leading to high crop yields. However, to optimize the yield the nitrogen supply ought to agree with the nutrient requirements of the plant. In addition, crop needs vary according to the amount of water available in the soil and rainfall (Optimizing nitrogen use on the farm, n.d.).

Hypothesis

It was hypothesized that an increase in nitrogen content in the soil increased the maize yield per hectare in both arable and nonarable land.

Methods

Data was collected from the M.U.S.E link animation by clicking on the values on the number line and thereafter clicking on the illustrations (arable soil and nonarable sandy loam soil) to get the yield in milligrams of dry mass per 100 acres per year. The number line indicated the amount of mineral nitrogen fertilizer per 100 acres. The yields were recorded for each amount of mineral nitrogen fertilizer in arable and nonarable land. The quantities of mineral fertilizer ranged from 0 to 180 kg per 100 acres of land in both arable and nonarable land.

Results