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The Nitrogen Cycle

This video is a combined presentation by Mike Castellano, an Iowa State assistant professor of agronomy, and Matt Helmers, an Iowa State agricultural and biosystems engineering professor. Castellano presents information on the soil nitrogen cycle. Helmers discusses drainage and nitrate loss.

Iowa Nitrogen Initiative to bring more precision to fertilizer rates

October 12, 2023

Despite incentives to use just the right amount of nitrogen fertilizer on corn fields, current official recommendations are broad and ideal rates can vary widely from field to field and year to year. A research team led by Michael Castellano, the William T. Frankenberger Professor of Soil Science and an Iowa State University professor of agronomy, and ISU colleague Sotirios Archontoulis, Pioneer Hi-Bred Agronomy Professor, is collecting data from trials across Iowa – mostly in fields of participating volunteer farmers – to build models that offer far more granular guidance. The Iowa Nitrogen Initiative is supported with annual funding from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.