Use of chlorophyll meter as a tool for optimizing the use of nitrogen fertilizers in maize (Zea mays L.): Case report

Abstract

Abstract: Nitrogen (N) is one of the elements required by plants in large amounts, which has led to it being one of the most common farm inputs used worldwide. The efficient use of this nutrient is low, it being not greater than 50 %. This causes not only low yields in farming, but also pollution problems. There are different strategies to try to improve the utilization efficiency of N applied to different crops, including corn. Under the concepts of precision agriculture, the use of chlorophyll meters becomes a tool to consider when criteria must be established to monitor N deficiencies or to determine the effectiveness of nitrogen fertilization. At the training center Angostura an effort was made to determine the effect of implementing the use of CCM 200 chlorophyll meter (Apogge Instruments) to manage nitrogen  fertilization in the farming of corn. To determine the rate of chlorophyll concentration in maize plants fertilized with different  levels of nitrogen fertilization, five (5) plots with different nitrogen rates were established.  The criterion  to define the dose of nitrogen fertilization was based on what would be recommended in soil analysis. According to the above, sites with 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 % of the recommended nitrogen according to soil analysis were established. The preliminary results of the research are submitted regarding the index of chlorophyll present in plants when nitrogen is  added  at different levels, so as to define when plants have adequate or inadequate nitrogen sufficiency, based on readings from the CCM 200  chlorophyll meter.