Maximizing ROI for Sidedress Nitrogen Applications in Corn | WinField United

Agronomist Darrin Roberts and PO DSM Mitch Larson discuss three key points to consider when trying to maximize your return on investment with sidedress nitrogen applications for corn.
The first point is to understand the hybrids being planted. All hybrids have a different response to nitrogen and produce different amounts of bushel payback. Questions to ask yourself: What am I planting? What does the data say about how responsive this hybrid is? If you want to learn more about response to nitrogen scores for specific hybrids, go to your local retail agronomist.
The second point is, once you've made the decision to apply additional nitrogen, you need to understand risk loss. What might prevent the nitrogen from getting into the plant? With fertilizers like top dress UREA or side dress UAN, a main concern is losing those products to volatility. Volatility is essentially a UREAs enzyme acting on both of those fertilizers because they both contain urea, and converting that urea portion into atmospheric gas, which prevents from getting that nitrogen into the plant. From an agronomic standpoint, things like increased residue on the soil surface, high soil pH, heat, wind, humidity all contribute to increased nitrogen volatility. Because of this, it’s necessary to use a urease inhibitor, a nitrogen stabilizer, to stop the volatility process and help maximize the chance of getting applied nitrogen into the plant.
And the third point, it’s time to look at a couple of other key nutrients that the plant also needs right now. Two of the most effective are adding sulfur and boron to the application of nitrogen. Both sulfur and nitrogen play critical roles within the plant by helping with protein synthesis. With tissue samples, we include what we call an N to S ratio. Always shoot for a 10 to 1 relationship, so if applying 10 units of nitrogen, always apply one unit of sulfur in that application. If you're going to top dress UREA, an easy way to add sulfur would be to include AMS. With a UAN application, include ammonium thiosulfate (ATS).
Boron comes next because during this stage in the corn life cycle, at tassel time, boron plays a critical role with germination of the pollen tube, formation of the silks, and overall pollination success. If using a liquid UAN side dress, add a liquid 10 boron. If using a dry UREA, there are several products on the market that add to coat prills and provide a nice distribution of boron within that UREA blend.
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