Quantifying the relative nitrogen use efficiency of foliar and soil applied fertilizer

This project will determine the nitrogen (N) use efficiency of foliar and soil-applied N N fertilizer by crops of winter wheat and spring barley. It will test the view amongst growers that foliar N is taken up and used by crops with greater efficiency than standard soil applied N thereby enabling significant reductions to be made in the total amount of N applied. Currently there is little independent evidence to support or refute this view. Field experiments will be conducted across different sites and years to establish the N response curves for winter wheat and spring barley using standard soil applied ammonium nitrate fertilizer. Uptake of N and yield will be compared against fertilizer regimes that combine different amounts of soil applied N with foliar applied N.