Corn Researcher Of The Year
Dr. Trenton Roberts, Associate Professor/Extension Soil Fertility Specialist, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, has been named the 2020 Corn Researcher of the Year at the 23rd Annual National Conservation Systems Cotton & Rice Conference, Southern Corn & Soybean Conference, Southern Precision Ag Conference and the Delta States Irrigation Conference.
Roberts is an Assistant Professor of Soil Fertility in the CSES department with a primary focus on the development of soil-based nitrogen tests to improve nitrogen use-efficiency of agricultural crops. Roberts received degrees from Oklahoma State University, University of Arizona and University of Arkansas all related to soil science and agricultural production.
Roberts has been the leader in the development of N-STaR the nitrogen soil test for rice, which is the first site-specific soil test method for rice. Future research will focus on the development of soil test methods for corn, wheat and grain sorghum as well as the implementation of N-STaR for rice throughout the Mid-south.
Roberts has worked diligently on the nitrogen use efficiency of corn in the Mid-south and has several refereed journal articles on this topic. Over the past three years Roberts has worked to revise and update corn nitrogen recommendations adding new soil and tissue tests to improve the accuracy and efficiency of irrigated corn production. In addition to his soil fertility work, Roberts has taken the lead of cover crop research with the state of Arkansas and has developed guidelines and recommendations for their effective implementation into crop rotations across the Mid-south.
Specific and significant corn production research and Extension accomplishments range from nitrogen uptake in furrow-irrigated production systems, preplant nitrogen fertilizer recovery efficiency, development of cornstalk nitrate test guidelines, aerial imagery to predict corn response to nitrogen fertilizer and implementing cover crops into Mid-south corn rotations.
Early in his career, Roberts recognized the need to investigate the nitrogen uptake patterns and efficiency of furrow-irrigated corn production systems. Using stable isotopic tracers his group were able to identify the exact fertilizer nitrogen recovery efficiency of his current nitrogen rate recommendations. These results indicated that when the proper rates and timings of nitrogen are used in a Mid-south corn production system that fertilizer nitrogen recovery efficiency can be as high as 90%. The results of this trial indicate that corn produced in the Mid-south has little to no impact on nitrogen levels in the Mississippi River.
Based on previous work using stable isotopes in corn Roberts group felt the need to look more closely at preplant nitrogen fertilizer recovery efficiency as this was reported as being ~50 percent. The goal was to identify the optimum rates and timings for preplant nitrogen fertilizer application in furrow-irrigated corn production systems. The results from this work led to the development of new recommendation for preplant nitrogen management in Mid-south corn.
Roberts and his team used CSNT to grade nitrogen management by taking a small eight inch portion of the corn stalk after maturity. Roberts and his team developed a correlation curve that allows Mid-south corn producers to see if they under-fertilized, optimally fertilized or over-fertilized their corn crop with nitrogen.
Using aerial imagery to look at the use of dark green color index to determine potential nitrogen deficiencies in-season and help better manage pre-tassel nitrogen application timing, Roberts and his group, found in some cases, yield benefits can be seen from the addition of pre-tassel nitrogen.
For the past six years, Roberts and his team has been researching which cover crops species are best suited for implementation into Mid-south corn production systems. Currently, economic analysis of the data is helping to identify which cover crops provide the biggest return on investment both in the short term as well as the long term. ∆