Effect of Urea and An Enhanced Efficiency N Fertilizer On SeedCotton Yield

Improving N use efficiency will increase profit margins and reduce potential negative impacts of transport of excessive N into surface and ground water. In response to these goals, several manufacturers have introduced enhanced efficiency N fertilizers where the N chemistry has been modified to prevent or reduce N loss from the crop rooting zone. Very little information is available on cotton response to enhanced efficiency N fertilizers in Arkansas. In 2010, a replicated field experiment was conducted to evaluate cotton response to urea and an enhanced efficiency N fertilizer (marketed under the trade name of ESN) on a representative cotton producing soil of Arkansas. The study was arranged as a randomized complete block design with a factorial arrangement of urea and ESN where each N source was preplant incorporated at five rates corresponding to 30, 60, 90, 120, and 150 lb total N/acre. A check (0 N) was also included. Seedcotton yield was affected only by N source (P=0.0429). Averaged across N rates, cotton fertilized with ESN (2053 lb/acre, LSD0.10 = 195) produced numerically greater and statistically similar seedcotton yields as urea (1932 lb/acre), but both yielded greater than cotton receiving no N (1264 lb/acre). The results suggest that under conditions of this experiment, ESN provided equal or slightly better N availability than urea.