Response of two-row and six-row barley to fertiliser N under Irish conditions

• Main Author: Hackett R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2016-12-01
• Series: Irish Journal of Agricultural and Food Research
• Subjects: fertiliser N; N accumulation; six-row barley; two-row barley; yield
• Online Access: http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ijafr.2016.55.issue-2/ijafr-2016-0013/ijafr-2016-0013.xml?format=INT

A range of cultivar types, including two-row and six-row types as well as line and hybrid types, are used for winter barley production in Ireland. There is little information available on the fertiliser nitrogen (N) requirements or the N use efficiency of these different types, particularly under Irish conditions. The objectives of the work presented here were to compare the response to fertiliser N of a two-row line cultivar, a six-row line cultivar and a six-row hybrid cultivar in terms of grain yield and aspects of N use efficiency. Experiments were carried out over three growing seasons, in the period 2012-2014, on a light-textured soil comparing the response of the three cultivars of winter barley to fertiliser N application rates ranging from 0 to 260 kg N/ha. There was no evidence that cultivar type, regardless of whether it was a two-row or six-row line cultivar or a six-row hybrid cultivar, influenced the response to fertiliser N of winter barley. There were some indications that six-row cultivars were less efficient at recovering soil N but used accumulated N more efficiently than the two-row cultivar. This work provided no evidence to support adjustment of fertiliser N inputs to winter barley based on cultivar type.