The nitrogen effect on a corn crop, applied by fertigation through a line source sprinkler system was evaluated, using urea [CO(NH2)2] as nitrogen source. The line source sprinkler system had three pipelines with five sprinklers each. The sprinkler spacing was six meters, and the lateral spacing, twelve meters. Fertigation and irrigaiton were made by the external lines, and the central line was used only for irrigation. The total water depth applied during the crop cicle was 650 mm. This water application was made in an uniform way along the experimental area, and nitrogen levels decreased along the perpendicular direction to the central sprinkler line, ranging from 353 to 30 kg N/ha. Results showed that different nitrogen levels affected the following crop production factors: plant height, corn cob inserction height, corn yield, corn cob length, thousand grain weight, and nitrogen contain of grains. The point of maximum grain yield (7634 kg/ha) was estimated by a crop production function in relation to nitrogen levels. The maximum grain yield was obtained with 262.6 kg N/ha.
fertigation; nitrogen fertilization; corn; line source
