The effects of soil preparation systems and doses of nitrogen on total dry matter, straw and grain production and on nitrogen accumulation by corn plants (Zea mays L.) cultivated under irrigation were evaluated in a field experiment in a Dark-Red Latosol (Oxisol), originally under cerrado vegetation, at EMBRAPA/CNPMS experimental station, Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais State, Brazil, from November, 1995 to June, 1996. The soil preparation systems studied were: no till, conventional till with disk plow and conventional till with moldboard plow. The nitrogen doses were: 0, 60, 120 and 240 kg ha-1 N, applied in cover. The highest productions of dry matter yield and grains and accumulated nitrogen were obtained in the no till system. The plants did not linearly respond to N application, considering the straw and grain production. The greatest efficiency of N utilization by the crop occurred in the no till system, in the 60 kg ha-1 N, as evidenced by the highest recover of applied N.
Soil preparation; nitrogen; corn; productivity