This field experiment was carried out at the Fundação Agrária de Pesquisa Agropecuária [Agrarian Foundation for Agricultural and Cattle Research] (FAPA), in Guarapuava, State of Paraná, Brazil, during the growing seasons of 1999 and 2000. The objective was to verify residual effects of nitrogen fertilization on maize crop under a no tillage system, in presence and absence of white clover and grazing animals. The experimental layout was a completely randomized block design with three replications. The treatments were arranged in split-plots. Four N rates (N-TI = 0, 100, 200, and 300 kg ha-1 of N) were previously applied on the main plots during the winter season, while the treatments of the sub-plots consisted in combinations of presence and absence of white clover and grazing (CT = with clover; ST = without clover; CP = with grazing, and SP = without grazing). During the summer each sub-plot that had been prepared during the winter was cultivated with corn which received five N rates (N-TV = 0, 60, 120, 180, and 240 kg ha-1 of N) top dressed. The maximum re-growth efficiency of winter culture plants occurred eighteen days after the animals had been removed from the plots, obtained with 231 kg ha-1 of N (N-TI). The areas CP/N-TI presented higher corn yields than the SP plots, although these differences were not statistically significant. The areas without N-TI produced most in the SP subplots. On plots that had received 300 kg ha-1 of N N-TI there was no response of corn to the N-TV, confirming the residual effect of N-TI. The conclusion was drawn that the interaction between grazing and N-TI contributes to nitrogen nutrition in maize.
crop rotation; annual pasture; oat; ryegrass; nitrate; mineral nitrogen
