The 5 main pathways of nitrogen loss: What are they, and how can you increase efficiency?

We return to first principles with a detailed discussion about nitrogen loss on today's Advancing Nitrogen Smart Podcast episode. The five terms that describe how nitrogen is lost from the soil are: leaching, denitrification, volatilization, crop removal and soil erosion & runoff. But what do those terms actually mean? How does nitrogen's chemistry change during loss? Do N loss processes (also called pathways) happen at the same speed? How do temperature and precipitation affect N loss pathways? How might farmers hedge against the risk of loss by incorporating the 4Rs into their N planning? All of this and much more on today's show.

Guests

• Brad Carlson, Extension educator (Mankato)
• Dan Kaiser, Extension nutrient management specialist (St. Paul)

Additional resources

• Nitrogen Conference (held annually in February; past videos are available online)
• Four things I’ve learned about nitrogen management for corn based on a decade of research in Minnesota
• Nitrogen Nuggets (YouTube playlist)
• Understanding nitrogen in soils
• Nitrogen Smart

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Advancing Nitrogen Smart is proud to be supported by the farm families of Minnesota and their corn check-off investment through Minnesota Corn.