Nitrogen Use and Yield of Silage Corn as Affected by Hairy Vetch(Vicia villosa Roth) Soil-incorporated at Different Time in Spring

Winter green manure crops including legume increase grain yield of subsequent crop and substitute N fertilizer requirement with organic-No Hairy vetch grows vigorously and can provide N-rich green manure for corn with its soil incorporation after wintering. But, grain yield of corn as succeeding crop would be reduced if its planting time is delayed until late spring. This experiment was carried out to find the proper incorporation time of hairy vetch green manure and planting time of subsequent corn in cropping system with winter hairy vetch(green manure)-summer corn. Hairy vetch was incorporated into soil at a ten-day interval between April 10 and May 10 and corn was planted at 5 days after each hairy vetch incorporation. Soil nitrate concentration on April 10 and 20 in hairy vetch plot was slightly lower than that at winter fallow. Above-ground dry matter and organic-N of hairy vetch increased linearly with delayed hairy vetch incorporation time from April 10 to May 10. Average dry matter and organic-N produced by hairy vetch were 5.7 ton/ha and 248 kgN/ha, respectively. Corn growth and yield decreased as delayed corn planting time after May in spite of increasing dry matter and N-yield of hairy vetch. Nitrogen concentration of corn grain, stalk and whole plant at harvest were the highest in May 5 planting, but total N-uptake of May 5 planting were not different from that of April 25 planting because of lower grain yield. It was concluded that the proper incorporation time of hairy vetch and corn planting time were April 20 and April 25, respectively, because grain yield was the highest and corn could use hairy vetch-N effectively to produce dry matter.