Costs and Benefits of Precision Management for Iron Deficiency Chlorosis (IDC) in a Production Setting, 12-2023

We know that variety selection is the first step in addressing IDC. However, previous research shows that more tolerant and higher yielding varieties in IDC-prone areas of a field are not necessarily higher yielding in areas of the field that are not impacted by IDC. We also know that one study has successfully delineated site-specific management zones for pH-induced IDC in Nebraska using vegetation indices from aerial imagery, soil pH, and apparent soil electrical conductivity (EC), with the best prediction from the combined use of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and deep EC. However, the Nebraska study used a Veris sensor and only one set of aerial imagery taken during the crop vegetative growth stages during each growing season. From our ongoing plot level study at the North MS Research and Extension Center in Verona, we have seen that the treatment with a lower plant population of 120K seeds/acre consistently had lower yields across all years of the study.