Interrelationships of Soil Moisture Level at Planting Time and Nitrogen Fertilization on Winter Wheat Production¹

Synopsis Maximum yields on low nitrogen soils resulted from the application of 20 pounds of N per acre for every 3 inches of available preplanting soil moisture. Flour of inferior protein quality was milled from wheat grown under high moisture stress. N recovery increased from 30 to 50% as available soil moisture at seeding time increased from O to 8 inches. Water use and water use efficiency increased as available soil moisture and rate of N fertilization increased.