When New York state launched its industrial hemp research project in 2015, SUNY Morrisville was among the academic institutions permitted to grow and conduct research on a crop that had not been grown for some 75 years in New York.
With funding from the New York Farm Viability Institute, Jennifer Gilbert-Jenkins developed trials to learn the optimal nitrogen application rates for this crop.
Gilbert-Jenkins, a SUNY Morrisville associate professor of agricultural science, planted strip trials on campus and on collaborating farms. The trials tested four different N rates on hemp planted for grain, looking for success in terms of general yield, not clean, dried yield.
“After a slow start due to weather, our trials suggested 125-150 pounds of N is needed to maximize fertilization for optimal grain yield. Treatments included 50 pounds N of starter fertilizer, followed with 25, 50, 75 or 100 pounds of topdress N,” Gilbert-Jenkins says.
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