Wish I had started raising corn in the 1980's but, due to lack of irrigation we grew grain sourghum roughly 140 bushels per acre. And also due to raising rice we used spike tooth cylinders on our combines. RASP BARS WOULD CHOKE UP ON RICE STUBBLE ESPECIALLY IF IT WAS LODGED. IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN ON A COMBINE CUTTING RICE YOU'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND. THEY CURED ALOT OF THAT SLUGGING BY GOING TO DRAPER HEADERS WITH ROTARY COMBINES

Chicken manure and lime, adding lime helps breakdown organic matter.

Nitrate is the easiest form of N a plant can take up. Ammonium, nitrate, and nitrite are all available forms of N

I'm a small operation so I don't have a vertical tillage tool, strip till equipment or a chopping corn head for managing residue. What are your thoughts on one or two passes of light disking, hardly even disturbing the soil, just sizing the residue up and getting a small amount of soil on it, possibly with broadcast urea just before disking to assist in breakdown?

The only problem I see with high organic matter is that it can tie up herbicides...the advantage is that higher organic matter makes more free fertilizer available...

I don't understand what you saying. "Put nitrogen so that microbes can do the job of breaking down the residue. When you have the right subsoil microbes present you do not need the nitrogen as the nitrogen kills the microbes. The rootsystem is dead anyway. Microbes utilize the residue and organic nitrogen becomes available from day one. I did a trial with monocropping corn for 12 years adding subsoil microbes and incorporating the residue. No fertilizer added. 5 tons/ha dryland and 8 tons/ha under irrigation.

"We want to raise the organic matter in our soil and our soil is very important to us.. we also do not think twice about spraying 24d or glyphosate all over the place." XD many cognative dissonance.

This guys don't get along