An optimal regional nitrogen application threshold for wheat in the North China Plain considering yield and environmental effects

作者：Wang, Hongyuan; Zhang, Yitao; Chen, Anqiang; Liu, Hongbin^*; Zhai, Limei; Lei, Baokun; Ren, Tianzhi

来源：Field Crops Research, 2017, 207: 52-61.

DOI：10.1016/j.fcr.2017.03.002

• Wheat yield
• Nitrogen application rate
• Soil inorganic nitrogen residual
• Nitrate nitrogen leaching
• Ammonia volatilization
• Nitrogen threshold

North China Plain is the bread basket for Chinese. However, the over-use of N fertilizer has resulted serious environmental pollution and even threat the food security owing to the soil degradation in North China Plain. It is essential to develop a suit of optimal regional nitrogen application threshold. In this study, we attempted to build the threshold by using dataset of literature review and field experiments. Results showed that the optimal N fertilizer rate should be around 185 kg N ha(-1) for the wheat cultivation with achieved yield at 7000 kg ha(-1). Both literatures reviewed and field experiments agreed well on this threshold. The wheat yield under this optimal N fertilizer rate was about 2% lower than the theory maximum achievable yield (7203 kg ha(-1)) in this region; however, the N rate could be reduced by 25% compared to the N rate under the maximum yield. This threshold entailed decreases of 25.25%, 20.17%, 27.89% and 38.80% in nitrogen application rates, residual inorganic soil nitrogen (0-100 cm), nitrate leaching and ammonia volatilization, respectively, on the regional scale. In addition, reducing theory maximum achievable yield by 2% was not statistically significant and would not result in additional risks because fluctuations in wheat yields over time (-57.07% to 34.73%) and space (-23.78% to 33.07%) were higher than 2% in this area.

• 出版日期2017-6
• 单位云南省农业科学院; 中国农业科学院农业资源与农业区划研究所