There are a lot of problems related to nitrogen excessive application, low nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and lack of agricultural labor force in the current crop production in China. The objective of this paper was to investigate one-off fertilization technique for the major cereal crops (maize, wheat and rice) and its effects on yield, NUE and environmental effect, so as to provide a technical support for simplified fertilization management in our grain production. This study analyzed the research status and application effects of one-off fertilization on three major cereal crops based on the literatures. Finally, this study proposed the application prospect and the development direction of one-off fertilization technique according to the existing questions in the three major cereal crop productions. One-off fertilization technique is a portable, cost-saving and benefit- increasing, and environmental protection technical pattern in the crop production. In the current agricultural production, one-off fertilization technique of three major cereal crops can be realized through one-off application of slow/controlled release fertilizer, optimizing N rate and chemical control techniques. Compared with the conventional fertilizing methods, one-off application of slow/controlled release fertilizer could significantly increase yield and NUE of maize, wheat and rice. The yield and NUE of the major cereal crops were significantly increased by 3.1%-31.7% and 6.2%-86.6%, respectively. The loss of ammonia volatilization, nitrous oxide emissions, N leaching and run-off were significantly reduced by 18.1%-81.3%, 22.4%-73.4%, 0-53.0% and 0-43.2%, respectively. Under the condition of an average reduction of 20%-37% application, the optimizing N rate technology could still maintain the yield of maize, wheat and rice without reducing, and improved NUE of the three major cereal crops by 2.3%-20.4%, and reduced various N losses. Adding nitrification inhibitors could increase grain yield and NUE by 6.5%-20.1% and 5.0%-78.3%, respectively, and significantly reduced nitrous oxide emissions by 22.1%-51.0%. The addition of urease inhibitors could increase grain yield of maize, wheat and rice by 5.8%-22.8%, promote NUE of maize and wheat by 25.4%-40.7%, and reduce the ammonia volatilization and nitrous oxide emissions of three major cereal crops by 46.1%-51.2% and 11.9%-45.2%, respectively. The application results in the main grain producing areas of China showed that the one-off fertilization technique not only realized the stable yield of the major cereal crops, the high efficiency of N fertilizer and the reduction of N loss, but also saved the agricultural labor force and reduced the agricultural production cost. Therefore, one-off fertilization technique achieved high yield, high NUE and environment-friendly simultaneously, and solved the problems of agricultural labor shortage in the current crop production. One-off fertilization technique is a new technique suitable for comprehensive popularization and application across the country.
