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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2025, Vol. 24 Issue (1): 322-338    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2024.04.004
Agro-ecosystem & Environment Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Aerated irrigation increases tomato production by improving soil nitrogen availability

Chuandong Tan1, 2 , Yadan Du1, 2# , Xiaobo Gu1, 2, Wenquan Niu1, 2, 3, Jinbo Zhang4, Christoph Müller5, 6, 7, Xuesong Cao8

1 Key Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education/Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China

2 College of Water Resources and Architectural Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China

3 Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China

4 School of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China

5 Institute of Plant Ecology, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Giessen 35392, Germany

6 School of Biology and Environmental Science and Earth Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin DO4V1W8, Ireland

7 Liebig Centre for Agroecology and Climate Impact Research, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Giessen 35392, Germany

8 Institute of Water Resources for Pastoral Area, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Hohhot 010020, China

 Highlights 
● AI increases soil C/N mineralization and accelerates organic N turnover, thus enhancing N availability.
● Compared to DI, AI promotes root growth, nitrogen uptake, plant nitrogen accumulation, and tomato yield.
● AI combination with organic fertilizer is recommended for greenhouse tomato.
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摘要  
氮肥是限制作物生长的主要营养元素,其有效性对土壤氧环境变化十分敏感。为明晰加气滴灌下土壤氮有效性变化规律及其对番茄氮累积吸收和产量的影响机制,试验设置了施氮类型和灌水方式2个因素,3种施氮类型分别为:化肥(NPK)、有机肥(OM)、化肥(施氮量的75%)和有机肥(25%)混施(NPK+OM);2种灌溉方式为:传统滴灌(DI)和加气滴灌(AI)。结果表明,AI处理下土壤总碳矿化量(Cmin)较DI显著增加了5.7-7.0%,同时提高了潜在可矿化碳(C0)和氮(N0)。2种灌水方式下,Cmin按大小排序均表现为NPK+OM>OM>NPK。AI处理下土壤总氮矿化速率、总硝化速率和NH4+固定速率分别较DINPK增加了2.58-3.27、1.25-1.44和1-1.26倍。进一步分析发现,AI与有机肥结合促进了番茄根系生长(8.4-10.6%),延长了快速氮积累期(ΔT),提高了最大氮积累速率(Vmix),增加了地上部干物质的积累。AI处理下的产量、氮收获指数(NHI)和氮肥偏生产力(NPFP)较DI处理分别提高了6.3~12.4,4.6~8.1和6.3~12.4%。2种灌水方式下,番茄产量和NPFP按大小排序均为NPK+OM>OM>NPK。以上研究表明,加气滴灌下施用有机肥有利于促进土壤氮有效性和氮肥吸收利用进而提高番茄产量和氮肥利用效率。综合考虑番茄产量和氮肥吸收利用,推荐加气滴灌下施用化肥和有机肥混施(NPK+OM)为番茄最优管理措施。研究结果可为优化氮肥管理、促进氮素高效利用提供理论依据。


Abstract  

Soil nitrogen (N) is the main limiting nutrient for plant growth, which is sensitive to variations in the soil oxygen environment.  To provide insights into plant N accumulation and yield under aerated and drip irrigation, a greenhouse tomato experiment was conducted with six treatments, including three fertilization types: inorganic fertilizer (NPK); organic fertilizer (OM); chemical (75% of applied N)+organic fertilizer (25%) (NPK+OM) under drip irrigation (DI) and aerated irrigation (AI) methods.  Under AI, total soil carbon mineralization (Cmin) was significantly higher (by 5.7–7.0%) than under DI irrigation.  Cmin in the fertilizer treatments followed the order NPK+OM>OM>NPK under both AI and DI.  Potentially mineralizable C (C0) and N (N0) was greater under AI than under DI.  Gross N mineralization, gross nitrification, and NH4+ immobilization rates were significantly higher under the AINPK treatment than the DINPK treatment by 2.58–3.27-, 1.25–1.44-, and 1–1.26-fold, respectively.  These findings demonstrated that AI and the addition of organic fertilizer accelerated the turnover of soil organic matter and N transformation processes, thereby enhancing N availability.  Moreover, the combination of AI and organic fertilizer application was found to promote root growth (8.4–10.6%), increase the duration of the period of rapid N accumulation (ΔT), and increase the maximum N accumulation rate (Vmax), subsequently encouraging aboveground dry matter accumulation.  Consequently, the AI treatment yield was significantly greater (by 6.3–12.4%) than under the DI treatment.  Further, N partial factor productivity (NPFP) and N harvest index (NHI) were greater under AI than under DI, by 6.3 to 12.4%, and 4.6 to 8.1%, respectively.  The rankings of yield and NPFP remained consistent, with NPK+OM>OM>NPK under both AI and DI treatments.  These results highlighted the positive impacts of AI and organic fertilizer application on soil N availability, N uptake, and overall crop yield in tomato.  The optimal management measure was identified as the AINPK+OM treatment, which led to more efficient N management, better crop growth, higher yield, and more sustainable agricultural practices.

Keywords:  aerated irrigation       soil carbon/nitrogen mineralization        gross nitrogen transformation        nitrogen utilization        yield  
Received: 01 January 2024   Accepted: 05 February 2024
Fund: 
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Young Scholars (52109066), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province, China (2023BSHTBZZ29), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M712604 and 2023T160534).
About author:  Chuandong Tan, Mobile: +86-17702920335, E-mail: C.D.Tan@nwafu.edu.cn; #Correspondence Yadan Du, Mobile: +86-18682962189, E-mail: dyd123027@163.com

Cite this article: 

Chuandong Tan, Yadan Du, Xiaobo Gu, Wenquan Niu, Jinbo Zhang, Christoph Müller, Xuesong Cao. 2025. Aerated irrigation increases tomato production by improving soil nitrogen availability. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 24(1): 322-338.

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