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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2015, Vol. 14 Issue (12): 2490-2499    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(15)61212-6
Special Focus: Best Soil Management from Long-Term Field Experiments for Sustainable Agriculture Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Integrated application of February Orchid (Orychophragmus violaceus) as green manure with chemical fertilizer for improving grain yield and reducing nitrogen losses in spring maize system in northern China
 BAI Jin-shun, CAO Wei-dong, XIONG Jing, ZENG Nao-hua, GAO Song-juan, Shimizu Katsuyoshi
1、Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer, Ministry of Agriculture/Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning,
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.China
2、Soil and Fertilizer Institute, Qinghai Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, P.R.China
3、College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, P.R.China
4、Faculty of Agriculture, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-0065, Japan
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摘要  The development of more efficient management systems is crucial to achieving high grain yields with high nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). February Orchid-spring maize rotation system is a newly established planting system with the benefits of ground cover and potential wind erosion in northern China. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of integrated application of February Orchid as green manure with reduction of chemical fertilizers (INTEGRATED) on spring maize yield, N uptake, ammonium volatilization, and soil residual mineral N in northern China. Compared to farmers’ traditional fertilization (CON), integrated application of February Orchid as green manure with 30% reduction of nitrogen fertilizers (INTEGRATED) increased maize grain yield and biomass by 9.9 and 10.2%, respectively. The 0–100 cm soil residual Nmin at harvest was decreased by 58.5% and thus nitrogen use efficiency was increased significantly by 26.7%. The nitrogen balance calculation further demonstrated that the INTEGRATED approach performed better than CON with lower apparent nitrogen loss (decreased by 48.9%) which evidenced by the ammonium volatilization of top-dressing fertilizer was decreased by 31.1%, the Nmin movement to the deeper soil layers was reduced, and the apparent nitrogen leaching loss nearly equal to 0 under the INTEGRATED treatment. Therefore, in northern China, integrated application of green manure and chemical fertilizers is an efficient management approach for improving maize yields and NUE simultaneously.

Abstract  The development of more efficient management systems is crucial to achieving high grain yields with high nitrogen use efficiency (NUE). February Orchid-spring maize rotation system is a newly established planting system with the benefits of ground cover and potential wind erosion in northern China. A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of integrated application of February Orchid as green manure with reduction of chemical fertilizers (INTEGRATED) on spring maize yield, N uptake, ammonium volatilization, and soil residual mineral N in northern China. Compared to farmers’ traditional fertilization (CON), integrated application of February Orchid as green manure with 30% reduction of nitrogen fertilizers (INTEGRATED) increased maize grain yield and biomass by 9.9 and 10.2%, respectively. The 0–100 cm soil residual Nmin at harvest was decreased by 58.5% and thus nitrogen use efficiency was increased significantly by 26.7%. The nitrogen balance calculation further demonstrated that the INTEGRATED approach performed better than CON with lower apparent nitrogen loss (decreased by 48.9%) which evidenced by the ammonium volatilization of top-dressing fertilizer was decreased by 31.1%, the Nmin movement to the deeper soil layers was reduced, and the apparent nitrogen leaching loss nearly equal to 0 under the INTEGRATED treatment. Therefore, in northern China, integrated application of green manure and chemical fertilizers is an efficient management approach for improving maize yields and NUE simultaneously.
Keywords:  cover crop       ammonium volatilization       mineral nitrogen       nitrogen use efficiency       nitrogen balance  
Received: 20 April 2015   Accepted:
Fund: 

The study was conducted under the support of the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest of Ministry of Agriculture of China (201103005), the Science and Technology Innovation in Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the National Crop Germplasm Resources Protection of Ministry of Agriculture of China (2015NWB044), and the National Crop Germplasm Resources Platform of Ministry of Science and Technology of China (NICGR2015- 019).

Corresponding Authors:  CAO Wei-dong, Tel/Fax: +86-10-82106733, E-mail: caoweidong@caas.cn   
About author:  BAI Jin-shun, E-mail: baijinshun@caas.cn;

Cite this article: 

BAI Jin-shun, CAO Wei-dong, XIONG Jing, ZENG Nao-hua, GAO Song-juan, Shimizu Katsuyoshi. 2015. Integrated application of February Orchid (Orychophragmus violaceus) as green manure with chemical fertilizer for improving grain yield and reducing nitrogen losses in spring maize system in northern China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 14(12): 2490-2499.

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