Please wait a minute...
Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2025, Vol. 24 Issue (10): 4034-4047    DOI: 10.1016/j.jia.2025.03.013
Agro-ecosystem & Environment Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Optimization of fertilization combined with water-saving irrigation improves the water and nitrogen utilization efficiency of wheat and reduces nitrogen loss in the Nansi Lake basin, China

Jingyi Feng1*, He Zhang1*, Hongyuan Zhang2, Xirui Kang1, Hui Wang1, Hong Pan1, Quangang Yang1, Zhongchen Yang1, Yajie Sun1, Yanhong Lou1#, Yuping Zhuge1#

1 National Research Centre for Efficient Utilisation of Soil and Fertiliser Resources, College of Resources and Environment, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an 271018, China

2 College of Agronomy, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, China

 Highlights 

Four water and fertilizer regimes validate the WHCNS model’s accuracy.

F2W2 notably reduces nitrogen loss while maintaining a stable yield.

F2W2 reduces nitrogen leaching and ammonia volatilization significantly.

The optimized F2W2 management improves water and nitrogen use efficiency.

Download:  PDF in ScienceDirect  
Export:  BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      
摘要  

河流和湖泊富营养化普遍存在,农业面源污染是其重要的诱因。本研究设置4种水肥处理:常规施肥+常规灌溉(CK)、减量控释肥+常规灌溉(F2W1)、等量控释肥替代+减量灌溉(F1W2)、减量控释肥+减量灌溉(F2W2采用水热碳氮耦合模型,研究优化水肥处理对南四湖小麦季农田水氮运移的影响。结果表明,控释肥替代常规肥灌溉都可以减少氮素流失。与对照相比,F2W1处理氮累积淋量和氨挥发量分别降低了8.90%41.67%;F1W2处理氮累积淋量和氨挥发量分别降低12.50%15.99%。与其他处理相比,F2W2处理在稳产的基础上显著降低了氮素,氮淋溶氨挥发量较对照处理分别降低了29.17%和27.13%,水分和氮利用效率分别提高了11.38%17.80%。综合来看四种水肥运筹中F2W2处理效果最优。研究结果进一步证实了优化水肥管理对提高小麦水氮利用效率的作用有利于缓解南四湖区农田氮素流失。



Abstract  

The eutrophication of rivers and lakes is becoming increasingly common, primarily because of pollution from agricultural non-point sources.  We investigated the effects of optimized water and fertilizer treatments on agricultural non-point source pollution in the Nansi Lake basin.  The water heat carbon nitrogen simulator model (WHCNS model) was used to analyze water and nitrogen transport in wheat fields in Nansi Lake basin.  Four water and fertilizer treatments were set up: conventional fertilization and irrigation (CK), reduced controlled-release fertilizer and conventional irrigation (F2W1), an equal amount of controlled-release fertilizer and reduced irrigation (F1W2), and reduced controlled-release fertilizer and reduced irrigation (F2W2).  The results indicated that the replacement of conventional fertilizers with controlled-release fertilizers, combined with reduced irrigation, led to reduced nitrogen loss.  Compared with those of the CK, the cumulative nitrogen leaching and ammonia volatilization of F2W1 were reduced by 8.90 and 41.67%, respectively; under F1W2, the same parameters were reduced by 12.50 and 15.99%, respectively.  Compared with the other treatments, F2W2 significantly reduced nitrogen loss while producing a stable yield.  Compared with those of the CK, ammonia volatilization and nitrogen loss due to leaching were reduced by 29.17 and 27.13%, respectively, water and nitrogen use efficiencies increased by 11.38 and 17.80%, respectively.  F2W2 showed the best performance among the treatments, considering water and fertilizer management.  Our findings highlight the effectiveness of optimizing water and fertilizer application in improving the water and nitrogen use efficiency of wheat, which is of great significance for mitigating nitrogen loss from farmland in the Nansi Lake basin.

Keywords:  controlled-release fertilizer        reduced irrigation        water heat carbon nitrogen simulator model        nitrogen loss  
Received: 14 November 2024   Online: 22 March 2025   Accepted: 12 December 2025
Fund: 

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD0800303) and the Major Science and Technology Innovation Projects in Shandong Province, China (2021CXGC010804).

About author:  Jingyi Feng, E-mail: sdaufjy2018@163.com; He Zhang, E-mail: 17862988181@163.com; #Correspondence Yanhong Lou, Tel: +86-538-8242810, E-mail: yanhonglou1985@163.com; Zhuge Yuping, Tel: +86-538-8243918, E-mail: zhugeyp@sdau.edu.cn

Cite this article: 

Jingyi Feng, He Zhang, Hongyuan Zhang, Xirui Kang, Hui Wang, Hong Pan, Quangang Yang, Zhongchen Yang, Yajie Sun, Yanhong Lou, Yuping Zhuge. 2025. Optimization of fertilization combined with water-saving irrigation improves the water and nitrogen utilization efficiency of wheat and reduces nitrogen loss in the Nansi Lake basin, China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 24(10): 4034-4047.

Abubakar S A, Hamani A K M, Wang G S, Liu H, Mehmood F, Abdullahi A S, Gao Y, Duan A W. 2023. Growth and nitrogen productivity of drip-irrigated winter wheat under different nitrogen fertigation strategies in the North China Plain. Journal of Integrative Agriculture22, 908–922.

Abudurezike A, Liu X, Aikebaier G, Shawuer A, Tian X. 2024. Effect of different irrigation and fertilizer coupling on the liquiritin contents of the licorice in Xinjiang arid area. Ecological Indicators158, 111451.

Chatzithomas C D, Alexandris S G. 2015. Solar radiation and relative humidity based, empirical method, to estimate hourly reference evapotranspiration. Agricultural Water Management152, 188–197.

Chen S, Parsons D, Du T, Kumar U, Wang S. 2021. Simulation of yield and water balance using WHCNS and APSIM combined with geostatistics across a heterogeneous field. Agricultural Water Management258, 107174.

Ding Z, Hu R, Cao Y, Li J, Xiao D, Hou J, Wang X. 2024. Integrated assessment of yield, nitrogen use efficiency and ecosystem economic benefits of use of controlled-release and common urea in ratoon rice production. Journal of Integrative Agriculture23, 3186–3199.

Fan B, Zhang Y, Fenton O, Daly K, Li J, Wang H, Zhai L, Luo X, Lei Q, Wu S, Liu H. 2024. Irrigation and nitrogen fertiliser optimisation in protected vegetable fields of northern China: Achieving environmental and agronomic sustainability. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 23, 1022–1033.

Fan Y, Feng Q, Huang Y, Yang N, Fan H, Li B, Wang X, Yang L, Yen H, Wu F, Chen L. 2024. Determining optimal range of reduction rates for nitrogen fertilization based on responses of vegetable yield and nitrogen losses to reduced nitrogen fertilizer application. Science of the Total Environment924, 171523.

Fernanda P A, Liu S, Yuan T, Ramalingam B, Lu J, Sekar R. 2022. Diversity and abundance of antibiotic resistance genes and their relationship with nutrients and land use of the inflow rivers of Taihu Lake. Frontiers in Microbiology13, 1009297.

Han S, Wang C, Zheng Y, Lu Z, Dang Y P, Si J, Li H, Zhao XZhang H. 2024. The yield and nitrogen use efficiency of winter wheat in the North China Plain could be improved through enhanced tiller formation and biomass transport. Field Crops Research318, 109570.

He Y, Liang H, Hu K, Wang H, Hou L. 2018. Modeling nitrogen leaching in a spring maize system under changing climate and genotype scenarios in arid Inner Mongolia, China. Agricultural Water Management210, 316–323.

Hu J, Gettel G, Fan Z, Lv H, Zhao Y, Yu Y, Wang J, Butterbach-Bahl K, Li G, Lin S. 2021. Drip fertigation promotes water and nitrogen use efficiency and yield stability through improved root growth for tomatoes in plastic greenhouse production. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment313, 107379.

Jiang R, Yang J, Drury C F, Grant B B, Smith W N, He W, Reynolds D W, He P. 2023. Modelling the impacts of inhibitors and fertilizer placement on maize yield and ammonia, nitrous oxide and nitrate leaching losses in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Journal of Cleaner Production384, 135511.

Li Z, Hu K, Li B, He M, Zhang J. 2015. Evaluation of water and nitrogen use efficiencies in a double cropping system under different integrated management practices based on a model approach. Agricultural Water Management159, 19–34.

Liang H, Hu K, Batchelor W D, Qi Z, Li B. 2016. An integrated soil-crop system model for water and nitrogen management in North China. Scientific Reports6, 25755.

Liang H, Hu K, Qin W, Zuo Q, Zhang Y. 2017. Modelling the effect of mulching on soil heat transfer, water movement and crop growth for ground cover rice production system. Field Crops Research201, 97–107.

Lin W, Ning X, Ou Z. 2023. Analytical solutions of the nitrogen uptake model with Michaelis-Menten flux. Applied Mathematics and Computation438, 127570.

Liu H, Li H, Ning H, Zhang X, Li S, Pang J, Wang G, Sun J. 2019. Optimizing irrigation frequency and amount to balance yield, fruit quality and water use efficiency of greenhouse tomato. Agricultural Water Management226, 105787.

Liu L, Lian Z, Ouyang W, Yan L, Liu H, Hao F. 2023. Potential of optimizing irrigation and fertilization management for sustainable rice production in China. Journal of Cleaner Production432, 139738.

Maghami Moghim F, Karimi A, Bagheri-Bodaghabadi M, Emami H, Duraisamy V. 2024. Evaluation of soil quality and land suitability in different management systems. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science70, 1–19.

Mao M, Ren L. 2010. An upscaling approach to simulate unsaturated flow in horizontally heterogeneous soils at field scale under flood irrigation. Agricultural Water Management97, 2020–2028.

Merchán D, Sanz L, Alfaro A, Pérez I, Goñi M, Solsona F, Hernández-García I, Pérez C, Casalí J. 2020. Irrigation implementation promotes increases in salinity and nitrate concentration in the lower reaches of the Cidacos River (Navarre, Spain). Science of the Total Environment706, 135701.

Obour A K, Holman J D, Assefa Y. 2023. Continuous winter wheat response to nitrogen fertilizer rate in long-term reduced tillage semi-arid variable yield environments. Crop Science63, 3509–3519.

Setiyono T D, Cassman K G, Specht J E, Dobermann A, Weiss A, Yang H, Conley S P, Robinson A P, Pedersen P, De Bruin J L. 2010. Simulation of soybean growth and yield in near-optimal growth conditions. Field Crops Research119, 161–174.

Shi X, Li X, Guo C, Feng P, Hu K. 2022. Modeling ammonia volatilization following urea and controlled-release urea application to paddy fields. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture196, 106888.

Shu L Z, Liu R, Min W, Wang Y S, Yu H M, Zhu P F, Zhu J R. 2020. Regulation of soil water threshold on tomato plant growth and fruit quality under alternate partial root-zone drip irrigation. Agricultural Water Management238, 106200.

Song Q L, Zhang J, Zhang F F, Shen Y F, Yue S C, Li S Q. 2024. Optimized nitrogen application for maximizing yield and minimizing nitrogen loss in film mulching spring maize production on the Loess Plateau, China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture23, 1671–1684.

Sun Y, Hu K, Fan Z, Wei Y, Lin SWang J. 2013. Simulating the fate of nitrogen and optimizing water and nitrogen management of greenhouse tomato in North China using the EU-Rotate_N model. Agricultural Water Management128, 72–84.

Uchino H, Iwama K, Jitsuyama Y, Ichiyama K, Sugiura E, Yudate T, Nakamura S, Gopal J. 2012. Effect of interseeding cover crops and fertilization on weed suppression under an organic and rotational cropping system. Field Crops Research127, 9–16.

Wang C, Sun H, Zhang J, Zhang X, Lu L, Shi L, Zhou S. 2021. Effects of different fertilization methods on ammonia volatilization from rice paddies. Journal of Cleaner Production295, 126299.

Wang W, Liu X, Wang Y, Guo X, Lu S. 2016. Analysis of point source pollution and water environmental quality variation trends in the Nansi Lake basin from 2002 to 2012. Environmental Science and Pollution Research International23, 4886–4897.

Wei Y, Davidson B, Chen DWhite R. 2009. Balancing the economic, social and environmental dimensions of agro-ecosystems: An integrated modeling approach. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment131, 263–273.

Wu G, Yang S, Luan C, Wu Q, Lin L, Li X, Che Z, Zhou D, Dong Z, Song H. 2024. Partial organic substitution for synthetic fertilizer improves soil fertility and crop yields while mitigating N2O emissions in wheat–maize rotation system. European Journal of Agronomy154, 127077.

Wu H, Zhang L, Lv J, Zhang Y, Zhang Y, Yu N. 2022. Optimization of irrigation and N fertilization management profoundly increases soil N retention potential in a greenhouse tomato production agroecosystem of Northeast China. AgricultureEcosystems & Environment340, 108185.

Wu P, Wang Y, Li Y, Yu H, Shao J, Zhao Z, Qiao Y, Liu C, Liu S, Gao C, Wen P, Guan X, Wang T. 2024. Evaluating optimized irrigation strategies on crop productivity and field water utilization under micro sprinkling irrigation in typical cropping systems of the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain. European Journal of Agronomy154, 127093.

Xu H, Tan X, Liang J, Cui Y, Gao Q. 2022. Impact of agricultural non-point source pollution on river water quality: Evidence from China. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution10, 858822.

Yao J, Wang G, Wang L, Zhang X, Wang P. 2021. Assessing the spatiotemporal variability of lake water quality using A novel multidimensional shape - Position similarity cloud model. Journal of Hydrology599, 126379.

Yu N, Wang B, Ren B, Zhao B, Liu P, Zhang J. 2024. Water and nitrogen footprint assessment of integrated agronomic practice management in a summer maize cropping system. Journal of Integrative Agriculture23, 3610–3621.

Yu X, Schweikert K, Li Y, Ma J, Doluschitz R. 2023. Farm size, farmers’ perceptions and chemical fertilizer overuse in grain production: Evidence from maize farmers in northern China. Journal of Environmental Management325, 116347.

Zareabyaneh H, Bayatvarkeshi M. 2015. Effects of slow-release fertilizers on nitrate leaching, its distribution in soil profile, N-use efficiency, and yield in potato crop. Environmental Earth Sciences74, 3385–3393.

Zhang B L, Cui B H, Zhang S M, Wu Q Y, Yao L. 2018. Source apportionment of nitrogen and phosphorus from non-point source pollution in Nansi Lake Basin, China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research25, 19101–19113.

Zhang H, Hu K, Zhang L, Ji Y, Qin W. 2019. Exploring optimal catch crops for reducing nitrate leaching in vegetable greenhouse in North China. Agricultural Water Management212, 273–282.

Zhang Q, Qian H, Xu P, Li W, Feng W, Liu R. 2021. Effect of hydrogeological conditions on groundwater nitrate pollution and human health risk assessment of nitrate in Jiaokou Irrigation District. Journal of Cleaner Production298, 126783.

Zhang X, Wu Y, Liu X, Reis S, Jin J, Dragosits U, Van Damme M, Clarisse L, Whitburn S, Coheur P F, Gu B. 2017. Ammonia emissions may be substantially underestimated in China. Environmental Science and Technology51, 12089–12096.

Zhang X, Xiao G, Bol R, Wang L, Zhuge Y, Wu W, Li H, Meng F. 2021. Influences of irrigation and fertilization on soil N cycle and losses from wheat–maize cropping system in northern China. Environmental Pollution278, 116852.

Zhang Z, Yu Z, Zhang Y, Shi Y. 2022. Impacts of fertilization optimization on soil nitrogen cycling and wheat nitrogen utilization under water-saving irrigation. Frontiers in Plant Science13, 878424.

Zheng W, Zhang M, Liu Z, Zhou H, Lu H, Zhang W, Yang Y, Li, C, Chen B. 2016. Combining controlled-release urea and normal urea to improve the nitrogen use efficiency and yield under wheat-maize double cropping system. Field Crops Research197, 52–62.

No related articles found!
No Suggested Reading articles found!