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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2021, Vol. 20 Issue (2): 565-580    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(20)63380-9
Section 4: Effective management strategies for closing yield and efficiency gaps Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Improving grain yield, nitrogen use efficiency and radiation use efficiency by dense planting, with delayed and reduced nitrogen application, in double cropping rice in South China
FU You-qiang1, ZHONG Xu-hua1, ZENG Jia-huan2, LIANG Kai-ming1, PAN Jun-feng1, XIN Ying-feng2, LIU Yan-zhuo1, HU Xiang-yu1, PENG Bi-lin1, CHEN Rong-bing1, HU Rui1, HUANG Nong-rong1
1 Rice Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Guangdong Key Laboratory of New Technology for Rice Breeding, Guangzhou 510640, P.R.China 
2 Guiping Agricultural Technology Extension Station, Guiping 537200, P.R.China
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Abstract  Improving both grain yield and resource use efficiencies simultaneously is a major challenge in rice production. However, few studies have focused on integrating dense planting with delayed and reduced nitrogen application to enhance grain yield, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and radiation use efficiency (RUE) in rice (Oryza sativa L.) in the double rice cropping system in South China. A high-yielding indica hybrid rice cultivar (Yliangyou 143) was grown in field experiments in Guangxi, South China, with three cultivation managements: farmers’ practice (FP), dense planting with equal N input and delayed N application (DPEN) and dense planting with reduced N input and delayed N application (DPRN). The grain yields of DPRN reached 10.6 and 9.78 t ha–1 in the early and late cropping seasons, respectively, which were significantly higher than the corresponding yields of FP by 23.9–29.9%. The grain yields in DPEN and DPRN were comparable. NUE in DPRN reached 65.2–72.9 kg kg–1, which was 61.2–74.1% higher than that in FP and 24.6–30.2% higher than that in DPEN. RUE in DPRN achieved 1.60–1.80 g MJ–1, which was 28.6–37.9% higher than that in FP. The productive tiller percentage in DPRN was 7.9–36.2% higher than that in DPEN. Increases in crop growth rate, leaf area duration, N uptake from panicle initiation to heading and enhancement of the apparent transformation ratio of dry weight from stems and leaf sheaths to panicles all contributed to higher grain yield and higher resource use efficiencies in DPRN. Correlation analysis revealed that the agronomic and physiological traits mentioned above were significantly and positively correlated with grain yield. Comparison trials carried out in Guangdong in 2018 and 2019 also showed that DPRN performed better than DPEN. We conclude that DPRN is a feasible approach for simultaneously increasing grain yield, NUE and RUE in the double rice cropping system in South China.
Keywords:  grain yield       resource use efficiencies       indica rice       planting density       nitrogen application strategy  
Received: 08 April 2020   Accepted:
Fund: This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0300108-5), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (2017A030313110, 2018A030313463), the Discipline Team Building Project of Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China (201617TD), the Special Fund for Scientific Innovation Strategy, China (Construction of High-Level Academy of Agricultural Science), and the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (AB2018013).
Corresponding Authors:  HUANG Nong-rong, Tel: +86-20-87569414, E-mail: 13533385913 @163.com   
About author:  FU You-qiang, E-mail: fyq040430@163.com

Cite this article: 

FU You-qiang, ZHONG Xu-hua, ZENG Jia-huan, LIANG Kai-ming, PAN Jun-feng, XIN Ying-feng, LIU Yan-zhuo, HU Xiang-yu, PENG Bi-lin, CHEN Rong-bing, HU Rui, HUANG Nong-rong. 2021. Improving grain yield, nitrogen use efficiency and radiation use efficiency by dense planting, with delayed and reduced nitrogen application, in double cropping rice in South China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 20(2): 565-580.

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