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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2015, Vol. 14 Issue (2): 374-388    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(14)60747-4
Soil & Fertilization · Irrigation · Agro-Ecology & Environment Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Nitrate leaching of winter wheat grown in lysimeters as affected by fertilizers and irrigation on the North China Plain
State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy/National Engineering Laboratory for Efficient Utilization of Soil and Fertilizer Resources, Shandong Agriculture University, Tai’an 2 71018, P.R.China
State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy/National Engineering Laboratory for Efficient Utilization of Soil and Fertilizer Resources, Shandong Agriculture University, Tai’an 2 71018, P.R.China
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摘要  Proper application of nitrogen (N) fertilizers and irrigation management are important production practices that can reduce nitrate leaching into groundwater and improve the N use efficiency (NUE). A lysimeter/rain shelter facility was used to study effects of the rate of N fertilization, type of N fertilizer, and irrigation level on key aspects of winter wheat production over three growing seasons (response variables were nitrate transport, N leaching, and NUE). Results indicated that nitrate concentration in the soil profile and N leaching increased with the rate of N fertilization. At the end of the third season, nitrate concentration in the top 0–75 cm layer of soil was higher with manure treatment while urea treatments resulted in higher concentrations in the 100–200 cm layer. With normal irrigation, 3.4 to 15.3% of N from applied fertilizer was leached from the soil, yet no leaching occurred under a stress irrigation treatment. The manure treatment experienced less N leaching than the urea treatment in all cases except for the 180 kg N ha-1 rate in 2011–2012 (season 3). In terms of grain yield (GY), dry matter (DM) or NUE parameters, values for the manure treatment were lower than for the urea treatment in 2009–2010 (season 1), yet were otherwise higher for urea treatment in season 3. GY and crop nitrogen uptake (NU) were elevated when the rate of N fertilizer increased, while the NUE decreased; GY, DM, and NU increased with the amount of irrigation. Data indicated that reduced rates of N fertilization combined with increased manure application and proper irrigation management can lower nitrate levels in the subsoil and reduce potential N leaching into groundwater.

Abstract  Proper application of nitrogen (N) fertilizers and irrigation management are important production practices that can reduce nitrate leaching into groundwater and improve the N use efficiency (NUE). A lysimeter/rain shelter facility was used to study effects of the rate of N fertilization, type of N fertilizer, and irrigation level on key aspects of winter wheat production over three growing seasons (response variables were nitrate transport, N leaching, and NUE). Results indicated that nitrate concentration in the soil profile and N leaching increased with the rate of N fertilization. At the end of the third season, nitrate concentration in the top 0–75 cm layer of soil was higher with manure treatment while urea treatments resulted in higher concentrations in the 100–200 cm layer. With normal irrigation, 3.4 to 15.3% of N from applied fertilizer was leached from the soil, yet no leaching occurred under a stress irrigation treatment. The manure treatment experienced less N leaching than the urea treatment in all cases except for the 180 kg N ha-1 rate in 2011–2012 (season 3). In terms of grain yield (GY), dry matter (DM) or NUE parameters, values for the manure treatment were lower than for the urea treatment in 2009–2010 (season 1), yet were otherwise higher for urea treatment in season 3. GY and crop nitrogen uptake (NU) were elevated when the rate of N fertilizer increased, while the NUE decreased; GY, DM, and NU increased with the amount of irrigation. Data indicated that reduced rates of N fertilization combined with increased manure application and proper irrigation management can lower nitrate levels in the subsoil and reduce potential N leaching into groundwater.
Keywords:  fertilization       irrigation       nitrate vertical transport       nitrogen leaching       nitrogen use efficiency       manure       lysimeter  
Received: 26 November 2013   Accepted:
Fund: 

The research was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31171497), the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (NUE-CROPS 222645), the Key Technologies R&D Program of China during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2013BAD07B06-2), the Modern Agro-Industry Technology Research System (CARS-02), the Shandong Province Agricultural (Maize) Breeding Project, China (lnlzz2013-1), the Special Fund for Agro-Scientific Research in the Public Interest, China (201203096, 201203100).

Corresponding Authors:  DONG Shu-ting,Tel/Fax: +86-538-8245838, E-mail: stdong@sdau.edu.cn; LIU Peng, E-mail: liup@sdau.edu.cn     E-mail:  stdong@sdau.edu.cn; liup@sdau.edu.cn
About author:  GU Li-min, E-mail: guliminq@163.com;

Cite this article: 

GU Li-min, LIU Tie-ning, ZHAO Jun, DONG Shu-ting, LIU Peng, ZHANG Ji-wang, ZHAO Bin. 2015. Nitrate leaching of winter wheat grown in lysimeters as affected by fertilizers and irrigation on the North China Plain. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 14(2): 374-388.

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