Effects of fertilizer under different dripline spacings on summer maize in northern China

Abstract

Maximizing grain yields with effective fertilization technologies and minimizing nitrogen losses is essential in agroecosystems. In this research, we conducted a two-year field experiment to explore whether dripline spacing and fertilization rate would affect maize grain yield. Two dripline spacings (i.e., one drip line per row of maize with a row space of 60 cm and one drip line per two rows of maize) and two fertilization rates (i.e., high fertilization level: N, 180 kg ha−1; P2O5, 90 kg ha−1; and K2O, 90 kg ha−1 and low level: N, 139.5 kg ha−1; P2O5, 76.5 kg ha−1; and K2O, 76.5 kg ha−1) were employed in this research. The results showed that maize yield was significantly affected by both dripline spacing and fertilization rate. The maize yield was 10.2% higher in the treatment with one drip line per two rows than that in the treatment with one drip line per row. Maize yield increased by 10.9% at the high fertilization level compared to that at the low fertilization level. The quantity of cumulative ammonia volatilization was reduced by 15.1% with one drip line per two rows compared to that with one drip line per row, whereas it increased by 26.9% at the high fertilization level compared with that at the low fertilization level. These results indicated that one drip line per two rows with a high fertilization rate increased the yield and could reduce the environmental burden, which may be economically beneficial and environmentally sound for maize fertigation for green agricultural development.

Stable Soil Moisture Alleviates Water Stress and Improves Morphogenesis of Tomato Seedlings

“…The remaining pots of tomato plants were harvested after three weeks of water treatment, and different organs (stems and leaves) of one of the tomato plants in each pot were weighed to determine the fresh weight (FW, g•plant −1 ). Next, the materials were placed in an oven, dried at 105 • C for 30 min, and then dried at 75 • C, to a constant weight, for the determination of the dry weight (DW, g•plant −1 ) [32]. The latest, fully expanded leaf of another tomato plant was collected to determine the leaf relative water content (LRWC, %) and leaf relative electrical conductivity (LREC, %) values [33].…”

The Coupling Relationship and Driving Factors of Fertilizer Consumption, Economic Development and Crop Yield in China

“…In 2020, China's total consumption of fertilizers reached 45.796 million tons (FAOSTAT, 2022), accounting for 22.8% of the global total consumption, making it the world's largest consumer of fertilizers. The excessive application of fertilizers, however, leads to a series of negative consequences such as the greenhouse effect, groundwater pollution, soil compaction and heavy metal pollution, [3][4][5] threatening the sustainable development of agriculture. In order to address the significant problem of over-fertilization, the Chinese government set a target of zero growth in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the "13th Five-Year Plan" (2016-2020), and since then, China's fertilizer consumption has entered a new stage of development.…”

Precise irrigation water and nitrogen management improve water and nitrogen use efficiencies under conservation agriculture in the maize-wheat systems

“…Yadvinder-Singh et al 21 suggested that both timing and method of N application are important to increase NUE under straw mulched conditions. Li et al 43 reported that SDI increased the maize grain yield via increased plant nutrient uptake and reduced ammonia volatilization. Reduction in the use of N fertilizer via an increase in the NUE would lead to a substantial reduction in N 2 O emitted from the production and application of N fertilizers 44 .…”