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Greenhouse tomato–cucumber yield and soil N leaching as affected by reducing N rate and adding manure: a case study in the Yellow River Irrigation Region China

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Abstract

The effect of reducing N rate fertilization and manure addition on greenhouse vegetable yields and soil N leaching was studied in a greenhouse tomato–cucumber rotation system in the Yellow River Irrigation Region of Ningxia Plain, North China. The treatments were: 1-no fertilizers, 2-conventional fertilization, 3-reduced fertilizer application, and 4-reduced fertilizer application + regulation of soil C/N ratio applied by the high C/N ratio of dairy manure. The results indicated that reduced fertilizer application in tomato and cucumber season had no significant influence on vegetable yield comparing with control. The amounts of leachate had no significant differences under all fertilizer treatments at the same investigated period. In comparison with conventional fertilization, both total N and NO3–N leaching decreased in the low fertilizer treatments. The cumulative total N and NO3–N leached from fertilizers N were less than 9 % during the tomato–cucumber rotation system. NO3–N was the predominant form of leaching N, represented about 70 % of total N in the leachate. Soluble organic N represented 14.7–33.3 % of total N leached. Vegetable yields did not increase significantly as applied N rates increased. However, soil N leaching increased largely with N rates. Reducing fertilizer N rate while adding dairy manure regulated soil C/N ratio could be appropriate fertilization practices for reducing soil N leaching and achieving high vegetable yields in the greenhouse systems.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest from Ministry of Agriculture of China (20100314-5). We also thank the Natural Science Foundation of Ningxia China (NZ0971) and the Key Projects in the National Science & Technology Pillar Program (2006BAD05B07) during the 11th five-year plans period for partly financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Ningxia Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, 590 Huanghe Donglu Road, Yinchuan, 750002, China

    Ying Zhao, Jiang-Hang Luo, Xiao-Qun Chen & Xue-Jun Zhang

  2. Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, 12 Zhongguancun Nandajie, Beijing, 100081, China

    Ying Zhao & Wei-Li Zhang

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  1. Ying Zhao
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  2. Jiang-Hang Luo
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  3. Xiao-Qun Chen
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  4. Xue-Jun Zhang
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  5. Wei-Li Zhang
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Correspondence to Xue-Jun Zhang.

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Zhao, Y., Luo, JH., Chen, XQ. et al. Greenhouse tomato–cucumber yield and soil N leaching as affected by reducing N rate and adding manure: a case study in the Yellow River Irrigation Region China. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 94, 221–235 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-012-9535-8

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