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Controlled nitrogen transformation in chemo-amended urea improves nitrogen use efficiency and productivity of wheat grown on alkaline calcareous soil

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Abstract

Low wheat production is linked to soil degradation, low organic matter, temperature variation, and nutrient depletion in soils of semiarid regions. Nitrogen is mostly applied as urea to meet crop requirements; however, excessive N application may pollute the environment and contaminate groundwater. The current studies explored possible ways for decreasing N losses (NH3 volatilization and NO3 leaching) and improving N availability for wheat production in alkaline soil. The ZnO was coated on urea (1% Zn coating) to get zinc-coated urea (ZnU), and both urea and ZnU were incubated in laboratory at recommended rate (RR), i.e., 150 kg N ha−1 and 80% (N of RR), after further coating with inhibitors [N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) at 1% of urea and 4-amino-1,2,4-triazole (ATC) at 2% of urea], thus creating six treatments. The results showed higher NH3–N loss at day 4 and thereafter a decreasing trend reaching to minimum at day 14. The cumulative NH3–N volatilization from urea alone was found higher (28.99%), except ATC treatments producing statistically similar losses due to restriction in nitrification process. In greenhouse, the treatments were tested in wheat cultivars (Faisalabad 2008 and Lasani) for crop growth, nutrient (N, P, K, and Zn) uptake, and yield parameters, where 80% of RR treatment, i.e., NBPT + ZnU80, was found at par with full RR as commercial products, especially comparable to ZnU (at RR) that produced the highest chlorophyll (53.65unit value), net leaf photosynthetic rate (19.64 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1), plant biomass (208.13 g/pot), grain yield (63.65 g/pot), and nutrient (NPK and Zn) accumulation in grain of Fsd-2008 cultivar. In field trial, NBPT + ZnU80 also outperformed and produced the highest physiological efficiency (PE), agronomic efficiency (AE), and nitrogen recovery efficiency (REN); the treatment also found statistically similar with ZnU (at RR) that produced the maximum plant height (95.4 cm), plant biomass (11.58 t/ha), grain yield (4.69 t/ha), and 1000-grain weight (42.55 g). The relative NO3 leaching was found lower in 80% N treatments, yet leaching was not significant from either treatment at the three stages of crop growth. Overall, current studies revealed the effectiveness of NBPT-amended urea (followed by ZnU) with 20% saving of N inputs through higher N availability for plant uptake that could benefit growers as well as conserve environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), Islamabad, Pakistan

    Arooba Ashraf, Muhammad Akhtar & Muhammad Ashraf

  2. Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB), Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Akhtar

  3. Crop Stress Physiology Lab, Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Ashraf & Saddam Hussain

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  1. Arooba Ashraf
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  2. Muhammad Akhtar
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  3. Muhammad Ashraf
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  4. Saddam Hussain
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Contributions

Arooba Ashraf: experimentation, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, and writing—original draft. Muhammad Akhtar: conceptualization, validation, resources, and supervision. Muhammad Ashraf: data analysis, resources, and writing—original draft. Saddam Hussain: conceptualization, validation, supervision, writing—review, and editing. All the authors have read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Muhammad Akhtar or Saddam Hussain.

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Communicated by Kitae Baek.

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Ashraf, A., Akhtar, M., Ashraf, M. et al. Controlled nitrogen transformation in chemo-amended urea improves nitrogen use efficiency and productivity of wheat grown on alkaline calcareous soil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 28700–28713 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17837-0

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