Abstract
Efficient nitrogen (N) fertilizer management is critical for crop production and environmental sustainability. In cotton, however, a joint assessment of location-specific N management effects on agronomic performance and environmental impacts is still required to design a sustainable production system. Therefore, a 2-yr field study was conducted to investigate the response of cotton growth, yield, N use efficiency, changes in soil mineral N content (Nmin) and apparent N loss to different N management strategies in the Yellow River Valley of China. Fertilizer N treatments included split applications at sowing, the early flowering stage and the peak flowering stage respectively of 180-0-0, 108-72-0, 72-108-0, 72-72-36 and 72-36-72 kg N ha–1. The results showed that, on average, split-N increased shoot biomass by 15.5%, seed cotton yield by 5.8%, lint yield by 4.9%, and N uptake by 23.7%. The highest cotton yield, maximum growth rate, N uptake, and N use efficiencies were obtained with the application of 72 kg N ha−1 at sowing. Treatment of 72-36-72 resulted in a greater residual soil Nmin. In addition, apparent N loss was negatively correlated to the growth rate and N use efficiencies. Apparent N loss in single application was 48.3% of the total N, but split-N applications lowered it to 38.5%. Overall, we concluded that twice-split application with allocating more of N fertilizer to the early flowering stage contributes to a more sustainable cotton production for enhancing yield and N use efficiency while minimizing N loss.
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Abbreviations
- HI:
-
Harvest index
- N:
-
Nitrogen
- NHI:
-
Nitrogen harvest index
- NUE:
-
Nitrogen use efficiency
- NUpE:
-
Nitrogen uptake efficiency
- REN :
-
Nitrogen recovery efficiency
- AEN :
-
Agronomic nitrogen efficiency
- PFPN :
-
Nitrogen partial factor productivity
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This study was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant number 2017YFD0200107) and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
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Feng, W., Li, P., Zheng, C. et al. Split-nitrogen application increases nitrogen-use efficiency and yield of cotton. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 125, 393–407 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-023-10267-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-023-10267-z